Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2017) review: As basic as basic gets

While Samsung continues to make a smartphone for every segment possible, the company has been following 2 extremes when it comes to tablets. On the top end of the spectrum, you lot have the Galaxy Tab S lineup, offer a big and beautiful AMOLED display and loftier-stop hardware. At the other finish is Samsung's Galaxy Tab A line. The Galaxy Tab A tablets behave unimpressive hardware that's merely meant to support a bones tablet experience for those on a budget.

The Galaxy Tab A (2017) continues that tradition, with its 8-inch display backed by budget-grade specs akin to the visitor's budget J serial phones from a couple of years ago. It also comes with a 4G LTE-enabled SIM slot, with no Wi-Fi-only variant being offered. The Galaxy Tab A (2017) was released a couple of months ago, and since we're rather tardily with this review, permit'due south not waste matter any time and dive directly in to encounter what the Tab A (2017) offers.

Milky way Tab A (2017) review: Design

The Galaxy Tab A (2017) looks and feels similar a larger version of Samsung'south metallic J series devices. It has a metallic unibody that gives information technology a premium feel; the metal back doesn't result in handling issues despite the large size. The weight of the tablet is as well only right, especially for one with an 8-inch display. Naturally, the bezels around the display are massive, but that'south to exist expected on a tablet, and a upkeep i at that. Despite the overall size, I found it adequately easy to fit the Tab A in my jeans pocket and drive around when I used it for our hands-on impressions. Information technology causes some inconvenience, but non plenty to make me want to throw it in my bag or on to one of the seats in the car.

The i ergonomics issue I had with the Tab A (2017) was the placement of the capacitive dorsum and recent apps keys surrounding the dwelling push. For starters, neither button is backlit, and so y'all have to hunt for them in the dark. To make matters worse, the buttons are also placed quite shut to the home push and, therefore, far abroad from the sides of the tablet. It'southward okay when you can see the capacitive keys, but in the night during dark, it becomes a nuisance. Samsung's cost-cutting efforts are conspicuously to blame hither, and it's disappointing that the visitor is unable to get around these limitations to keep the pricing correct.

Brandish

If information technology weren't for the fact that y'all use tablets at a longer distance from your face compared to a phone, the measly 1280×800 pixel resolution of the 8-inch LCD brandish would take been an instant plow off. Thankfully, the sharpness of the screen is more than enough in regular usage, both for viewing videos and browsing the cyberspace, unless you look closely. I didn't try reading an eBook on the Tab A, just at the right zoom levels, I'm sure it's hard to spot the individual pixels unless you lot happen to continue the tablet too close to your eyes.

Of course, y'all do take to content yourself with the fact that the limited resolution means you can merely watch 720p videos on YouTube or Netflix on this device. Videos always have a black bar at the top and bottom on YouTube, although not as much equally you would see on the Galaxy Tab S3, since the Tab A has a traditional 16:9 display. An 18:5:ix display would have been perfect for videos, though I'thou not sure how such a display is going to look on a tablet, which one prefers to be more uniform in shape instead of existence taller similar phones that characteristic 18:five:9 screens.

Equally for the LCD panel itself, it'due south not very attractive. Colors are somewhat muted, though thankfully, the viewing angles are bully and so is the screen brightness. There's no ambient light sensor here, sadly, another result of Samsung trying to save product costs where possible. It'south a good thing I never had to employ the tablet outdoors, then the lack of an auto brightness pick didn't impact me as much as it does on the company's budget smartphones. There is an outdoor mode for cranking up the brightness to eleven when y'all need information technology, but good luck finding that toggle when you lot go outdoors after having used the tablet at low brightness in the house.

Operation, Audio Quality

If you look at the underlying hardware, you'd think Samsung is saying it upfront that this tablet isnonmeant to be used as a primary device that would make as many telephone calls equally it would play videos or games. With a quad-core Snapdragon 425 SoC (four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at i.4GHz) and 2GB of RAM, the Tab A (2017) isn't built for the heavy tasks. The animations about never stutter, but apps don't open up very chop-chop, and there can sometimes be stutters when you switch between apps in a bustle.

Again, this was with basic usage where I but opened things similar the browser or YouTube for the most office, so I'd imagine someone using the tablet every bit his or her primary device might have more serious issues with operation. Performance is fine inside the Chrome browser or inside YouTube or Netflix, but high-end gaming titles similar Asphalt eight: Airborne struggle to maintain a consistent frame rate (Real Racing 3, a more realistic but less graphically demanding racing game, runs fine). The tablet too failed to wake upwards instantly at times, peculiarly after long bouts of sitting idle.

The loudspeaker on the Tab A (2017) is strictly average. It'southward not very loud or articulate with its sound output. There's a slight hint of bass, only not enough to brand movies enjoyable. The aforementioned goes for the loftier frequencies (treble), and with only i speaker on this tablet, the audio quality through the loudspeaker leaves much to be desired. It'due south as well easy to cover the speaker with your paw in portrait orientation and in landscape mode when the upper part of the tablet is rotated to the left.

Audio output via the three.5 mm headphone port is miles better, though. The high frequencies (treble) don't go to polish as much as the depression frequencies (bass), but overall, the sound chip driving the headphone port does a commendable task. Non that it excuses the lack of good speakers on a tablet, or the fact that the single speaker is also poor in quality, merely wired audio isn't going to exist an result for anyone ownership the Galaxy Tab A (2017).

