Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 Review

Introduction

Samsung started 2014 with a bang. Back in early January, the Korean company announced its new Tab PRO range of Android tablets aimed at those in need of a no-compromise Android slate, for those who just wanted the very best Android could offer. Now, we're about to take the smallest of these tablets for a spin, the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4, and to say that we're excited about it would be a huge understatement. Why is that? Well, because the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 is shaping as quite the beast. Its mid-size form factor and lightweight design makes Samsung's 8.4-inch highly portable, yet its specs sheet can easily make a geek drool. And it can already be bought for as low as $400, which is a high, yet a presumably justified price tag for such a high-end product. So without further ado, let's get this review started!

Design

Familiar plastic build and faux-leather finish, but overall, the Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 is a well-made device.

Admittedly, we find nothing unique about the Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4, at least not when it comes to design. Quite the opposite – it strikes a very close visual resemblance to a number of recent Samsung devices, including the Galaxy Note 3 and the 2014-edition Galaxy Note 10.1. But you know what, we aren't complaining. After all, what's wrong with rehashing the looks of gadgets that are liked, as long as it isn't being overdone? Among the many design cues adopted by the Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 are the metal-like trim around the edge, the curvy corners, and, of course, the faux-leather finish on the otherwise plastic-made back plate with decorative stitching around the sides. The latter feature, in particular, is one we're quite fond of. It has a sophisticated look and feels nice to the touch, all the while providing plenty of friction, thus preventing accidental slip outs. All in all, even though it does not make any use of premium materials in its construction, the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 is still a solid, elegant, well-made device with a professional appearance.

If you're like us, then you'll probably find yourself using the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 primarily in portrait mode, holding the tablet from the bottom corner and operating it with your other hand. However, the slim side bezels don't leave much space for the user's thumb to rest, which could cause accidental taps near the edge of the touchscreen. Alternatively, folks with larger hands might try grasping the device entirely with a single hand, although we wouldn't recommend using the Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 like this for prolonged periods of time.

Below the screen of the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 we find a slightly raised and easy to find physical “Home” key. Next to it is a couple of capacitive buttons – one for the “Back” function and another one used for listing the recent apps. No dedicated “Menu” key is present, as that has been substituted with a button in the UI.

On the right side of the tablet are located its power and volume keys. We find them sufficiently large, well exposed, and with good tactile feedback. Something you won't find on may tablets is the Tab PRO 8.4's built-in infra-red blaster, which lets it act as an intelligent remote control.

Looking at the bottom of the slate we see a microUSB port and a pair of speakers. The placement of the latter is far from ideal for the stereo effect created is minimal, not to mention that the speakers' openings can be easily obstructed by accident when the tablet is held horizontally. The 3.5-millimeter headphone jack is positioned on the device's top and the slot for microSD cards is on its left side.

Display

One of the very best tablet displays we've come across. Its high resolution and beautiful colors are commendable.

If there's one thing that the display on the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 lacks, that would be drawbacks. Seriously, this is one of the most beautiful tablet screens we've had the pleasure to examine in the recent past, and the extremely high pixel density is among the best things about it. Spreading a resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels along 8.4 inches of real estate gives us a figure of 359 ppi, which is the highest we've seen on a tablet to date. Mind you, this has not been achieved using some unorthodox sub-pixel arrangement – traditional RGB sub-pixels are in play. Overkill, you say? Well, we don't think so, and we believe you'd agree with us once you see this gorgeous screen in person. Simply put, anything from graphics and texts to high-res images and video displayed on the Tab PRO 8.4 look outstanding.

But that's not all there is to like about it. The tablet's screen is of the Super Clear LCD variety and produces very accurate colors across the entire spectrum. There are some minor deviations from the ideal color values, as indicated by our measurements, but in reality, these are slight enough to go totally unnoticed by most users.

We didn't have any troubles using the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 outdoors. That was mostly due to its above average brightness output of 410 nits, but the low reflectance of the screen's surface played its role as well. Furthermore, the minimum brightness of the display goes as low as 4 nits, which is great for using the device at night with the lights out, be it for checking your Twitter feed or reading a book.

Interface

Magazine UX is an almost ideal solution for tablets because of its good use of screen space. Multi Window lets us enjoy proper multitasking on a tablet.

A non-Nexus Android device launching with the most recent version of the platform is a rare occurrence. That's why Samsung deserves a thumbs up – the Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 ships with Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box. But to no surprise, the UI of the operating system has been heavily modified on many levels. Layered on top we find a fresh new interface named Magazine UX, which basically builds upon the well-known TouchWiz by extending its already rich array of features.

