The Galaxy Tab S has not exactly been a tightly kept secret, as many reports detailed the device in preceding months, revealing virtually everything there is to know about it. However, Samsung on Thursday evening unveiled its most advanced Android tablet family yet, which will be available to consumers in the coming weeks.
The Galaxy Tab S is supposed to be the “thinnest and lightest tablet to date,” being just 6.6mm thin and weighing either up to 298g (the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 LTE version) or up to 467g (the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 LTE version).
The display of the Galaxy Tab S is the main attraction of the device. Each tablet packs a WQXGA (2560 x 1600 resolution) Super AMOLED display, supposed to deliver more than 90% of Adobe’s RGB color coverage and 100,000:1 contrast ratio.
Other specs include an Exynos 5 Octa or Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB of RAM, 16/32GB of storage, microSD support up to 128GB, 8-megapixel camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, GLONASS, fingerprint scanner, 4900mAh or 7900mAh battery (depending on tablet size) and Android 4.4 KitKat with Samsung’s UI on top.
Annoyingly, just like with other recently launched Samsung devices, the Galaxy Tab S tablets will come pre-loaded with plenty of bloatware, described as “Galaxy Gifts” by Samsung
In addition to Wi-Fi versions of the tablet, Samsung will also sell LTE and 3G models. Starting with June 13, Samsung’s U.S. online store will take pre-orders for the Wi-Fi versions, which are priced at $399.99 (the Galaxy Tab S 8.4) or $499.99 (the Galaxy Tab S 10.5). The two devices will be launched in July, at which point they should be available from various U.S. retailers. The LTE versions do not have prices or release dates yet, but should hit all major U.S. carriers later this year.
The company has also unveiled a range of new accessories for the tablets including the Galaxy Tab S Book Cover, Simple Cover, the Samsung Bluetooth Keyboard and the Samsung Level Series headphones
An image gallery showing the two new Samsung Android tablets follows below.
