Samsung debuts new premium Galaxy Tab S tablets

Samsung has introduced its new premium flagship tablet at its Unpacked event in New York held today, June 12. The new Galaxy Tab S is touted as the company’s thinnest and lightest tablet (at 6.6mm thin it is 1mm thinner than the iPad) to date that packs in a few firsts for the company when it comes to its tablet line including a Super AMOLED display and up to 128GB of external storage via microSD.

It felt more like a launch event for a television with the presentation emphasizing heavily some of the key display technologies of the Tab S. Samsung said the display upgrade is an answer to the evolution of tablet usage throughout the years. People are reportedly watching more videos on these devices.

This includes a WQXGA (2560x1600 resolution, 16:10) Super AMOLED screen, 100,000:1 contrast ratio, and reportedly 90% of the Adobe RGB color coverage. It also features Adaptive Display technology that adjusts the tablet’s saturation, sharpness, and gamma based on the application used and the ambient lighting in your area. This tablet is designed to work well outdoors, too.

The Tab S also introduces Samsung’s magazine service they call Papergarden. It will bring new digital interactive content to the devices. Samsung has already partnered with the likes of Conde Nast (publisher of Vogue, Glamour, GQ, etc.), and National Geographic to deliver new interactive versions of their magazines. Samsung has also partnered with Marvel to provide Tab S users with access to the company’s extensive comic book library. They are even giving a three-month unlimited free membership to Marvel’s Marvel Unlimited app.

Samsung’s partnership with Google has also brought about more free content from Google Play including the movie Gravity and a 90-day trial of Google Play’s All Access music subscription service.

The Korean tech giant is also bringing key design and software features from its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5 into the Tab S. This tablet features a Fingerprint Scanner for added security, the same perforated back panel design, and Download Booster.

The new Tab S will also have some feature-sharing capabilities like what Apple did with new iOS 8. With the new SideSync 3.0. It lets users connect/mirror their Galaxy S5’s with the Tab S. The homescreen will be seen on the tablet and will enable you to take calls, answer text messages, and play games from your S5 straight on the screen of the Tab S. You can even make those calls while surfing the web on your tablet if you wanted to.

The Tab S will be available in Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi and LTE variants with either 16GB or 32GB of storage (depending on the market) with a starting price of US$399 for the 8.4-inch Wi-Fi version with 16GB of storage and $499 for the 10.5-inch Wi-Fi version with 16GB of storage. It will be available in the U.S. sometime in July so we can expect it to come around that time or a bit later than that.