Small screen tablets appear to be more convenient than ever with the launch of giant screen tablets like the Samsung Galaxy View, Apple iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Book. Tablets with less than a 10-inch display strike a balance between a laptop and a phablet. Samsung’s much coveted Galaxy Tab S2 is one of the best small screen tablets of 2015.

Display

The Galaxy Tab S2 tablet series comes in two sizes – one with an 8.0-inch display and another with a 9.7-inhc screen. Both the variants sport a stunning super Amoled panel with an excellent resolution of 1536 x 2048 pixels resulting in pixel density of 320 ppi (pixels per inch).

The tablet is only 5.6 mm thick and is often termed the “world’s slimmest tablet”. Both models are available in Black and White colour variants in Australia. It’s easy to carry and is one of the thinnest tablets available, said CNET.

The sleek Wi-Fi only device weighs just 265 grams and the model supporting LTE connectivity weighs 272g. In Australia, owners of the SIM-enabled and built-in 4G supported variant can enjoy download speeds of up to 200 Mbps.

Software, Memory and Battery life

The tablet is powered by Samsung’s octa-core processor Exynos 5433 chip in a combination of two quad-core chips running at 1.9GHz and 1.3GHz, respectively. On the software front, the lightweight and ultra-thin tablet currently runs on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. Rumours say the Galaxy Tab S2 will get a Android 6.0 Marshmallow update in the coming year.

Both variants come packed with 3 GB of RAM and healthy storage options of 32 GB and 64 GB that can be further expanded via microSD card slot. The bigger 9.7-inch variant houses a massive 5,870 mAh battery whereas the 8.0-inch version comes packed with a beefy 4,000mAh battery.

According to Gizmodo Australia, the smaller 8.0-inch Tab S2 lasts for 14 hours and the 9.7-inch variant boasts 12-hours of battery life from a single charge. Moreover, the power saving further enhances battery life.

Price

Both the 8.0-inch and 9.7-inch models of the Galaxy Tab S2 are available in Australia. The 8.0-inch Tab S2 (32 GB) Wi-Fi only model costs AU$499 whereas the LTE & Wi-Fi supported variant comes with a price tag of AU$649.

The 9.7-inch (32 GB) Wi-Fi only model costs AU$599 and the LTE and Wi-Fi supported variant costs AU$749. The tablet can also be purchased from Harvey Norman, Officeworks and Dick Smith.

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