After numerous rumors and leaks it’s now official. Samsung have formally announced their new tablet, the 2016 version of the Galaxy Tab A 10.1, which now comes with an S Pen. There is one potential catch though, because so far the new device only appears on Samsung’s Korean website. The Galaxy Tab A range are Samsung’s mid-range tablets, with generally lower specs than the flagship Galaxy Tab S models. The new Galaxy Tab A features a 10.1-inch, 1920 x 1200 resolution display thought to be the same as its predecessor.
The processor is the 1.6 GHz Exynos 7870 octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and running Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. Storage is expandable via a microSD card slot. It’s unclear at the moment whether an upgrade to 7.0 (Nougat) will be available, or if so how soon that will be. The battery is a decent capacity at 7,300mAh so you should get plenty of screen time. The rear camera is an 8-megapixel unit with LED flash, with a 2-megapixel camera at the front. Charging is via a standard microUSB connector rather than the newer USB Type-C that is quickly becoming standard on newer phones.
The new tablet is 8.2mm in thickness and the build is entirely plastic, which should help keep the overall weight down. As the model name implies, Samsung’s S Pen is included in the package and is probably the key feature if you’re considering this tablet as a mid-range option. Samsung incorporate S Pen functionality into a number of their bundled apps as part of the TouchWiz interface, although it’s unclear whether the Galaxy Tab A will incorporate the same range of pressure sensitivity as the high-end Galaxy Note 7. It also seems that the tablet is designed specifically to be used in portrait orientation with the physical home button flanked by the virtual Android buttons at the base of the unit. It is expected that the tablet will be released in other markets soon, potentially with minor specification changes. If so, the price is expected to be around $400 or less. After the Galaxy Note 7 battery failures, Samsung will at least be keen for a smooth and less eventful product release this time.
