What makes a good tablet? It's a difficult question, the answer to which changes as price points rise. A more helpful direction might be, what is 'enough' tablet for most people? What is the minimum a tablet - particularly a budget tablet - needs to achieve to be useful for anyone who might pick it up? Show With the Galaxy Tab A8, Samsung appears to be attempting its own solution to the problem posed. Sporting an octa-core 2GHz processor, a 1080p 10.5 inch display, a 7,040mAh battery, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, it doesn't have specifications to set the world alight. A device is more than a list of specifications however, and the experience of using it still very much needs to be taken into consideration. At around $230/£219 direct from Samsung, and slightly less elsewhere, this isn't intended to be the device that will solve all of your problems, it is there to be just enough. There's the competition of course, Nokia with its T21 and Xiaomi's Redmi Pad are priced similarly and compete on specifications. Is 'enough' sufficient as a concept to stand out from and beat the competition? Read on for my full review.  Samsung Galaxy Tab A8$174 $230 Save $56 The Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 is a budget tablet that isn’t equipped to wow. With a solid set of budget specifications, on paper it doesn't offer much more than the competition. But with a sharp 1080p screen, good quad speakers, a comfortable design and decent battery life, it is a tablet that will serve most people well, and that's all it needs to do. Pros
Cons
Design and displayThere's not much that can be said about the design of tablets, like smartphones there's a standard look to which most adhere. The real difference is in size, with 'Ultra' tablets like the Tab S9 Ultra, that reach a massive 15 inches to comparative babies like the iPad Mini, there's a lot of choice available. Though there isn't a formal name for the likes of the Tab A8, I'd call it a 'comfortable' tablet. That's to say at 10.5 inches with a thin aspect ratio, it works equally well for reading as watching video, its 508g weight is light enough to hold in one hand, and at only 6.9mm thick it doesn't feel like there's a lot of bulk to it. It's a similar size to an iPad or iPad Air.
Carrying it through the house, watching a TV show while cooking, reading over a cup of tea in the morning, putting a cartoon on for the toddler, these are the gentle use cases it was seemingly made for, and in which I found it succeeded with aplomb, from a design perspective. Colour options are a little limited, with three options available, Graphite, Silver and Pink Gold. All are classy, with the Graphite review unit looking polished and understated in person. Few of the competition offer anything different colourwise, except the Redmi Pad, which offers a fetching green option. There's no NFC on board which means it can't be used for payments, but there's also no secure biometric unlock option. That means you can't use a secure fingerprint for passwords or when shopping online. There is a face unlock option, but it provides no security layer, being there for convenience more than anything else.
Going round the rest of the tablet there's a 3.5mm headphone jack, four speakers, a USB-C port for charging, a volume rocker and a power button. There's no pogo pins or the like for adding a keyboard case though - productivity isn't the point of the Tab A8. The speakers are nothing but a success. Although their relatively small dimensions mean that they can't achieve quite the same volume as could be achieved on a bigger device, I found they brought TV shows and movies to life. They're clear, loud and detailed, working well for music too - even providing a degree of stereo separation. Coming to the screen, it is an example of where the philosophy of 'enough' has been applied. At 1080p, it has sufficient resolution to showcase HD content in all of its glory. Though the likes of the Nokia T21 and the Redmi Pad have higher resolution, it isn't obvious unless you are pixel peeping. Samsung Galaxy Tab A8Storage 32 / 64 / 128GB CPU 2GHz octa-core processor Battery 7040mAh Ports USB-C (charging) Display type 1080p IPS LCD Size 10.5in Headphone jack Yes Colors Graphite, Silver and Pink Gold Expandable Storage Yes Weight 508g RAM 3GB Front Camera 5MP Rear Camera 8MP Dimensions 161.9 x 246.8 x 6.9mm Charging speed Up to 15W However, to hit the low price, a higher refresh rate has been abandoned, which isn't an essential inclusion but makes a device feel faster in everyday use. Though I found the Tab A8 felt responsive enough, it would have been nice to have seen at least a 90Hz panel used. No word is given by Samsung on the brightness that the Tab A8 can achieve, but for general use I found it was adequate. Given that the vast majority of use cases take place indoors, there it thrives. You might have a little trouble fighting off the most intense late afternoon autumnal sun, but bedtime reading is no issue at all. There's of course no HDR capabilities either, but for the price point this is to be expected. For the price the Nokia T21 offers more resolution and the Redmi Pad has a higher refresh rate, but by every metric that matters the display on the Tab A8 is decidedly decent. Performance and hardwareWhere 'enough' often ends as a concept is when we come to power and performance. A decision taken to limit RAM on a device might have a negative impact a year or two later, as power requirements rise with time. What's enough now might not be enough a year from now. The decision, then, to give the Tab A8 an unspecified 'octa-core, 2GHz' processor is therefore a bit troubling. This is basic-level from a power perspective, meaning today's nippy tablet might become tomorrow's toothless embarrassment. That's speculation of course, and although it isn't ideal, it also doesn't prove to be an issue in the present. Swiping through the interface, email, light games, watching videos - it did it all without breaking a sweat, as should be expected in 2023. The limited memory of 32GB did prove to fill up quickly though, and will need to be managed as a consequence.
