Samsung's budget 8in Android tablet.
Samsung has a huge, confusing array of Galaxy-branded Android tablets on the market, usually in a variety of screen sizes. Amid this wide selection, the new Tab 4 fulfils a clear role as the company’s budget option - the 8in Tab 4 is relatively cheap at just £210 for the 16GB Wi-Fi-only model while the 4G version costs £295. The latter can even make phone calls.
The Tab 4 is noticeably thicker than Samsung’s other tablets and is made entirely of plastic. Although the rear panel has a car dashboard-style texture that’s supposed to make it easier to grip, we found it difficult to get a secure hold on the tablet due to the very thin borders on the left and right hand sides of the screen (when held horizontally). Nevertheless, it is sturdy and at just 315g reasonably lightweight. The 8in screen is exceptionally bright with good colour accuracy and wide viewing angles. Its resolution, though, is disappointingly lowf at just 1280x800 pixels, so text is noticeably fuzzy.
The 1.2GHz quad core processor produced fairly average scores in our 3D-graphics, web page-loading and app-loading benchmark tests, but it’s still fast enough to deal with all but the most demanding apps. Responsiveness was generally good, The touchscreen reacted instantly to our finger gestures. The exception to this was when we wrere running several apps or multimedia-heavy web pages simultaneously. Due to the relatively limited 1.5GB of memory available, this was enough to cause the interface to stutter, and the screen struggled to keep up with our swipes and prods.
We had no complaints about battery life though. When playing videos on a loop, the battery lasted just under 11 hours, which is lengthy for a mini tablet. We were also pleased to see that some of the more annoying aspects of Samsung’s Touch Wiz interface (built on top of Android 4.4 KitKat), have been addressed. The ability to maintain multiple user I accounts - a standard Android feature missing from other Samsung tablets - is back. Samsung’s calendar and news widgets, which can’t be hidden or removed on other Galaxy tablets, are thankfully nowhere to be seen on the Tab 4.
The Galaxy Tab 4 is by no means a bad tablet, and the 4G version’s capacity to make phone calls makes that model a genuine alternative to phablets such as the Asus Zenfone 6, although you’ll never fit it in your pocket. However, both the Wi-Fi-only and 4G versions are overpriced. The Nexus 7 is not only cheaper but has a sharper, higher-resolution screen and similar levels of responsiveness and performance.
SPECIFICATIONS
1280x800-pixel 8in touchscreen • 1.2GHz Samsung quad-core processor • 1.5GB memory • 16GB storage • MicroSD slot • Android 4.4 KitKat • 315g • 210x124x8mm (HxWxD) • One-year warranty
VERDICT
By no means bad, but there's little to set this mini tablet apart from the competition.