T-Mobile AT&T Verizon Sprint Samsung iOS Apple Android Tablets Sony

Galaxy Tab S2 vs iPad Air 2 vs Xperia Z4 Tablet specs comparison

posted by Daniel P. / Jul 20, 2015, 7:56 AM

Galaxy Tab S2 vs iPad Air 2 vs Xperia Z4 Tablet specs comparison

Samsung just put the slumbering tablet competition into overdrive, releasing the world's thinnest tablets, the Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7, each measuring the incredible 5.6mm thin, and weighing just 265g and 389g, respectively. Those two will be competing directly with slates that are a bit thicker, but no less impressive, like Apple's iPad Air 2 and Sony's Xperia Z4 Tablet.

This is why took a look at what the S2 9.7 has to offer, comparing it head-on with Apple's and Sony's finest for the moment, as these are the three tablets people are likely to be musing over in the coming months when in the market for a slate. Designwise, the trio of tablets looks exquisite, with the Samsung and Apple slates donning a metal body, while Sony keeps things soft and touchy. The Xperia Z4 Tablet has one very important reason not to go the aluminum alloy way, though, as it is IP68-certified for watching movies in the bathtub, while the metal-clad slates can't brag with any extra waterproofing to speak of.

The overall dimensions of the Samsung and Apple tablets are strikingly similar, save for the thinner chassis on the Tab S2, while Sony has the tallest slate. Granted, it is hosting the largest screen of the bunch, too, but that's not the only reason, as the worst screen-to-body ration of the trio shows that Sony has gone with thicker bezels, compared to the other two, to make holding its tablet more comfortable.

For that matter, the Xperia Z4 Tablet has a much higher pixel density than the other two, with its 2560x1600 pixels screen. Not only that, but Sony has equipped it with one of its power-sipping, yet ultrabright panels, making the display on the Xperia tablet the best of the bunch in these two important aspects. When it comes to the silicon inside, all three are capable warriors, with Apple's desktop-grade A8+ chipset taking the cake from the Exynos 5433 in the Tab S2 and the Snapdragon 810 in the Z4 Tablet, and eating it with much better benchmark scores. Samsung and Sony are more generous with their internal storage allotments, plus they offer microSD slots for expansion.

Last but not least, Sony claims 17 hours of video-watching on a charge, and, considering what it does with its phones now, consistently placing them in our top battery life ranks, we'd wager to bet that the Z4 Tablet bests both the iPad Air 2, and the Galaxy Tab S2 when it comes to endurance on a charge. Which one is your favorite so far, given that they are all hitting very similar price points when storage amounts are evened out?

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7-inch vs Apple iPad Air 2 vs Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet

Display

Display size

9.7 inches

10.1 inches

Resolution

1536 x 2048 pixels

2560 x 1600 pixels

Pixel density

264 ppi

299 ppi

Technology

Super AMOLED

IPS LCD

TFT

Screen-to-body ratio

72.71 %

71.65 %

66.35 %

Colors

16 777 216

Camera

Rear

Yes

Main camera

8 megapixels

8.1 megapixels

Hardware Features

Autofocus

Autofocus, Back-illuminated sensor (BSI)

Autofocus

Specifications

Aperture size: F2.4; Focal length: 31 mm

Software Features

Face detection, Self-timer, Geo tagging, Exposure compensation, ISO control, White balance presets, HDR, Panorama, Frames, Effects

Digital image stabilization, HDR, Panorama, Face detection, Burst mode, Exposure compensation, Touch to focus, Self-timer, Geo tagging

Digital image stabilization, Touch to focus, Smile detection, Face detection, Self-timer, Digital zoom, Geo tagging, ISO control, White balance presets, Burst mode, HDR, Panorama, Effects

Video recording

2560x1440 (QHD), 1920x1080 (Full HD), 1280x720 (HD), 640x480 (VGA)

1920x1080 (Full HD) (30 fps), 1280x720 (HD) (120 fps)

1920x1080 (Full HD)

Recording format

H.264, MOV

MPEG4, H.263, H.264

Features

Digital image stabilization, Video calling, Video sharing

Time-lapse video, Digital image stabilization, Video calling

Front

2.1 megapixels

1.2 megapixels

5.1 megapixels

Video capture

1280x720 (HD) (30 fps)