Mobile gaming is interesting, for your experience will depend very heavily on what kind of gamer you might be. If you are the kind to while away a few hours with Solitaire or Words with Friends, the Tab A8 will have all the power you need. However, should you want a bit more, such as to play PUBG or the likes, you'd be best to look elsewhere. Though it is possible to play the game, that will be at a framerate which will see you killed in moments. Coming to the question of work, though the screen is a little small it's perfectly feasible to use the Tab A8 as an email/calendar/Teams companion and I found it worked well in this role. Different workflows will see their mileage vary, and it definitely can't be used as a primary device, but it can be a valuable addition in the right situation. Here the Nokia T21 has the Tab A8 beat, boasting second-screen capabilities. It's possible to run apps on the Tab A8 in multi-view, but the limited RAM means that this can be quite a slow experience. Moving to software, the Tab A8 runs OneUI, Samsung's particular flavour of Android. This isn't offensive and in 2023 is a known quantity. It adds more features than most people will need, but remains snappy and puts the important things front and centre. You won't have any issue finding your apps, swiping away notifications or other issues that can be found on the likes of the Redmi Pad.
I found there was a bit of a proclivity at some points for some of the apps to be poorly designed, duplicates or just there to sell services (do we really need a second app store and browser?) but on the whole it won't be an issue to most people. OneUI is polished, mature and fluid. Battery life and cameraWith a 7,040mAh power pack inside, the Tab A8 doesn't quite have the biggest battery available on the market today, but it does have a low-power processor and a relatively small screen, two ingredients necessary for good battery life. So how then does it fare? The answer is quite well for the most part. Across a 'standard' day, which is reading in the morning, Teams/email during the day, video during a break, then intermittent video and streaming in the evening, it finished at 8pm with 26 per cent, having started with 100 per cent at 7am.
As it isn't really a tablet for work, more for leisure, people with lighter use will see better results. It's definitely a tablet that will need charged at least twice per week. Speaking of charging, though the Tab A8 doesn't have the fancy 45W and above option of its more premium peers, it can recharge a little faster than some. Though at up to 15W that is admittedly stretching the definition of fast a little too much, it's nonetheless better than bog-standard 5W charging.
Related Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 review: One of the best Android tablets money can buyA gorgeous AMOLED screen, plethora of creative S Pen tricks and stunning sound make this one hell of a compelling tablet package. A full charge of the tablet took around two hours and fifteen minutes, and after an hour around 43 per cent had been filled. Again this isn't the fastest, but it is nice to have regardless. However, in the box, you get a standard 5W charger, which is slow as molasses.
As for the camera, there isn't a lot to say. On the rear is an 8MP sensor with autofocus, while on the front is a 5MP snapper that has fixed focus. The former isn't great, with muddy detail and colours, but find for document scanning. As for the latter, it produces serviceable images and has decent enough video quality to work for Teams calls, which is a pleasant bonus. You won't buy the Tab A8 for its cameras, but they work as might be expected for a budget tablet. VerdictWhat is 'enough' for a tablet, is a question potentially without end, the answer to which depends on many different use cases. The Galaxy Tab A8 is Samsung's answer to a sister question: what is 'enough' of a tablet for most people? With a colourful and bright 1080p display it ticks the screen box, its four speakers are loud and detailed, its battery life is dependable if not exceptional, it has a functional and comfortable design and mature software - all plus points, if not massive ones. The Redmi Pad has a faster higher resolution display, a more powerful processor and a nicer set of colour options, but comes with MIUI, which isn't the best, and is potentially more difficult to repair due to a lack of brick and mortar stores. The Nokia T21 has a few tricks, but a glacially slow processor that sees it struggle. Against the two, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 might not excite, but it is a mature and polished device that will be a comfortable companion for any who will have it. Is tab A8 good in 2023?Naturally, the performance levels of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 will fall off to an extent when compared with similarly priced models in 2023. However, it remains an efficient candidate to pick in the budget tablet market. Is the Samsung Tab A8 good or bad?The Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 earns its place among the best affordable Android tablets thanks to punchy speakers and a wide display with thin bezels that's perfect for media streaming. Add in the top-tier build quality and you've got a budget slate that more than justifies its asking price. Why is my Samsung Tab A8 so slow?A slow Samsung tablet is usually the result of: Too many apps or services running in the background. A lack of memory or storage, or an app optimized for a more powerful device. An out-of-date operating system/app. How long will the Samsung Tab A8 last?While a 7,040mAh battery in the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 sounds impressive on paper, it's a smaller capacity than both the 2021 iPad's 8,526mAh and the TCL Nxtpaper 10s' 8,000mAh batteries. Despite that, it still offers a decent runtime of up to a few days, depending on usage. |
