Live images and firmware of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A2 XL emerged online, providing details on the design and specifications of the upcoming tablet offering from the South Korean tech giant. Documents recently submitted to the Federal Communications Commission include images of the tablet being tested for compliance with the standards set by the U.S. regulator. The live images of the Galaxy Tab A2 XL show that the bottom of the tablet will likely contain the USB Type-C port and two loudspeakers, and it also seems that a headphone jack will be placed at the other end of the device.
Even though the images themselves don’t clearly reveal that possibility, an inspection of the firmware of the Galaxy Tab A2 XL indicates that the device may sport a dedicated hardware button for Samsung’s virtual assistant Bixby. A member of the LineageOS team discovered that the tablet will support a wink_key, which is a codename previously used by Samsung for the Bixby button. However, despite the presence of a dedicated Bixby key, it is still not clear if the tablet will support all of the features of the virtual assistant, especially since some of Bixby’s functionalities are still exclusive to the firm’s high-end devices.
The firmware files of the Galaxy Tab A2 XL also show that the device will be powered by the Snapdragon 450 chipset from Qualcomm. Previous reports indicated that the slate will ship with a 10.5-inch display with a resolution of 1,920 by 1,200 pixels and an aspect ratio of 16:10. The firmware of the tablet also suggests that the Galaxy Tab A2 XL will sport a fingerprint sensor, although the live images of the device do not show where the scanner is likely to be placed. The tablet will reportedly include a 7,300mAh battery and is also rumored to sport a 5-megapixel rear camera. The device is expected to ship with Android 8.1 Oreo, i.e. Samsung’s custom implementation of Google’s OS. Other recent reports state that the Galaxy Tab A2 XL will have a Wi-Fi-only variant identified by the model number SM-T590, as well as an LTE-ready version, also known as the SM-T595.
