Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 Hands-On, First Impressions

Samsung recently released a new wave of their gadgets in the country following the official launch of the Galaxy Note 9. One of those devices is the family-oriented tablet, the Galaxy Tab A 10.5. Luckily, I got my hands on it so, take a look at my initial impressions below.

It would seem like Samsung’s goal this year for their tablets is to lessen the top and bottom bezels. Comparing from last year’s Tab A 8.0 (2017), the Tab A 10.5 looks more pleasing as the company eliminated their logo at the top and physical buttons at the bottom. For me, it’s still not slim enough but hey, this is already a good start. The back has a metal unibody and matte-like finish, which looks simple yet stylish.

Starting at the glass front is the 5MP camera along with sensors on top while below it is the 10.5-inch 16:10 WUXGA TFT LCD display with a 1920 x 1200 resolution. With its slimmer top and bottom bezels, I can safely say that it has more screen real-eastate, which is always a plus.

Looking on the right side is the volume rocker – power button combo along with the tray that houses the single-SIM slot and microSD card slot. By the way, the buttons are clicky, tactile, and easy to press but its positioning at a portrait orientation may be difficult for those with small hands and/or fingers.

Checking on the other side will show the pins for a charging dock in between two small “dents” for a keyboard book cover.

On top, we’ll find a small hole for the microphone and 3.5mm audio port in between two Dolby Atmos loudspeakers.

Down at the bottom is the USB Type-C port which is also in between another two Dolby Atmos loudspeakers.

Flip on its back and you’ll find the 8MP camera with a LED flash just below it.

Samsung really aims at the quality of their tablet’s viewing and audio capabilities by equipping four loudspeakers and a large display. the company also boasted the Tab A 10.5 to be a family-oriented tablet which proves to be true as it features Kids Mode, Kids browser, Galaxy apps for Kids, and eight more free child-friendly apps. The device also has a Multi-User Mode where users can create up to eight accounts for individual UI customization.

In the hands, the Tab A 10.5 is way easier to hold in one hand than the Tab S4 due to the back panel’s matte finish. My grip on it is good and it really feels solid overall. For a family-oriented perspective, this is definitely an ideal material that any device should have since kids usually are clumsy enough to lose their grip. I’ve yet to test its sound quality but I’m confident that this tablet would bring justice to its number of loudspeakers.

The Galaxy Tab A 10.5 is powered by a Snapdragon 450 processor, an Adreno 506 GPU, and 3GB RAM. I expect that this will perform well on basic tasks such as social media browsing, movie watching, file transferring, and casual gaming (light to moderate games). It also carries a 7,300mAh battery that should be enough for a tablet to last for a day. We’ll be taking it for a full spin in the coming days, so stay tuned!

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 specifications:

• 10.5” WUXGA 16:10 TFT LCD display @ 1920×1200px
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 1.8GHz octa-core processor
• Adreno 506 GPU
• 3GB RAM
• 32GB internal storage
• 8MP AF rear camera with LED flash
• 5MP front camera
• 4G LTE Cat.6
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Bluetooth 4.2
• GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou
• USB 2.0 Type-C
• Android 8.1 Oreo
• 7,300mAh battery

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A is priced at Php23,990 and will be available on September 28 at Samsung authorized stores nationwide.

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