The great thing about Magazine UX is that it is built from the ground up with tablets in mind. It takes full advantage of the available screen space by filling it with tiles of all kinds. Yes, we're calling them “tiles” since they remind us of the way Microsoft's Modern UI is laid out. These can behave as shortcuts to apps, as widgets, or as aggregated news feeds on topics of your choice, powered by Flipboard. And you can rearrange them to your liking, which is also nice. All in all, we're pleased with Samsung's new approach to UI design, as similar as it may look to the Modern UI found on Windows 8 tablets. It does a good job at giving quick access to up-to-date news and our frequently used software, all the while being simple enough for both novice and experienced users to get the hang of it.

Traditional home screens, where app shortcuts and third-party widgets can be placed, are still available, should you prefer using these instead of Magazine UX. But if that's the case, you might be a bit disappointed to learn that at least one Magazine screen has to remain enabled.

As we mentioned above, many features found in previous TouchWiz versions – Smart Stay, Blocking Mode, S Voice, and KNOX – haven't been omitted. Multi Window, which lets us use two active apps side by side, is also present, allowing us to enjoy a true multitasking experience instead of having to switch back and forth between opened apps.

Functionality

While Magazine UX feels different as a whole, Samsung has chosen to not modify some of the core applications in its interface. The Contacts app, for example, has a very familiar look, with people listed on the left side of the screen and info for the highlighted contact listed on the right. We have a search bar at our disposal, and the options to sort contacts in groups, so all in all, there's nothing about the Contacts app that we find lacking.

We're delighted by the on-screen keyboard offered by the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4. It offers large, well-spaced keys, accurate word prediction and correcting, and quick access to items placed on our clipboard. Furthermore, we appreciate having three different keyboard layouts – classic, floating, and split. When it comes to speed, we have not experienced a single case of lag with Samsung's keyboard.

Hancom Office is what comes on the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 for all your professional needs. Basically, it is an office solution compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. And it is a capable one indeed. Seriously, the software is very suitable for creating both basic and complex documents while on the go, especially with its intuitive, touch-screen optimized user interface. If you've ever used Microsoft's Office, than you should be feeling right at home with Hancom's alternative.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 is compable with WebEx, which is professional-grade solution for video conferencing. In a nutshell, the software enables two or more people to attend an online meeting in order to collaborate on projects, exchange files, provide help or instructions through the built-in desktop sharing feature, and more. This is a feature that might come in handy if you're a business professional.

Remote PC is also on the list of software pre-loaded on the Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4. As the name implies, it is an app allowing one with a Samsung account to access and control their computer over the internet.

Processor and memory

There's plenty of raw processing power under the hood. Games and heavy applications run perfectly fine.

Looking at raw data alone, the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 is one very capable tablet. In fact, it ranks among the most powerful slates on the market thanks to its top-notch hardware setup – quad-core, 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 SoC with Krait 400 CPUs and Adreno 330 graphics. But when it comes to real-life performance, we still see lags and choppy transitions every once in a while, which is disappointing. Don't get us wrong as the tablet is still pretty fast overall. It is just that the occasional stuttering can be a tad annoying. The 2GB of RAM present on board are definitely sufficient to ensure a smooth multitasking experience, although tablets with 3GB of RAM are already on the market. Games, including demanding ones like Real Racing 3, run well on the device, so you should have no troubles running any game on the Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4.

The base Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 model comes with 16GB of storage, out of which a little over 10 gigs are user-available, the rest being occupied by non-removable system files. For a tablet that's intended to be used as a professional device, that's not a whole lot, yet thankfully, there's a microSD card slot available, supporting cards of up to 64 gigabytes. Alternatively, a 32GB model should be launched as well. Or if you don't mind relying on cloud storage, Samsung is treating Galaxy Tab PRO buyers to 50GB of free Dropbox storage for 2 years.

Internet browser and connectivity

No complaints here. We find the excellent Internet browser on the Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 with support for tabbed browsing and built-in Reader Mode, which comes in handy when reading large articles. In plain words, this mode increases font size and removes non-essential content from the page, leaving only the body of the article. Oh, and did we say that the default browser is super-fast too? Even heavy pages like ours take little time to load. Navigation is smooth and rendering while zooming takes only a fraction of a second.

The base Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 tablet connects to the internet only over Wi-Fi, but a 3G/4G LTE model is also in the works. What's more, this variant of the device will sport a built-in earpiece for making phone calls, although we can't guarantee that a carrier-specific model won't have this feature blocked. Naturally, you get GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac with this tablet. NFC and FM radio connectivity, however, aren't supported.

Camera

Good news! The Galaxy Tab PRO takes great daytime photos with its 8MP camera. Even night photos are not bad.