Design

Dimensions

9.34 x 6.65 x 0.22 inches (237.3 x 169 x 5.6 mm)

9.45 x 6.67 x 0.24 inches (240 x 169.5 x 6.1 mm)

10.00 x 6.57 x 0.24 inches (254 x 167 x 6.1 mm)

Weight

13.83 oz (392 g)

15.41 oz (437 g)

13.86 oz (393 g)

Materials

Back: Metal

Back: Aluminum

Back: Stainless steel

Resistance

Water, Dust

IP certified

IP 68

Biometrics

Fingerprint (touch)

Features

Touch sensitive control keys

Phone functionality

Yes

Hardware & Performance

System chip

Samsung Exynos 7 Octa 5433

Apple A8X

Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 MSM8994

Processor

Octa-core, 1900 MHz, ARM Cortex-A57 and ARM Cortex-A53, 64-bit, 20 nm

Triple-core, 1500 MHz, Cyclone, 64-bit

Octa-core, 2000 MHz, ARM Cortex-A57 and ARM Cortex-A53, 64-bit

GPU

Mali-T760 MP6

PowerVR GXA6850

Adreno 430

RAM

3 GB LPDDR3

2 GB LPDDR3

3 GB

Storage expansion

Slot Type

microSDXC, microSDHC, microSD

OS

Android (7.0 Nougat, 6.0 Marshmallow, 5.0 Lollipop)

iOS (12.x, 11.x, 10.x, 9.x, 8.x)

Android (7.1 Nougat, 7.0 Nougat, 6.0 Marshmallow, 5.0 Lollipop)

Battery

Capacity

5870 mAh

7340 mAh

6000 mAh

Talk time

24.00 hours

Stand-by time

42.5 days (1020 hours)

Talk time (3G)

34.00 hours

Stand-by time (3G)

43.3 days (1040 hours)

Stand-by time (4G)

42.1 days (1010 hours)

Video playback

17.00 hours

Cellular

LTE (FDD)

Bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 20

Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26

Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 20, 28

LTE (TDD)

Bands 40

UMTS

850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz

850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz

850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz

GSM

850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz

CDMA

800, 1900 MHz

Data

LTE-A Cat 6 (300/50 Mbit/s), HSPA, HSUPA

LTE, HSPA, UMTS

LTE-A Cat 6 (300/50 Mbit/s), HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s

Multimedia

Screen mirroring

Wireless screen share

TV-out

DLNA, MHL

Shopping information

MSRP price

$ 829

FEATURED VIDEO

Options

37 Comments

1. Dr.SamX

Posts: 235; Member since: Jan 19, 2015

Does the Xperia Z4 Tablet really have a TFT display??? Is it not an LCD IPS?

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 7:59 AM 0

7. Feanor

Posts: 1315; Member since: Jun 20, 2012

IPS display is a type of TFT display. The Z4 has an IPS display of course exactly as the iPad has also a TFT IPS display. The TFT displays that don't use the IPS technology are TN displays. So, TN is the opposite of IPS, not TFT.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 8:21 AM 4

12. Dr.SamX

Posts: 235; Member since: Jan 19, 2015

The iPad Air 2 most certainly does not have a TFT display! It has an LCD! And I am almost certain the Xperia Z4 Tablet has an LCD display, too.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 8:51 AM 0

13. Feanor

Posts: 1315; Member since: Jun 20, 2012

TFT is a type of LCD display, IPS is a type of TFT LCD display. Both are LCD TFT IPS displays.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 8:57 AM 1

26. Dr.SamX

Posts: 235; Member since: Jan 19, 2015

Hmm, OK, but then why does it say TFT for Xperia Z4 Tablet and LCD IPS for iPad Air 2? That makes no sense then.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 11:03 AM 0

27. Feanor

Posts: 1315; Member since: Jun 20, 2012

Because the spec list is not so perfectly curated. Sony is designating their LCD screens as TFT. Which is true for pretty much all LCD screens for mobile phones, but not usual to mention. Most companies describe them as LCD IPS. But in fact they are all the same technology.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 11:43 AM 0

33. alex3run

Posts: 715; Member since: May 18, 2014

TFT is thin film transistor. Most displays use them.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 5:32 PM 0

2. dubaiboy78

Posts: 442; Member since: Sep 19, 2014

Failed! Why old processor and downgraded resolution!????

