Category: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Specs Leak, 5.68-Inch 1080p HD Display

Samsung asked us to ‘note” September 4th on our calendars last week. This is when we can expect them to officially unveil the Galaxy Note 3, a follow-up to the original Galaxy Note and the Note II phablet. A new report from reputable site SamMobile has revealed a bevy of new specs.

Depending on the country release, the Galaxy Note 3 will have a couple model numbers – SM-N900 & SM-N9005 – and sport the following specs: 5.68-inch full HD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080 resolution, 1.8GHz Octa-core Exynos 5420 processor, 3GB RAM, 13MP camera with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), LTE connectivity, 16/32/64GB internal storage (64GB will be rare) plus a microSD slot, 3,200 mAh battery and running Android OS 4.3 Jelly Bean. No insight into any new S-Pen features.

Samsung announced at the end of July it had started mass production of low power, 3GB LPDDR3 RAM for mobile, and devices using it would appear during the second half of 2013.

The latest leak also hints that Samsung will launch more than one variants of its Galaxy Note 3, similar to the international and U.S. editions of the Galaxy S4 from earlier this year. This is consistent with previous rumors.

There’s no word on the availability, pricing, or colours, but Samsung will show off the Galaxy Note 3 at the upcoming Samsung Mobile Unpacked event during the IFA in Berlin.

[Via]

August 13, 2013
Samsung To Buy OLED Maker Novaled For $347 Million

Samsung is spending a few hundred million on a new acquisition to help it meet the growing need for OLED displays.

According to Cnet, Samsung Electronics and its affiliate Cheil Industries will together buy Novaled for $347 million. Chiel, which makes electronic materials for OLED screens, will purchase a 50 percent chunk of Novaled, while Samsung will acquire 40 percent. The remaining 10 percent is already owned by Samsung’s venture capital unit.

Germany-based Novaled develops OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) that are used in the displays of smartphones and increasingly those of TV sets. OLED screens are thinner, lighter, and brighter than conventional LED screens, but are more difficult to manufacture.

Samsung has faced technical challenges trying to ramp up production of OLED display panels, especially ones large enough to handle large-screen TVs. Samsung’s success rate at producing a reliable 55-inch OLED screen has been only around 50 percent, according to analysts cited by The Wall Street Journal. That’s one reason why the cost of the the company’s new 55-inch OLED TV is still exorbitantly high, starting at $13,000.

Through the acquisition of Novaled, Cheil Industries strengthens its leading position in the field of electronic materials, and we are able to achieve significant synergies in research and development of OLED material of the next generation,” Cheil Industries CEO Jong-Woo Park said in a statement.

This step by Samsung can be of great help to them and possibly to the buyers as now the screens can be manufactured according to the demand and may be Samsung keeps a reasonable amount for its buyers.

[via]

August 12, 2013

LG G2 vs LG Optimus G Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S4 vs HTC One | Flagships Compared

LG is in the lime light once again with its latest flagship smartphone, the G2. Powered by the mighty Snapdragon 800 chipset with four Krait 400 cores clocked at 2.3GHz, an Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM, the LG G2 simply blows the competition out of the box in terms of processing power.

The battle of the Flagship devices is always on, today we are going to compare the latest Flagship devices available or to be available in the market which are LG G2, LG Optimus G pro, Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC one. All these devices are of different screen sizes which are 5.2″, 5.5″, 5″ and 4.7″ respectively. All of these devices have a full HD resolution, which can give an edge to HTC one for the ppi. We think most people would not notice difference between 424 ppi of the LG G2 and 469 ppi for the HTC one.

Let us compare all of these devices in detail below:

