Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4in 16GB Titanium Bronze (Renewed)

June 2017 update: I still love this tablet! It's gotten me through a number of long international flights with video, music, and books, along with day-to-day use. Granted, I have to recharge it halfway to England if I'm watching nonstop video, but that's to be expected on a 12-hour flight. The screen is beautiful whether reading or watching videos. The touchscreen is very responsive, even with the protective film in place. Samsung's magnetic cover provides good protection front and back, as well as acting as an easel for watching video in landscape mode and putting the tablet in standby mode when you close the cover. Samsung has updated it to Android 6.0.1. I can't imagine having a better tablet, and live in dread of the day when the battery eventually gives out... several years from now, I hope!* * * * *I've been using this tablet for several months, and I love it. I don't understand some folks' gripes about the aspect ratio; some reviewers said that it made for bad book reading. Spending as much as 20 hours per week reading on this thing, I'd have noticed if that were the case! The screen is gorgeous; photos and videos look great, and text is crisp. Battery life has been impressive under a variety of conditions: 10-11 hours of just reading (but with WiFi turned on), 6-8 hours of video (combination of movies/TV from the microSD card and streamed from Netflix). (Skype seems to really suck down the power, but that's hardly the battery's fault.) I love how thin it is, yet it still feels very solid. A friend remarked on that, saying he liked the "heft" and the way it felt in his hands. I agree!I can't say whether a hardcore gamer would like this tablet, as my gaming is limited to various jewel-type games, mahjong, and the occasional pinball simulation. For all of those games, it works just fine.The default camera app is pretty basic, and the resulting images reflect that. I recently installed the HD Camera app, and have been very impressed with the resulting images; much better than the default camera app (or any other camera app that I've tried). I don't often take photos with any tablet -- that's why I have a dSLR and a bunch of lenses -- but it's nice to know that I can get decent results if this is the only camera I have with me.The stereo speakers put out pretty good sound for their size. Their location -- firing out of the top and bottom edges when the tablet is in portrait orientation -- seems a little strange to me. I realize that most video will be watched in landscape orientation, but you might very well be reading in portrait orientation while listening to music, leaving the right channel firing into your lap and the left aimed at the ceiling. And even if you do have the table in landscape orientation, the sound is firing out at a 90-degree angle to your head, not at your ears. Of course, the majority of the time most users will be using earbuds/headphones, so this is more a minor gripe than a major complaint.I have another small gripe: the very thin bezel doesn't leave a lot of gripping space when you're reading a book in the Kindle app or some other book reader. Oh, and there doesn't seem to be any option for arranging apps alphabetically. Other than that, it's been fantastic, and an excellent replacement for the Note 8. Highly recommended.

I bought this to run a few apps using my google credentials that I did not want on my iOS devices. The unit is in great condition and works really well, but man does it come packed with stuff that I will never use. Out of the 16GB of storage I have a little under 8GB left for my own use. You can "delete" the bundled apps, and I tried that, but it does really free up any space. I did buy a 128GB card, so that helps a lot, and the device seems smart enough to know what should go on the card.I upgraded it to Lollipop without any issue, and find the interface works well. I am on the fence about the Samsung vs Google Now home screens, but switching between them is easy enough. I thought it was odd that the home button is not as functional as the iOS home button, but I downloaded a third party app to handle that.The screen is bright and colorful, but sometimes a little over saturated. You can change the color settings, but it does not seem to do much with some of the apps.The device came with one year of free Evernote Premium. As an Evernote fan, this was a huge bonus! The premium subscription is like a $50 discount on the device, so I was very happy with that.Overall, I think this was a good purchase and I am very happy with it. However, it has given me a new appreciation for how well thought out the iPad, and iOS is. That could be more of a familiarity issue, but there are things that just work better. Fingerprint, for example. On my iPad, I place the finger on at any angle and it is recognized. With the Galaxy, I must drag the finger at a specific speed and direction. I am also limited to three fingers on the Galaxy.Might come back and provide more updates as I get accustomed, but this is a discontinued unit, so . . . . .

We already have an ipad, but it's always being used. I wanted something to surf the internet and watch videos while on the run. I have the Galaxy phone so my familiarity with the Samsung ecosystem led me to look at the Tab S 8.4 and my Apple background led me to look at the ipad mini.I chose the Galaxy Tab and while it is much lighter and has a brighter screen, the battery life is significantly worse. Our ipad can go for days without being plugged in. If I use the tab for a few hours I'm already below 30%. If I don't use it at all during the day it's down to 60% by the evening. I find myself leaving it plugged in all the time, or turned off, to preserve battery life. Which is really a bummer because I'm realizing now that I probably should have weighed the importance of battery life heavier when I made the purchase decision. Doh.I think if I were to do things over again I would buy the apple ipad mini. The retina may not be as nice as this screen, but the difference is negligible.

Delivery took longer than 2 days. I'm a prime member and was hoping to get it in time for my grandkids birthday part, but didn't happened. I bought 2 tablets. On the selection display, it stated as NEW. After I made the selection, it stated REFURBISHED. When I received them, one appeared to be new and wasn't. The refurbished is going back because it keeps freezing. I hate refurbished merchandise because I feel that I'm paying for a headache and having to deal with this problem until eventually and hopefully I'll get what I intended to get/buy. Quite disappointed!!!