Surprise, surprise! It turns out that the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 is one of the few tablets boasting a really good main snapper. On the back of the device we find an 8MP camera with auto-focus and LED flash. What makes things even better, the camera app is rich in modes and settings – lots of the fancy stuff a Galaxy S4 can do with its camera, the Tab PRO 8.4 can do as well. Think features like erasing moving objects from the frame, or shooting a burst of photos and then picking the best one. There's also HDR, Panorama, time-lapse videos, and so on. Support for 4K or slow-mo video recording isn't present, but we weren't expecting to see these perks on a tablet anyway.

Daytime photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 are sharp and detailed even when viewed at full size. What's more, the high resolution of the produced images gives you plenty of freedom to crop them to your liking. Colors are life-like and neutral in appearance, just like they're supposed to be. Even panorama and HDR photos turn out splendid. Photos taken at night, or in any case when light is scarce, are much less detailed, but they're still perfectly usable when viewed at a smaller size. The LED light, however, sometimes disrupts the color balance when it is used.



In broad daylight, the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 can take decent (for a tablet) 1080p videos. Low-light videos are much noisier, as expected, but they don't look terrible either. The only thing we're really disappointed by is the microphone, which captures low-quality sound at a low volume level.

Multimedia

The beautiful screen make this a great tablet for watching photos or video, and the IR blaster is a welcome feature. Speakers, however, could have been better.

There's nothing new about Samsung's Gallery application as it is identical to the one found on other recent Samsung devices. We don't mind, however, as the app is pretty good the way it is. It lists the folders containing images on the left, while the images in the highlighted folder are listed on the right, each with its own, resizeable thumbnail. Images can be grouped chronologically, or by location, if that's your cup of tea. The mandatory image editing tools come built into the software, allowing us to crop or rotate the picture, as well as to add stickers or effects to it.

The Music player has a rather simple interface. It isn't beautiful, but it is straightforward to use and has any core feature that a music player needs, and then some. Music is organized in tabs, with album art displayed next to each item. Effects come built into the app, along with a 7-band equalizer and an intelligent volume normalizer. When the app is in the background, music playback can be controlled from the home screen widget, from the notifications panel, and even from the lock screen. Furthermore, Samsung has implemented its Adapt Sound feature, which can fine-tune sound reproduction in a way that matches the user's headphones and hearing.

Speaking of music reproduction, the sound coming out of the tablet's built-in speakers is of decent volume and quality. There's even an audible hint of bass. We're just not happy with the speakers' placement on the narrow side of the device as there's no stereo effect while watching videos.

The IR blaster on the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 lets the device act as a remote control for your TV or set-top box, and that's a very welcome feature. In fact, in select countries, the WatchON feature will turn your tablet into a full-fledged TV guide, showing what's playing on each channel. Tap on your show of choice and the tablet will automatically switch to the channel it is on. Neat, huh?

With its gorgeous, widescreen display, the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 is ideal for watching videos and even full-length movies. Just be aware of its lack of DivX codec support – something that has to be rectified by downloading a third-party video player. All other popular video file formats, however, are playable with the tablet's stock Video app and run flawlessly at 1080p resolution. The app comes with support for Samsung's Popup Play feature for watching videos in windowed mode.

Battery life

The 4800mAh battery cell built into the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 is rated for 10 hours of internet use time, 12 hours of video playback, or 127 hours of audio playback, according to the manufacturer, which are all typical figures for a tablet of this class and size. Our real-world experience with the device shows that even when used extensively, it should last through at least an entire workday. Therefore, it is safe to assume that if you're a moderate user, your Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 should need a recharge no more often than every other day.

Conclusion

With a starting price of $400 (in the US), the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 is among the most expensive tablets of this caliber. It costs as much as a 2-gen iPad mini and $100 more than an LG G Pad 8.3, for that matter. But is this rather steep price tag justified? You betcha!

Samsung's smallest PRO tablet offers more bang for the buck than any other slate of around this size. It is slim, light, and highly portable, but also very powerful and rich in features. And when we throw its gorgeous, high-res display and capable camera into account, we end up with a slate we'd totally recommend to anyone who doesn't mind its cost.

Design-wise, the Samsung Galaxy Tab PRO 8.4 leaves room for improvement. It isn't a badly-made tablet by any means, but we are still wondering when we might finally see a Samsung slate made of something more premium than plastic. To those who like the looks and feel of fancier build materials, we'd recommend giving the equally-priced iPad mini with Retina Display a try.

If you find $400 too much to spend on a tablet, the LG G Pad 8.3 would be an ideal alternative to the Tab PRO 8.4. LG's 8.3-inch offering is fast, well-built, and graced by a beautiful display, all the while retailing for just $300 online. And to those who don't mind settling with a screen of just 7 inches, then the 2013-edition Google Nexus 7 tablet, with its high-resolution display and pure Gooogle experience, would be an excellent choice.

Software version of the reviewed unit: Android 4.4.2, Build: KOT49H.T320XXU0AML7