Device	LG G2	Galaxy S4	LG Optimus G Pro	HTC One
OS	Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean	Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean	Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean	Android (4.2.2, 4.1.2)
Display	5.2″ IPS LCD	5″ Super AMOLED HD	5.5″ IPS LCD	4.7″ Super LCD 3
Resolution	1920 x 1080 (424 ppi)	1920 x 1080 (441 ppi)	1920 x 1080 (401 ppi)	1920 x 1080 (469 ppi)
Dimensions	135.5mm x 70.9 mm x 8.9 mm	136.66 mm x 69.8 mm x 7.9 mm	150.2 mm x 76.1 mm x 9.4 mm	137.4mm x 68.2 mm x 9.3 mm
Weight	143 grams	130 grams	160 grams	143 grams
Chipset	Snapdragon 800	Exynos 5 Octa 5410/ Qualcomm CPU; varies by market.	Snapdragon 600	Snapdragon 600
Processor	Quad-core 2.3 GHz	1.6 GHz Quad + 1.2 GHz Quad / 1.9GHz quad-core,(Varies)	1.7 Ghz Quad core	1.7 Ghz Quad- core
GPU	Adreno 330	PowerVR SGX 544MP3	Adreno 320	Adreno 320
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB
Storage	32 GB	16 GB	32 GB	32/64 GB
MicrosSD card slot	Yes	Yes	Yes	NO
Primary camera	13 MP Full HD @60fps	13 MP Full HD @30fps	13 MP Full HD @30fps	4 MP Ultra pixel Full HD @30fps
Front camera	2.1 MP	2 MP	2.1 MP	2 MP (HDR)
Battery	3000 mAh	2600 mAh	3140 mAh	2300 mAh
WiFi	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n,ac, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n,ac, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 LE with A2DP	Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, EDR	Yes	Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
Network	Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Quad-band UMTS/HSPA Penta-band LTE support, LTE-Advanced	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 LTE 800 / 1800 / 2600	GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz LTE 800 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2600 MHz	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 LTE (market dependent)
NFC	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Speakers	mono	mono	mono	Stereo
Availability	Expected this month	available	available	available
Price	TBA Exp. 45,000	39,500	35,000	40,000

It’s a matter of preference, but it’s hard to compete with the big guys. LG might not beat any of these in sales. The general consumer tends to go with the popular choices like Samsung and HTC. This does not mean that the LG G2 is not the best your money can buy. As far as India is concerned pricing may be the biggest factor. So which one would you take home ? you can leave your views in the comment section below.

August 8, 2013

Samsung Galaxy Gear Can Be The Next Change In Tech World

Samsung is all set to host the Unpacked event in Berlin on 4 September ahead of the IFA consumer electronics show. The South-Korean tech giant is expected to launch the Galaxy Note III at this event but for tech enthusiasts all over, its the news of another Samsung device that is most endearing.

Samsung is rumored to unveil its first ever smartwatch in less than a month, we now have a very good idea of what the new device will be called. A Dutch website called “GalaxyClub” has spotted a trademark filing for a new line of devices called the Galaxy Gear. Earlier rumors have indicated that Samsung will release the device on September 4th alongside its Note III.

Patent Filing

GalaxyClub has also reported that Samsung has filed this smart watch in a new patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in July. According to the patent document, the description for the device states “Wearable digital electronic devices in the form of a wristwatch, wrist band or bangle capable of providing access to the Internet and for sending and receiving phone calls, electronic mails and messages”. You can view the patent in the link below.

Smart watches and wearable computing devices are the future. So there is no reason why Samsung would want to be left behind in this market, especially with the news of an Apple iWatch looming in the rumor mills.

[VIA],[USPTO]

August 6, 2013
Samsung To Announce The Galaxy Note 3 On September 4

Samsung took to Twitter to inform the masses that the next iteration of their Unpacked event will take place on September 4th. This will be the IFA in Germany and the invite also shows the words “Note the date,” which could indicate that the the Galaxy Note 3 will be unveiled.

The Galaxy Note 3 is also rumoured to launch alongside a smart watch, AKA ‘Gear’, although that isn’t confirmed on the invite.

Samsung traditionally launches devices just before – or just after – the big shows. The Samsung Galaxy S4 coming out just after Mobile World Congress in February, for instance.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the next chapter in Samsung’s super-successful phablet range and is said to feature a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED screen, 3GB RAM and either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC or the company’s own Exynos Octa 5 chipset – although the latter will only come to certain territories.

It will come equipped with a Samsung Galaxy S4 matching 13-megapixel rear camera.

Apparently, 5.5-inch, 5.7-inch and 6-inch versions of the smartphone will reportedly touch down on September 4, although such small size differences seem a little strange to us.

What do you think? Will the Galaxy Note 3 take everyone by surprise? Or will it just be a bigger Galaxy S4? Let us know below!