Battery Life

I don't know where Samsung gets the 14-hour video playback figure that it touts for the Galaxy Tab A (2017), because for me, vii hours was the extent to which the tablet was able to continuously play videos for me over a Wi-Fi connection. The 5,000 mAh battery lasts insanely long when the tablet isn't used for a few days, equally it should given the meager hardware information technology has to ability, but battery life isn't as skillful as y'all'd similar when y'all're rampage-watching the second season of Stranger Things on Netflix.

Bombardment life with mixed usage that includes a bit of browsing and video viewing is practiced, though, and the tablet can easily go into the 2d day without needing a accuse. I didn't endeavor gaming for extended periods because of the poor performance in the high-finish titles that I prefer, but expect battery endurance of around a day if you throw gaming in with browsing and watching videos. Lower on a 3G/4G connection, of class, just over again, my usage of the tablet was all indoors during the review menses, and then I wasn't able to test how well information technology does with extensive employ over mobile data.

As expected, at that place'southward no fast charging support. That's not actually an consequence on a tablet, however, since you tin can become by on even 50 percent accuse for long periods. Charging time from 0 to 100 is around three hours. Oh, and unlike the J series phones the Tab A (2017) is based on, in that location's a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer, making it one of the few upkeep devices in Samsung's lineup to have the reversible USB connector.

Software

The Galaxy Tab A (2017) runs Android 7.1.1 with Samsung Experience viii.5, with the August security patch out of the box. Kids Mode is being touted as a major highlight, but the overall functionality is the same equally the Kids Mode feature nosotros've seen on previous Samsung devices. In one case Kids Mode is enabled, yous (well, your child) is restricted to apps and games from the Kids Shop, some contacts that yous allow access to when setting it up, and also a camera app that keeps the images taken in Kids Fashion split up from the regular photos. You can also permit Kids Mode to access some videos from the main gallery. The Kids Store isn't attainable without the parental control password, then you can rest assured that there won't be any unnecessary downloads when you've handed the tablet to your kid(s).

The rest of the software is similar to what we come across on Samsung'south phones these days, though the feature set is limited even when compared to the company'due south budget smartphones. You have the basics, like Multi Window multitasking, blue light filter for the display, Game Launcher for keeping track of all installed games from ane location, and Game Tools for recording gameplay, blocking the navigation buttons, and more. Bixby Home is onboard likewise, accessible past swiping right on the dwelling house screen. Secure Binder is also available, which you tin call Kids Fashion for the adults. For those unaware, Secure Folder creates a separate surroundings (like to a new user account) for of import data that y'all want to keep away from prying eyes. Annihilation you practice within Secure Binder stays in at that place, including images you lot might accept or apps you might download.

The one issue I saw with the Tab A (2017) software is that it was on the August security patch when it arrived at my doorstep, and despite an update a few weeks later on that, it's still sitting on the Baronial patch here in India. Samsung doesn't seem keen on offering the same level of security every bit its smartphone consumers to those who buy its tablets. Sure, the sales figures are much lower, merely why is that a prerequisite when information technology comes to the security of the operating organisation?

Camera

The camera section is coming up at the finish of this review because, frankly, tablets still aren't meant for taking photos or videos. Yes, at that place'due south no shame in using 1 for taking pictures (unless you're too detail about what others will recall), but the 8MP and 5MP rear and front cameras are every bit basic as it gets. Images taken outdoor in bright sunlight look fine, then do selfies from the front photographic camera. Information technology all falls autonomously one time you start zooming in on pictures, though, so let'southward just say you should simply be using these cameras if y'all take nothing but the Tab A in your possession or desire to make a video telephone call.

The Tab A (2017) gets the same photographic camera app as Samsung's latest phones. Information technology works on swipe gestures: A swipe up switches between the front end and rear cameras, a swipe to the right gets you lot all the shooting modes. Speaking of shooting modes, the tablet doesn't skimp on options – you lot get HDR, Night, Panorama, Sports, Sound & Shot, Animated GIF, and Continuous Shot for the rear camera. For selfies, you have Wide Selfie (a panorama mode for the front camera) and Sound & Shot.

Decision

I don't know what to say about the Milky way Tab A (2017). Information technology's as basic equally tablets become, something I already mentioned at the offset of this review. There's goose egg it does specially well, either. In fact, all of it is merely good plenty, be it the display quality, performance, or the battery life. The 4G LTE connectivity and ability to make telephone calls is a bonus. But the audio over the single bottom-firing speaker is extremely mediocre, and you lot can't play high-cease games without running into stutter, which is a shame considering the viii-inch canvas this tablet provides.

The problem with the tablet market place is that people are simply non buying these as much equally they used to, and the merely folks I'd recommend the Tab A (2017) to is those who really musthave a tablet, either every bit a secondary or a master device, and aren't willing to pay too much. It also makes sense if want to purchase a tablet for your kid. Kids Mode can exist downloaded on other Samsung devices besides, but if you lot're not comfortable handing a costlier device to your kids, the Tab A (2017) can be a expert, cheap culling.

Pros	Cons
Premium, easy-to-handle pattern	Brandish resolution should have been higher
Practiced battery life with mixed usage	Mediocre cameras
Kids Way is useful	Loudspeaker is well-nigh useless
Mostly polish general performance	Not made for demanding tasks
Skilful wired sound quality	Average battery life with continuous video playback
4G LTE connectivity