After rumors and speculations about Samsung’s successor to the popular Galaxy Tab S tablet, which was thought to be revealed officially sometime this week, Samsung has now announced the Galaxy Tab S2. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise as Samsung released a firmware upgrade for this tablet sometime earlier this morning. It will be an improvement over the previous model tablet with hardware and specifications, and Samsung has also managed to slim it down more than the original as the Galaxy Tab S2 weighs in at a svelte 5.6mm. It will be running on the latest version of Android, Android Lollipop, although it won’t be on Android 5.1 out of the box, instead coming with Android 5.0 to begin with. It’s likely though Samsung will update it to Android 5.1 not long after the official release for when the tablet goes on sale.
It will be available in two screen size variants and two different colors, but unlike the original Galaxy Tab S it will come with a more premium body design inspired by Samsung’s most recent smartphones with a metal frame. When it’s released consumers will be able to pick it up in either a black or white model, and they’ll be able to choose a screen size of either 8-inches or 9.7-inches. The display aspect ratio will 4:3 but will also come with a Quad-HD resolution, and will of course be running the SuperAMOLED panel technology. Both tablet models will see the inclusion of some of Microsoft’s apps pre-loaded onto the tablets at purchase and ready to use upon being powered on, including OneDrive with a free 100GB of cloud storage for a two year period, not too unlike the deal Samsung struck with Dropbox with past Samsung smartphones.
When it comes to hardware specifications, the Galaxy Tab S2 is powered by Samsung’s in-house Exynos 5433 octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM, and will come with either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. It also supports expandable storage up to 128GB via microSD card, so Galaxy Tab S2 owners are going to have quite a lot of space to store their files and apps. Cameras will be 8MP on the back and 2.1MP on the front, and it supports LTE connectivity meaning it’ll be available to use with a range of different carriers, and consumers should expect a WiFi only model at some point as well. It also supports Bluetooth 4.1 and WiFi 802.11ac, NFC, and GPS. Power wise, both tablets come with varying batteries to suit their screen size. The 8-inch model will come with a 4,000mAh battery while the 9.7-inch model comes with a larger 5,870mAh battery inside. As of right now Samsung didn’t list an official release date although it will be available for purchase sometime next month for a yet unannounced price.