August 5, 2013
Report : Apple will use Samsung Retina Display in the next iPad Mini

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Apple has chosen Samsung to supply the displays for the next generation iPad Mini, which will also boast a retina resolution. As originally imagined, Apple was intending to only employ LG and Sharp for the supply of the LCD panels, but the it seems due to lack of supply, the displays have been also ordered from Samsung’s display division.

Apple has often been known to test components before confirming the final elements of the build. Earlier reports had stated that Apple will not launch an iPad Mini Retina this year, but if the present report is to be believed, not only will Apple Launch a iPad Mini with a high resolution Retina Display, they will also employ their arch nemesis with the job of providing hardware for the unique build.

Apple has tried to completely block off purchasing from Samsung, but the korean giant is probably the only producer of high quality panels that can be produced at an economical and profitable price. Apple presently gets their displays form AU Optronics, who have clearly stated

We cannot take [Apple’s] orders because our rate of output efficiency is too low to be profitable, the company doesn’t make a profit from manufacturing the current iPad Mini’s screens. – said an AU Optronics manager.

In these desperate time it appears that Apple might just have to buy a LCD technology company, but unfortunately for them none are for sale.

August 2, 2013
Samsung caught boosting Benchmark results on Exynos devices

Most people consider the benchmark results of a smartphone before buying the handset. If reports are accurate, it appears Samsung has been boosting Benchmarks and inflating those numbers for quite some time, to enhance the overall outcome of the benchmark scores on Exynos devices. According to the tech explorers at Anandtech, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a software bot by the name of “BenchmarkBooster,” which is responsible for overclocking the processors when certain apps are running. This causes a 13% average increase in the overall outcome of the GPU benchmark and similar enhancements on the CPU side. The apps affected by this so called “BenchmarkBooster,” are GLBench 2.5.1, AnTuTu, Quadrant and Linpack whereas the GFXBench 2.7.0 is able to bypass the incremental patch.

What Samsung is actually doing is unknown, when we reached a Samsung Rep in India we were told that Korea HQ is looking into the matter and “may soon release an official statement”. Samsung could however be boosting Benchmark scores to impress upcoming customers and even reviewers in believing that the Exynos Based Smartphones perform better than they actually do. This could indeed inflate sales a bucket load more. Let’s see what Samsung has to say. For a detailed account and geeky numbers hit the source link below.

[Anandtech]

July 31, 2013
Samsung Working On 12.2″ And 10″ Tablets With 2,560 x 1,600 Resolution Panels

Samsung has just released three new tablets in the form of the entry-level Galaxy Tab 3 7.0, the mid-range Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 and the in-the-middle Galaxy Tab 3 10.1. While all are clear improvements over their predecessors, both in terms of appearance and software, they still lack the high-end components of some of their Galaxy Note counterparts.

According to evleaks, Samsung is to release a 12.2-inch Galaxy Note variant with an Exynos 5 Octa chip and high-resolution screen of 2560×1600 pixels, along with an S-Pen. This will likely appeal to the stationary tablet user, someone who wants a large, sharp display for sketching or drafting. Its model number is slated to be SM-P900.

Another tablet, a more manageable 10-inch variant, will likely join the Galaxy Tab family, and have a similar resolution of 2560×1600 pixels — this is the same density as the Nexus 10 — along with an ultra-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC. Model number P600.

Expect these tablets to debut in the coming months, as Samsung continues to saturate the phone and tablet market with every conceivable price range and screen size.

There also exists the possibility that both of these tablets may have 3GB of RAM onboard. Right now no alleged pictures of both tablets have leaked and it is not known when Samsung plans on making them official.

[Via]

July 29, 2013
Samsung Is Now Producing The “World’s Fastest” eMMC 5.0 Flash Memory

Samsung is now mass-producing what it said is the world’s fastest mobile memory, an embedded MultiMedia Card (eMMC) that comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB densities for next-generation smartphones and tablet.

Aiming for the title of the fastest embedded memory, the chips are said to be capable of peaking at 400MB/s, enabling quick application booting and reduced loading times. The latter two storage choices will be able to operate at 250MB/s sequential read speeds and write sequentially at 90MB/s. According to the company, these modules are over 10 times faster than class 10 external memory cards.

