Samsung Galaxy TabPRO 8.4 hands-on

Design-wise, there's nothing that truly sets the Samsung Galaxy TabPRO 8.4 from the rest of its TabPRO brethren, except its smaller, 8.4-inch display. This means that the same faux-leather, stitched rear panel is in place, and while it definitely adds a refined feel to the TabPRO 8.4, we can't help but wonder when we'll see a truly premium offering from Sammy, with top-notch materials and all. 

In any case, the TabPRO 8.4 certainly feels easy on the eyes, and while it's probably unlikely to grab the attention of too many passers-by, it's definitely not bad-looking.

Whether you view the smaller, 8.4-inch display on the TabPRO 8.4 as an advantage, or the very opposite, boils down to personal preference, but there are some things to consider. For starters, while screen real estate has been sacrificed in order to get to a more compact exterior, this does actually provide a benefit: the 1600x2560 pixel resolution LCD display is seriously crisp at 360ppi. This alone does allow the TabPRO 8.4 to launch as a serious contender for the title of a tablet with possibly the most captivating display out there, putting most any rival to shame.

Those of you already up-to-date with Samsung's latest work already know of its all-new Magazine UX interface for its line of tablets. This is not to say that TouchWiz is gone -- you can still access the good old Sammsungy Android look, but you may find yourself willing to stick around. As the name suggests, the new UI feels and looks just like browsing a real-life paper one. We may be repeating ourselves here, yet we can't help but keep going back to the Flipboard association. Of course, this being a full-blown skin, it offers more than aggregation of content -- there's the option for running two apps at once (down from the four in the TabPRO 10.1 and 12.2), and also a number of productivity enhancements, such a Remote PC app that speaks for itself, an improved keyboard layout for more accurate typing, and so on and so forth. In a true Samsung fashion, functionality is definitely not to be found lacking.

Unlike its bigger siblings, the TabPRO 8.4 only makes use of Qualcomm's time-tested 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset, for both the 3G and 4G LTE versions. What forced Samsung to abandon the services of its all-new octa-core Exynos 5420 remains unclear at this point, though the point is probably moot, seeing as Qualcomm's most powerful chip has proven... well, quite powerful. 

In terms of memory, we've got 2GB of RAM on board, which is still pretty generous, and an option of 16GB or 32GB of on-board storage. As with most Samsung products, an option for microSD card expansion for up to an additional 64GB is available, and we're all happier for it.

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