Samsung has refreshed its affordable Galaxy Tab A tablet with slightly better performance, a bit larger screen, more storage, and multitasking features to help you work or study from home.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 10.5 (2021) switches over to a 10.5” LCD with a 1,920 x 1,200 px resolution. That’s a 16:10 aspect ratio, which means the display has slightly more vertical room compared to the 10.4” 15:9 display of the Tab A7. As before, there are four Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers for an immersive audio experience.
The new Tab A8 slate comes with entertainment built-in – Samsung TV Plus offers streaming of 200+ free channels (live and on-demand, available in select markets), also you get 2 months of YouTube Premium for free.
But it can be a work tablet too, with split-screen multitasking and floating windows. Also, it supports Drag & Split from One UI 3.1.1 which rolled out to 2020 Galaxy flagships earlier this year. This does mean that the tablet is launching with Android 11, though.
According to Samsung, the new chipset offers 10% higher CPU performance, the GPU is also 10% faster. But the company doesn’t name the chipset. Unofficial info suggests that it is a Unisoc Tiger T618, a 12 nm chipset with two Cortex-A75 cores and six A55 cores, plus a Mali G52 MP2 GPU. This replaces the Snapdragon 662 chip of the Tab A7 (11 nm, four Cortex-A73 and four A53-based cores, Adreno 610).
As with the previous model, the base model comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. This year there’s a new memory configuration, 4/128 GB, sitting above the 4/64 GB option. The microSD slot means that you can save some money if you don’t need fast storage.
If you need to take part in a video call, there is a 5MP camera on the front (with a fixed focus lens), plus an 8MP camera on the rear (autofocus) for photos and videos.
There will be two versions of the Galaxy Tab A8 – one with Wi-Fi only and one with LTE if you need connectivity on the go. Both have Wi-Fi 5 (AC) and Bluetooth 5. Wired connectivity includes a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a USB-C 2.0 port (so no DeX support, that’s only for S-series devices).
The tablet is powered by a 7,040mAh battery. It supports 15W fast charging, but in the retail package, you will only get a 7.5W charger.

SPECIFICATIONS
NETWORK

• Technology: GSM / HSPA / LTE

LAUNCH

• Announced: 2021, December 15
• Status: Coming soon. Exp. release 2021, December

BODY

• Dimensions: 246.8 x 161.9 x 6.9 mm (9.72 x 6.37 x 0.27 in)
• Weight 508 g (1.12 lb)
• Sim: Nano-SIM

DISPLAY

• Type: TFT
• Size: 10.5 inches, 319.7 cm2 (~80.0% screen-to-body ratio)
• Resolution: 1200 x 1920 pixels, 16:10 ratio (~216 ppi density)

PLATFORM

• Os: Android 11, One UI 3
• Chipset Unisoc Tiger T618 (12 nm)
• Cpu: Octa-core (2x2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)
• Gpu: Mali G52 MP2

MEMORY

• Card Slot: microSDXC (dedicated slot)
• Internal:64GB 4GB RAM

MAIN CAMERA

• Single: 8 MP, AF
• Video; 1080p@30fps

SELFIE CAMERA

• Single: 5 MP
• Video: 1080p@30fps

SOUND

• Loudspeaker: Yes, with stereo speakers (4 speakers)
• 35mm Jack: Yes

COMMS

• WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
• Bluetooth: 5.0, A2DP, LE
• GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
• Nfc: No
• Radio; No
• USB: USB Type-C 2.0

FEATURES

• Sensors: Fingerprint (side-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

BATTERY

• Type: Li-Po 7040 mAh, non-removable
• Charging: Fast charging 15W