By comparison, Samsung’s current eMMC Pro chips (based on the 4.5 specification) offer up to 2,000 IOPS random write and 3,500 random read IOPS, and 150MB/sec sequential read and 50MB/sec write rates.

“With timely mass production of our ultra-fast eMMC PRO lineup offering a more than 10x performance increase over external memory cards, Samsung will accelerate the spread of high-end mobile devices as the market for devices with larger screens and more multimedia functionality expands even further,” Samsung’s vice president of memory marketing, KyongMoo Mang, said in a statement.

The company asserts that the 32GB and 64GB can also obtain random read and write speeds of 7000 IOPS. The Samsung eMMC 5.0 modules have been developed by leveraging the 64Gb 10nm class NAND flash technology. Additionally, the conglomerate has integrated its own NAND controller and firmware into the modules.

Samsung’s 16GB, 32GB and 64GB eMMC 5.0 devices come in 11.5mm x 13mm packages, making them suitable for mobile devices where space on the printed circuit board is extremely limited. Again, just like the 3GB of RAM, we would expect the Galaxy Note III to be the first device that uses this faster and more capable storage chip.

[Via]

July 27, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Prototype Leaked, Reveal Specs And Design

Samsung is on deck to announce the 3rd generation of the Galaxy Note this September at IFA. Previous leaks indicated that the Note III will sport a 5.99-inch display, but today a picture and spec sheet has found its way online, courtesy of techkiddy.

The photos, which supposedly depict a prototype of the Galaxy Note 3, portray a form factor with sharp square edges as opposed to the soft rounded corners we’re accustomed to.

According to Technology Blogs Simplified, the specs of the Galaxy Note 3 are a little different to previous rumors that we reported back in December last year; the phone will feature a “pants busting” 5.7″ Super AMOLED Full HD display, Octa-Core or Snapdragon 800 processor, 13 megapixel camera, Android 4.3, S Pen functions and Samsung’s own TouchWiz nature UX interface.

Of course all of this is still unconfirmed, and should be taken with a fistful of salt, as the images don’t show any comparison to previous iterations, or even if we’re looking at what will be the Galaxy Note 3 at all.

What do you think? Can Samsung still sell more phones by using plastic? Keep in mind that Google will start selling a new phone in August with better materials, plus HTC is already selling its two Android-based smartphones with better build quality than Samsung — the HTC One and the new HTC One Mini.

[Via, Via]

July 26, 2013
Report : New Nexus 10 Tablet In The Works

Just hours after the unveiling of the Google Nexus 7 we’ve heard word that the Nexus 10 could also be getting an update soon.

According to Google’s Sundar Pichai, the new 10-incher refresh isn’t far away. While we haven’t heard anything from Pichai publicly, The Wall Street Journal’s Amir Efrati has been recounting his experience at today’s Google event on Twitter, and mentions that Pichai advised that a Samsung-made follow-up to last year’s Nexus 10 should be launching “in the near future.”

The new Nexus 7 launched last night, packing a high-res 323ppi display, 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 CPU, 2GB of RAM and Android 4.3.

Unfortunately apart from the confirmation that a new Nexus 10 is in the works, the exact specifications of the tablet were not shared, obviously, but he did state that we can expect to learn more about it in the near future.

Samsung will most likely pack the new Nexus 10 with it’s latest Exynos octa-core processor. Guess we’ll have to wait and see!

[Via]

July 25, 2013
Samsung Shows new Exynos 5 Octa SOC : with 20 % more CPU power

Samsung is eager to show off their new chipset based on the Exynos 5 which will most probably land up in their next version of the Galaxy Note aka the Note 3. The new 5420 variant of the SoC is based on Mali-T628 MP6 chip and pairs a Quad Core ARM Cortex-A15 at 1.8GHz alongside a quad core 1.3GHz Cortex-A7 BigLittle configuration with smart switching.

Samsung’s PR claims that the new chip is not only 20 more effective at processing, it also has twice the graphics prowess. The memory is also a faster Dual-channel LPDDR3 at 933MHz with a memory bandwidth of 14.9 GBps. Thanks to the configuration the chipset will support multiple full HD WiFi displays.

