Comparison: Galaxy Tab S 8.4 vs iPad Mini 2

As mentioned during our first impression, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is slated to go up against the iPad Mini with Retina Display which is currently one of the best tablets in the sub-10-inch category. So how does Sammy’s new 8.4-inch slate stack up against the 2nd-Gen iPad Mini? Check out our comparison after the break.

Display

Despite the slight difference in size and the type of screen used, both the iPad Mini 2 and the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 delivers stunning display output courtesy of their respective pixel-packed screens. We’ve yet to place the two tablets side-by-side to see which has the better color reproduction, so we’ll put this one on GTS 8.4 W-column in the meantime based on its screen size and higher pixel density.

Performance

Although the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 clearly has an advantage over the iPad Mini 2 in terms of its internal configuration based on what is written on its specs sheet, there are a lot of factors to consider to definitively say that one is better than the other in terms of real-world use. What we can say though is that both slates are able to run graphics-heavy games, handle multi-tasking pretty well and offer impressive performance-to-power ratio.

Imaging

Just like on the engine setup, the 2nd Gen iPad Mini lags behind the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 in terms of megapixel count both on the front and rear cameras. Numbers aside though, the images we got from the two tablets were pretty much at par with each other.

Both devices struggled in low-light situations, but takes pretty decent snaps in broad daylight. The two tablets can also record full-HD clips at 30 frames-per-second and the quality of the videos doesn’t differ much from the other.

Dimension, Weight and Battery

Interestingly enough, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.4 is actually thinner (6.6mm vs 7.5mm) and lighter (298 grams vs 341g) compared to the iPad Mini 2, despite having a beefier internals and larger display.

The added weight on the iPad Mini with Retina Display is probably attributed to its larger battery. Sadly, that doesn’t translate to longer battery life because we got better mileage from the GTS 8.4 (10 hours and 15 minutes) than the iPad Mini 2 (9 hours) when we performed our battery test.

Summary

With what we’ve seen with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4, it definitely poses a great threat to the iPad Mini 2’s dominance in the sub-10-inch category. It’s got a great set of features which matches, and in some cases surpasses, that of Apple’s 7.9-inch slate.

However, it’s not the complete package as it still lags behind the iPad Mini with Retina Display in terms of the overall design and build quality. Nevertheless, we still think that the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 has the right set of tools to steal some of the limelight away from its rival.