South Korean electronics company Samsung on Tuesday announced the launch of its latest budget-oriented tablet, dubbed as the “Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2017)” in the Indian market. The new Galaxy Tab A (2017) is an upgraded variant of the company’s previous 2015 model in the 8-inch tablet series. The new updated Galaxy Tab A (2017) tablet comes equipped with an improved camera, decent battery life and Bixby Home. Carried a price tag of Rs. 17,990, the new Galaxy Tab A (2017) will be made available for purchase in India starting today via the company’s online Shop and all leading offline retail stores across the country in Black and Gold colour options.
As a part of an Introductory offer, Samsung is offering a one-time screen replacement guarantee at Rs. 990 within a period of 12 months from the date of purchase. Note that, customers purchasing the tablet between October 10 and November 9, 2017, will be eligible for the one-time screen replacement guarantee. Besides this, the company has also introduced a Book cover for the tablet, which is priced at Rs 2,499 and the cover will be available separately. On the other hand, Reliance Jio customers will get an additional 180GB of 4G data over 1 year.
Technically speaking, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2017) comes equipped with an 8-inch WXGA TFT display with a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. Under the hood, the tablet is powered by a 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 quad-core chipset coupled with Adreno 308 GPU to handle the graphics. In terms of memory, the Galaxy Tab A (2017) is backed up by a 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which is further expandable up to 256GB with the help of a microSD card. Talking about its software fronts, the new Galaxy Tab A runs on company’s own custom UI skin, based on Google’s latest Android 7.1 Nougat operating system.
In terms of optics, the Galaxy Tab A (2017) features an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus, an f/1.9 aperture, and LED flash. The rear camera is also capable of shooting full-HD (1080p) videos at 30 fps. On the front, there is a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with an f/2.2 aperture for capturing selfies and making video calls.
Connectivity options offered by the tablet includes 4G LTE with voice calling support, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz & 5.0GHz), Bluetooth v4.2, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, a 3.5mm audio jack and a USB Type-C 2.0 port for superfast charging and data transfer. On the battery front, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2017) comes packed with a powerful 5,000mAh battery that is rated to deliver up to 36 hours of talktime on 3G network, up to 15 hours of usage on Wi-Fi network and up to 14 hours of video playback time. As we mentioned above, the Galaxy Tab A (2017) also features company’s AI assistant, called Bixby Home that understands and responds instantly according to the user’s behaviour and usage style. Dimension wise, the tablet measures at 212.1 x 124.1 x 8.9mm and weighs 364 grams.
Commenting on the launch, Vishal Kaul, Director, Mobile Business, Samsung India, said, “At Samsung, we are always listening to consumer feedback and recognize the need for creating devices and services that fit diverse needs. Galaxy Tab A (2017) is the perfect blend of a great display, powerful performance and multimedia experience. It is targeted for consumers seeking a holistic and quality entertainment experience. Galaxy Tab A will help us consolidate our market leadership in the country.”
