List Price: $299.99
Sale Price: $249.00
Today's Bonus: 17% Off
Updated Review October 31, 2013 (after 3 ½ Months of ownership): Since I have been using this tablet for over three and a half months, I have found that this tablet CONTINUES to exceed all of my expectations and more! If you are looking a high quality eight inch tablet, this may very well be the once for you as the superb improvements in this Tab 3 8.0 over the older Tab 2 7.0 are just fantastic with more internal RAM Memory and more internal storage (double) and this is just a couple of improvements as there are MANY improvements in the Tab 3 8.0 that has truly has given this tablet that WOW Factor. So below, I am listing the many Pros I personally have found while using this tablet:
PROS:
+ Overall Speed And Performance and Android OS:
With the fast 1.5 GHz processor, I have found this to be a very fast tablet and for me, all has been running so smoothly on this tablet. Love that this tablet has 16GB Internal memory.
The Android OS is 4.2 and inside it has Samsung TouchWiz overlay which is beautiful and user friendly. In fact, if you have used a Samsung Galaxy device as S2, S3, S4 or other Galaxy type, you will love the OS and the Samsung TouchWiz interface on this. Perhaps you have never used Android OS or even a Samsung device? No worries, as this tablet is easy to learn in my opinion.
+ SCREEN SIZE IS JUST RIGHT SIZE VERY CLEAR/SHARP SCREEN FOR READING eBooks or VIEWING WEBPAGES. (Screen in my opinion is large and has superb clarity/clearness for reading eBooks and webpages as the print is so readable as I find it VERY CLEAR/VIVID. This is a great in-between size tablet to use. And I found that the screen was large enough to read webpages easily or watch videos. The screen has a PPI (pixels per inch) of 189, which renders a crisp and clear screen. **There is a new selection under Settings and Display, under Font, an option to Increase legibility of fonts. I check marked this and noticed that the fonts/letters on the screen, internet and more are very crystal clear. Also, there is in Settings/Display Screen Mode, with choices of Dynamic, Standard and Movie. And I selected Dynamic and found that the colors are super vivid and very colorful.
+ EXTERNAL SLOT FOR MICRO SD CARD You can add a 64gb SD card for personal files. However, keep in mind where External SD cards are concerned: They are JUST for your personal files: music, videos, photos, and other files. When you install apps from the Playstore or other sources, they store either in INTERNAL SD Card area or the main internal area. This is the law of the land where Android is concerned and ALL newer Android devices (including Samsung) work this way where storing your downloaded apps are concerned.
+ WiFi Connecting/Speed of WiFi Setting up WiFi and keeping a great signal and long distance WiFi strong signal is one superb feature on this tablet. So I compared the signal strength with the Tab 3 vs my regular Android phone. The Tab 3 had about 35% stronger signal then the phone. I believe it is because there is a very strong WiFi receiver in this tablet. At home or on the road, I am able to connect to many free WiFi hotspots very easily with great signal strength.
+ Internet/Watching Online Flash Videos: After I installed Adobe Archived Flash I can watch internet (flash) videos directly (including Amazon videos) directly from STOCK BROWSER. Because this is archived flash it does take a little longer to load flash videos. If you need instructions on how to do this, please ask in the comments and I will answer this or any questions.
*Viewing of webpages in browsers on this tablet: Reading/viewing a webpage is OUTSTANDING using this tablet as the fonts, pictures and videos are very crisp and clear as well as the colors are very vivid.
+ Reading/Creating/Editing Word, Excel, Text Files and much more on this tablet: This comes with a OK app for reading Office documents, however, I prefer Kingsoft Office which is a free app from Playstore. It is the best I have ever tried and I am very picky about so called Office programs. It is very compatible with MS Office as it reads, edits and creates Office files and reads PDF files, and it has more features of any other Android Office program that I tried. This app is a MUST have for tablet owners in my opinion.
+ Home Videos The stock video player is OK and plays MOST home videos, however, may I suggest QQ Player, this is a free App from Playstore and it plays every home video I tried). Also MX Video Player is very good, however, I prefer QQ Player.
+ Music Player/Sound Quality Stock player has clear sound through the outside "speakers" are really OK. Better with good quality headphones or a BlueTooth Speaker. To sync easily with Windows Media Player may I suggest the Playstore app free called WinAmp for the tablet as it is very highly rated and the sound is SUPERB!
+ Battery LifeExcellent, so far, however, this is what I have found: When I am on WiFi, I go to the websites I need and then as soon as I am done (reasonable time), I exit the browser (or YouTube, etc) and TURN OFF WiFi. However, I run my brightness at 100%. So this seems to keep the battery going longer. *In addition, I have found that my battery life is improved over the Tab 2 7.0 and the Tab 2 10.1.
+ Kindle App I installed the Kindle App and synced my Kindle books. Began to read a new book and was very impressed with how exceptional the book rendered using this Tab 3 8.0. Very impressed as the text was very crisp and clear.
+ Camera The 5MP rear camera has improved over the Tab 2 line. There is no flash on the camera, yet there are several helpful modes to enhance your shots. For me, I use Auto mode. And I tried the camera and video and was happily surprised in the quality it is pretty good. However, I will continue to use my regular camera for serious picture taking and videos.
+ OTG USB Compatible You can add an optional OTG (On the Go Micro USB adapter cable to the Micro port for copying files to your flash drive and from your flash drive to the Tab 3). I already had one from my Note I and it works great on the Tab. You can also plug in a mouse, I tried it and it worked. *Note that portable external hard drives and portable DVD/CD drives will not work using OTG in the Tab 3 as I discovered when I tried to read my hard disks via OTG in the Tab 3. However, it is still good to know that you can easily plug in your flash drive and copy files to the Tab 3 and from Tab 3 to PC--what a time-saver.
+ Bluetooth Speed and Performance The Bluetooth paired quickly with several devices and copied files at a great rate of speed.
+ Screenshots: There is no ICON for screenshots, however, to take a quick screenshot, hold down home button and power button (at the same time), and then it will take a beautiful screenshot. You can find your screenshot in MyFiles, Internal Storage, Pictures, and Screenshots. I use this sometimes for a map on the internet it saves time and this way it is SAVED for later viewing when I am offline.
+ MICRO USB PORT No more having to use the old type of (non standard) USB charger/cable that the Tab 2 line had. However, this tablet requires a 2 AMP USB Charger to charge the tablet so it will not charge on a standard 1 AMP (phone charger) as I tried and only the 2 AMP one will work. This tablet uses the same Micro 2 AMP type of chargers that the Galaxy Note 8 uses.
CONS: (There are TWO, but the first con is NOT the fault of Samsung):
Just one con/concern: New Adobe Flash is not supported, however, I found that archived flash gets the online videos to play and they even play in the stock browser. So I downloaded the older archived flash which gives me the ability to view many internet videos. If you need instructions, just ask me in the comments and I will answer.
* Bottom line: Would I buy this WiFi only model over again? Yes I certainly would. So if you are looking for a superb Samsung Tab 3 8.0 tablet and you have great access to WiFi, this is the one I will suggest to you.
Also, since I am somewhat of a techie person, I will be glad to answer any questions that you may have. Just ask in the comment section and I will answer promptly.
0 comments:
Post a Comment