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 8:03 AM 4

3. tech2

Posts: 3487; Member since: Oct 26, 2012

LOL....Did I read that right ? Exynos 5433 ?! You f**ked up, Samsung ! For a 4k display, games are really gonna struggle on that.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 8:08 AM 3

5. Clars123

Posts: 1075; Member since: Mar 16, 2015

where did you see it had a 4K display?

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 8:18 AM 6

14. tech2

Posts: 3487; Member since: Oct 26, 2012

..2k*

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 8:58 AM 0

17. Felix_Gatto

Posts: 942; Member since: Jul 03, 2013

It's neither 2K nor 4K, it's QXGA.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 9:21 AM 3

36. tech2

Posts: 3487; Member since: Oct 26, 2012

Nope. Its 2k.

posted on Jul 21, 2015, 12:47 AM 0

22. j2001m

Posts: 3061; Member since: Apr 28, 2014

1st it's a 2k display And 2nd this CPU as not been used before in this setup As the note 4 was underclocked and in 32bit mode I be thinking it will do very good next to the sd810,

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 10:21 AM 1

34. alex3run

Posts: 715; Member since: May 18, 2014

Still the GPU there is as powerful as Adreno 430.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 5:33 PM 0

4. Ordinary

Posts: 2454; Member since: Apr 23, 2015

Xperia tablet FTW

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 8:10 AM 8

15. Ninetysix

Posts: 2933; Member since: Oct 08, 2012

How do you like your eggs cooked? I usually get over easy.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 9:10 AM 0

18. Ordinary

Posts: 2454; Member since: Apr 23, 2015

"Comparing larger tablet with smaller phone" How long does it take for you to fry eggs on smaller surface like 20cm diameter vs 80cm diameter on same temperature? If you get same time on both apply for Nobel Prize of Physics.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 9:26 AM 6

20. Ruturaj

Posts: 1484; Member since: Oct 16, 2014

ummm you should have said same amount of heat.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 9:38 AM 0

21. Ordinary

Posts: 2454; Member since: Apr 23, 2015

Well I used temperature like a measure unit, heat is energy.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 9:46 AM 3

28. Ruturaj

Posts: 1484; Member since: Oct 16, 2014

If both surfaces have same temp then it will take same time, right?

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 12:18 PM 0

29. Ordinary

Posts: 2454; Member since: Apr 23, 2015

Example: If source of the heat is in the middle of surface of 20cm¤ it will take a short time to heat the whole surface but on 80cm¤ it would take 4x times longer. Also one example is you cant warm your whole house with just one radiator unless its a really small house.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 12:36 PM 0

32. XperiaFanZone

Posts: 2277; Member since: Sep 21, 2012

Bro, you got sat down.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 2:39 PM 0

6. yoosufmuneer

Posts: 1518; Member since: Feb 14, 2015

Was expecting a better tablet from Samsung. Thickness around 7mm would be good but reduce the side bezels and use a tablet specific SoC like iPad Airs A8X and a bigger battery. I mean the build is great but I am really disappointed. On the other hand Sony Xperia Z4 tablet is awesome! Great Job Sony! Ipad Air 2 is also an awesome option.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 8:20 AM 3

8. gaming64 unregistered

The S2 is literally the same ass the Air 2 WTF. Last year's model was better. The Z4 Tablet looks like the best contender here. The Air 2 well, the price maybe a halt but awesome iOS 9 features are coming. The S2 is literally a downgrade.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 8:35 AM 3

35. yoosufmuneer

Posts: 1518; Member since: Feb 14, 2015

I wouldn't call Air 2 as the same because you get 2GB of RAM and that beast A8X. S2, the processor is a slight upgrade but still Meh.

posted on Jul 20, 2015, 11:39 PM 0

9. Moose

Posts: 418; Member since: Jan 05, 2015

The battery on the 9.7 inch Samsung tablet is decent (5870) but the one that comes with the 8 inch version - only 4000 mAh is pathetic! I just bought a Xiaomi Mi Pad after loving the Samsung Tab S 8.4 for a full year. The Xiaomi tablet is just as good, less expensive and it comes with a 6700 mAh battery, fantastic value for money. OK it's heavier and not as thin as the Samsung tablets, but I'd rather have the better battery life.