The Chipset is on track to be made available to OEMs by August, which means it might as well end up in Samsung’s September baby.

[toggle title=”Press Release”]Samsung Brings Enhanced Mobile Graphics Performance Capabilities to New Exynos 5 Octa Processor

SEOUL, Korea, July 23, 2013 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, today introduced the latest addition to the Exynos product family with top level of graphic performance driven by a six-core ARM® Mali™-T628 GPU processor for the first time in the industry. With mobile use case scenarios becoming increasingly complex, Samsung’s newest eight-core application processor gives designers a powerful, energy efficient tool to build multifaceted user interface capabilities directly into the system architecture. Samsung will demonstrate the new Exynos 5 family at SIGGRAPH 2013 in the ARM booth, #357; Exhibit Hall C at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Samsung’s new Exynos 5 Octa (product code : Exynos 5420), based on ARM Mali™-T628 MP6 cores, boosts 3D graphic processing capabilities that are over two times greater than the Exynos 5 Octa predecessor. The newest member of the Exynos family is able to perform General-Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) accelerating complex and computationally intensive algorithms or operations, traditionally processed by the CPU. This product also supports OpenGL® ES 3.0 and Full Profile Open CL 1.1, which enables the horsepower needed in multi-layer rendering of high-end, complex gaming scenarios, post-processing and sharing of photos and video, as well as general high-function multi-tasking operations.

“ARM welcomes the latest addition to the successful Exynos Octa 5 series, which uses ARM’s Mali GPU solution to dramatically improve graphics performance,” said Pete Hutton, executive vice president & general manager, Media Processing Division, ARM. “ARM big.LITTLE™ and ARM Artisan® Physical IP technologies continue to be at the heart of the Octa series and now complement the new functionality brought by ARM GPU Compute. This combination enables unprecedented capabilities in areas such as facial detection and gesture control, and brings desktop-quality editing of images and video to mobile devices.”

“Demand for richer graphic experiences is growing rapidly nowadays,” said Taehoon Kim, vice president of System LSI marketing, Samsung Electronics. “In order to meet that demand from both OEMs and end users, we developed this processor which enables superb graphical performance without compromising power consumption.”

The newest Exynos processor is powered by four ARM Cortex®-A15™ processors at 1.8GHz with four additional Cortex-A7™ cores at 1.3 GHz in a big.LITTLE processing implementation. This improves the CPU processing capability by 20 percent over the predecessor by optimizing the power-saving design.

In addition, the multiple image compression (MIC) IP block inside this System-on-Chip successfully lowers the total system power when bringing pictures or multimedia from memory to display panel. This feature results in maximizing the usage hours of mobile devices with a high-resolution display such as WQXGA (2500×1600), in particular when browsing the web or doing multimedia application requiring the frequent screen refresh.

The new Exynos 5 Octa processor also features a memory bandwidth of 14.9 gigabytes per second paired with a dual-channel LPDDR3 at 933MHz, enabling an industry-leading fast data processing and support for full HD Wifi display. This new processor also incorporates a variety of full HD 60 frames per second video hardware codec engines for 1080p video recording and playback.

The new family of Exynos 5 Octa is currently sampling to customers and is scheduled for mass-production in August.[/toggle]

July 23, 2013
Report : Some Samsung Galaxy Note 2 And S3 Variants To Skip Android 4.2.2 For 4.3

Samsung Galaxy Note II users, along with Galaxy S3 owners, have been waiting rather impatiently for their turn to upgrade to Android 4.2.2, which came pre-installed on the flagship GS4.

Now, it seems as though the company may be moving away from releasing a version of the eight month-old software in favour of waiting for Google’s inevitable Android 4.3 release, which is slated to come to AOSP next week.

Telstra, an Australian network provider released a statement on their upgrade page claiming, “Samsung have elected globally to skip the 4.2.2 update for this device and will instead go to a newer version of Android. No schedule has been provided for this update.”

In some ways, this is a good move. Android 4.3 brings OpenGL ES 3.0 support along with standardized Bluetooth LE functionality and a host of other small improvements. Considering some devices, like the Nexus 7, actually dropped in performance from Android 4.1 to 4.2, Samsung may be waiting for Google to fix some underlying code issues before pushing the upgrade trigger.

