All "A's" for the Tab A
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The new Galaxy Tab A with S Pen scores high as a tablet computer, e-reader and music and video player
A POWERFUL, sleek 8-inch tablet computer with superfast 4G LTE connection, the new Galaxy Tab A with S Pen will delight anyone who enjoys reading books online. Boasting a 1024 x 768-pixel display in 4:3 aspect ratio, it even looks like a book and has a reading mode that’s very easy on the eyes.
The Tab A is powered by a quad core 1.2 GHz processor and has 2 gigabytes of working memory or RAM. There’s 16 GB of internal storage that’s expandable with a microSD card of up to 128 GB. The tablet runs on the latest Google Android OS 5.0.2 Lollipop operating system.
It’s also powerful enough to support the multi-window function, allowing you to use five windows at the same time. And you can use the S Pen to drag and drop data from one window to another conveniently.
Remove the S Pen from its holder and the Air command feature is launched. Hover the pen over the display and click on the button to bring up a menu of four apps – Action memo, Smart select, Image clip and Screen write, all of which are designed to be used with the stylus.
For example, the Smart select lets you select a part of screen or collect content from webpages. Screen write allows you to capture the current screen and to write or draw on it.
The Image clip lets you draw and crop photos easily while the fun-to-use Action memo invites you to write a contact name, thus ordering the tablet to dial the contact’s phone number or send him or her an email.
The Tab A has a 5-megapixel main camera and 2-megapixel front camera. The main camera captures good quality images and boasts a continuous shot mode that lets you take multiple shots in a row then select the best one.
I tested the tablet with the TrueMove H 4G LTE connection and could upload snapshots to my Facebook wall in a snap. Backing up photos to my One Drive account was done in no time while downloading and installing apps was fast and smooth.
I used the Ookla speed test app to measure the connection speed and found that it achieved download bandwidth of 45.28 megabits per second and upload speed of 21.40 Mbps.
As mentioned earlier, the 4:3 ratio makes reading easy and I was able to browse various content sites using the Flipboard app.
Like mostly newly released tablets, it supports playback of High-Resolution Audio music files in FLAC 24bit/192kHz format, the definition of which is five times higher than audio CD.
I tested the player with Sony MDR-1ABT Hi-Res headphones using an audio cable to link headphones and tablet and loved the solid bass and details of Simon and Garfunkel’s “America”.
The tablet’s power is also demonstrated in the picture quality of HD video from the high-quality video-on-demand service PrimeTime app. I enjoyed watching the new “Power” series, which is available 48 hours after the US premiere, on the tablet when connected on TrueMove H’s 4G connection or Wi-Fi connection.
The tablet’s ANT+ connectivity lets you connect it to heart-rate monitor or other fitness devices that use the ANT+ wireless technology.
The eight-inch Tab A is available in Sandy White and Smoky Titanium for Bt12,900 and the 9.7-inch version is available in Sandy white for Bt14,900.
Key Spec
- OS: Android 5.0.2 (Lollipop)
- Network: GSM / HSPA / LTE
- CPU: Quad-core 1.2 GHz
- Memory: 2GB
- Storage: 16 GB, expandable with microSD of up to 128 GB
- Dimensions: 208.3 x 137.9 x 7.4 mm
- Weight: 313 g
- Display: 8-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours, 768 x 1024 pixels
- Camera: 5 MP main camera, 2 MP front camera
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS, GLONASS, microUSB v2.0
- Battery: Non-removable Li-Ion 4200 mAh battery
