Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 – Screen

The Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 has one of the more conventional screens in the Tab Pro series, but its specs are impressive. It’s an 8.4-inch LCD-type screen with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. That’s very high for a tablet this size, and the same resolution as the 12.2-inch version.

Sharpness is far better than the larger Tab Pro versions – it is excellent. This is helped by the use of a standard, uniform RGB subpixel array. Several Samsung Galaxy devices use non-RGB PenTile-based screens, whose pixel structure reduces the impression of sharpness.

The one downside of having such a high resolution on a relatively small Android tablet is that it can make some interface elements in apps look pretty small as most developers assume a tablet using this resolution would be larger. The panel’s response time is not perfect, either. High-contrast interface elements leave short ‘trails’ when you flick quickly through the interface, but the effect is both minor and fairly common.

The one issue that does stick is that Samsung has overcompensated for the idea that an LCD screen like the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4’s can’t reproduce the same wide colour gamut as an OLED screen like the Galaxy S5’s. Colours are oversaturated, leading to them looking unnatural.

Perfectly normal faces tend to gain the ruddy complexion of an alcoholic on the sauce and grass can look like it is radioactive. The interface really pops, but the screen tone is a bit off movie-watching. It’s disappointing when the screen is otherwise impressive.

In some other Galaxy phones and tablets, oversaturation can be tamed with the ‘Movie’ display mode, but the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 lacks any custom screen modes like this.

However, size-wise it’s great. 8.4 inches is definitely a tablet screen size rather than a phone, and it’s easily large enough to watch films on comfortably. It comes across as being a similar size to the 7.9-inch iPad mini display – a 4:3 display seems a bit larger than a widescreen one in most tasks (aside from watching widescreen movies). And while we’ve criticised the display, we should also note that the iPad mini display isn’t perfect either, with noticeably worse colour reproduction than an iPad Air.
Nothing demonstrates the Tab Pro 8.4’s colour issue quite as well as this lock screen wallpaper

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 – Speakers

The speakers don’t help the tablet’s case as a portable movie player. There are two speaker outlets, but they are both on the bottom – there’s no stereo effect here. However, using two grilles is smart as it means you won’t block the sound output with your hands.

Sound quality is fairly unremarkable. Top volume is decent, but the sound is a little thin and distorts slightly at top volume.