While this is in no way an official report, the same would seem likely for the Galaxy S3, which is only waiting in limbo for some sort of upgrade news.

[Via]

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July 20, 2013
Samsung’s New Exynos 5 Octa Coming Next Week

While U.S. Samsung Galaxy S4 owners received a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC in their handsets, some global variants, including Indian devices, were released with Samsung’s octa-core Exynos 5 Octa SoC.

Samsung took to Twitter today to announce an upgrade to their Exynos processors, claiming, “a new Exynos 5 Octa is coming next week!” While we are not sure what improvements have been made to the octa-core processor, Samsung claims that it will be “more powerful” and “enhanced” than the older version.

Speculation calls for the new chip to be the Samsung Exynos 5420 and will feature a higher clock speed along with improved optimization for the 8 integrated cores. Not technically a true octa-core chip, the Exynos 5 Octa is comprised of two sets of quad-cores with one set of Cortex-A15 chips doing the heavy lifting while the other set of quad-core Cortex-A7 chips takes care of the light housekeeping. Not all 8 cores can be used at once. When one set of quad-core chips are being used, the other cannot.

Looking at history, Samsung has always created an Exynos processor and improved it in some way soon after. Whether it be double the cores (in the case of the Exynos 4) or LTE capabilities, Samsung always steps up its game with the second version of its processors.

As PhoneArena reports, a road map from low cost chip producer MediaTek showed off a true octa-core chip coming, manufactured using TSMC’s 28nm process. Mass production of this chip, the MT6592, is expected to start in November with the first handsets powered by the silicon to launch early next year. All 8 cores will be available for use at once.

We expect the next generation Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone to be powered by the new Exynos 5 Octa chip.

[Via]

July 19, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Launched in India (Hands On)

Samsung today announced the introduction of the Galaxy Tab 3 311 (8-inch screen) and Galaxy Tab 3 211 (7-inch screen) in India. These tablets are a follow up to the popular Galaxy Tab 2 series. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 211 (7″) is priced at Rs. 17,745, Tab 3 311 (8″) at Rs. 25,725 and the Wi-Fi only Tab 3 310 (8″) at Rs. 21,945.

We went hands-on with the devices.

Specifications and Hardware :

The 7 inch Galaxy Tab 3 is powered by a 1.2 ghz dual core processor, supported with 1GB of RAM. The 7 inch screen has a 1024×600 panel with 169ppi density. There are 8GB and 16GB versions available, with a Micro SD card slot allowing additional storage up to 64GB. The tablet runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The 8 inch Galaxy Tab 3 is more powerful, featuring a 1.5ghz dual core processor with 1.5GB of RAM. It has a 5 MP rear camera and a 1.3 MP front facing camera. The screen is of a higher resolution at 1280×800. There are 32GB and 64GB versions available with another 64GB offered via the microSD card. The tablet has a 4,450mAh battery and runs Jelly Bean 4.2 with Wifi only and 3G versions.

Initial Impressions

The first thing that you will notice when you see the tablets is that they’re, as usual, of the same Samsung style design. However, the tablets are really slim and lightweight. The 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 has 7.4mm thickness and it really helps in somewhat easing one handed operation.

The design cues are the same though. Curved, rounded edges with a large display and a physical home button. Following the tradition, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 also has 2 touch capacitive buttons next to the home button.

You have a Galaxy S4 – type bezel running around the edge of the tablets, and the back panel has a glossy finish to it which, unfortunately, attracts finger prints.

The displays though, despite their low pixel densities are surprisingly clear. The colour reproductions and viewing angles are good as well. Samsung also touts the Reading Mode on these devices which adjusts the displays to make reading text easier on your eyes.

The software on these 2 tablets again has all the goodies that comes along with Samsung (TouchWiz) devices. Due to the large screen sizes, Multi-Window is relatively easier to use on these devices than on it’s smartphone siblings.

These devices are one of several Samsung has released with a Dropbox bonus of 50GB of cloud storage added on to your account – or added to a brand new account – for 2 years from the point at which you access said space.

Stay tuned for our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.

Images

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7-Inch

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8-Inch

Buy it Now

July 18, 2013