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Samsung has just stepped up the tech war with Apple by announcing a new tablet that is thinner and lighter than the current generation iPad Air 2.
The new Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7-inch comes in at 5.6mm – compared to the 6.1mm Air 2, and weighs 389g – compared to the iPad’s 437g.
There’s also an 8-inch version that weighs 265g – and this lightness isn’t down to plastic bodies, the S2 has a metal frame.
The specs also suggest plenty of power under the hood, with the hugely impressive Super AMOLED display on show again and running Android 5.0 Lollipop. There’s an 8 megapixel camera in the rear, with a 2.1 megapixel lens as the front-facing camera. Storage options are 32 or 64GB, with a MicroSD slot for up to 128GB.
Samsung says that screen will deliver “94% of natural tones to show true-to-life colours”, making it a very real alternative to the iPad. There’s even a fingerprint scanner in the home button.
The Korean tech giant also says that the full Microsoft Office Suite of apps – Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote – will come as standard, a move that seriously ups the productivity power of the S2.
Samsung confirmed the new tablet will go on sale globally in August, well over a month before we see the next version of the iPad, which will most likely be debuted in October.
