Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and 10.5 Tablets with Super AMOLED Display and Fingerprint Scanner Announced

As expected, Samsung officially introduced its flagship tablets, the new Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and Galaxy Tab S 10.5. Both slates come with Super AMOLED displays, fingerprint scanners and KNOX for improved security.

Both tablets come with top-notch hardware inside, but they also pack lots of content from various Samsung partners. For example, Galaxy Tab S owners will enjoy 3 months of Marvel Unlimited subscription, but they will also have access to popular magazines owned by Conde Nast, such as Vogue and Golf Digest. All these magazines can be accessed via the Papergarden application that comes preloaded on each tablet. Thanks to Samsung's partnership with Google, Galaxy Tab S owners will be given free access to Google Play Music, as well as lots of other apps and games. Last but not least, owners of the tablets will also receive the multi-awarded Gravity movie starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, which can be found in the Library. As mentioned earlier, they come packed with fingerprint scanner, Kids Mode, Ultra-Power Saving Mode, S-Note, S Translator, Samsung Link and Samsung's Milk music service, which is only available in the United States.

Moving on to hardware, the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 sports an 8.4-inch Super AMOLED WQXGA 16:10 capacitive touchscreen display that supports 2560 x 1600 pixels resolution. Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 boasts a 10.5-inch Super AMOLED WQXGA 16:10 capacitive touchscreen display that supports 2560 x 1600 pixels resolution. The tablets will be launched with two sets of processors, depending on the region. One model will be powered by an octa-core Exynos processor, while another one will come packing a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU. The Galaxy Tab S tablets will be equipped with 3GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB of internal memory, microSD card slot (up to 128GB), 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and 2.1-megapixel front camera.

The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 will be powered by a 4900 mAh battery, whereas the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 should be equipped with a 7900 mAh battery. Both tablets will ship with Android 4.4 KitKat operating system out of the box with Samsung's Magazine UX on top. According to Samsung, the Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab 8.4 16GB will be available in the United States in July for $399, while the Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab 10.5 16GB will go on sale at the same time for $499. The LTE versions of the tablets will hit shelves later on for slightly higher prices. The same goes for the 32GB models. Keep in mind that Galaxy Tab 8.4 and 10.5 will be available in two color options: Titanium Bronze and Dazzling White.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S
Images credits to Samsung

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iOS 8 Hacked to Reveal Working Split-Screen Multitasking

A feature rumored to be part of iOS 8, split-screen multitasking was unfortunately axed at the last moment before the WWDC showcase last week. That’s not to say Apple doesn’t plan to release it at some point, but so far they seem to have abandoned plans to deliver it with the initial release of iOS 8 this fall.

However, it’s there. First, developers found clear code references to the feature. Now, the talented Steve Troughton-Smith has hacked the software to get it to work (partially). He writes on Twitter, “UISimulatedApplicationResizeGestureEnabled (iOS 8 iPad split-screen multitasking debug) [...] this amount of code throughout the OS doesn't make it to production by accident. I imagine they're saving it for the iPad event.”

The demo video embedded in his Tweet (below) clearly shows that Apple is at least toying with the idea of bringing Surface Pro-style application management to the iPad. However, it doesn’t look like they’re putting in too many hours to have it ready for iOS 8’s fall debut. Best case scenario, the iPad’s much-needed split-screen multitasking will be deployed as part of the first major update to iOS 8 (namely, iOS 8.1) or a subsequent update like iOS 8.2 / iOS 8.3, or even next-year’s iOS 9, which would constitute a worst-case scenario.

iOS 8 SDK Simulator hack gives away Apple's plans to introduce split-screen multitasking to iPad
Image credits to Developer Steve Troughton-Smith

UISimulatedApplicationResizeGestureEnabled (iOS 8 iPad split-screen multitasking debug) (video) http://t.co/gqi4qSD35r
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) 12 Juni 2014

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