The Tab S 10.5 is one of the two variants of tablets unveiled by Samsung two weeks ago. Today, we’ll compare the bigger Tab S tablet with Apple’s iPad Air, which was released last year. So, both of the devices come in LTE, non-LTE or WiFi variants, but only the Tab S has a fingerprint scanner.
Displays and sizes
The Galaxy Tab S has, as you figured out, a 10.5inches display, which is Super AMOLED and renders a resolution of 2,560×1,600pixels. Its competitor has a 9.7inches IPS LCD display, which supports a lower resolution – 2,048×1,536pixels and a lower pixel density as well – 264ppi, while Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S 10.5 pixel density is of 288ppi.
Just like its smaller version, the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 has a WQXGA (2,560×1,600) Super AMOLED display that presents over 90% of Adobe RGB color coverage and the contrast ratio stands at 100,000:1, while Apple’s iPad Air’s contrast ratio stands at only 1,000:1. Hooray for Samsung!
The Tab S 10.5 looks like the S5 on the outside, having a perforated textured rear. The iPad Air has an aluminum chassis and makes it have a premium appearance.
The Tab S is 0.26inches thick and has a weight of 467grams. The iPad Air is thicker – 0.30inches and heavier – 478grams.
Hardware and OS
The WiFi variant of the Galaxy Tab has an octa-core Exynos 5 Cortex-A7 processor which is clocked at 1.9GHz quad-core & 1.3GHz quad-core, and it has 3GB of RAM. The LTE version has 2.3GHz quad-core (Qualcomm Snapdragon 800) Krait 400 processor. The iPad Air is powered by an inferior dual-core Cyclone (Apple A7 64-bit) processor, which is clocked at 1.4GHz, and it has only 1GB of RAM.
The Tab S is running on the Android v4.4 KitKat OS and has Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, while the iPad Air is running on Apple’s iOS 7, which can be upgraded to higher versions.
Memories
The Samsung model has two variants of internal memories: 16 and 32GB, expandable up to 128GB, while Apple’s iPad Air has four variants of unexpandable internal memories: from 16GB to 128GB.
Cameras
The iPad Air takes pictures with its 5MP rear-facing camera and also has a 1.2MP front-facing camera. The Galaxy Tab S has a more advanced primary camera – 8MP (LED flash) and the secondary camera is of 2.1MP.
Batteries
Both of the phones come with non-removable batteries, but the Tab S is equipped with a 7900mAh battery with Ultra Power Saving mode, and it lasts 11 hours when it’s used continuously, while the iPad Air has a 8820mAh battery which lasts 10 hours.
Prices
The Apple iPad Air 16 GB, WiFi variant costs 455 dollars on amazon.com. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 16GB WiFi variant costs 498 on the same website.
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