Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4in review

Samsung unleashes a fantastic all-round Android tablet but it's expensive.

IT Pro Verdict

The Galaxy Tab Pro is a brilliant all-rounder and is tailored for enterprise usage. But the battery life is disappointing and it's not cheap.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Big screen in portable chassis; Portable; Micro SD support; Secure Android

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Middling battery life; Expensive

Performance & Connectivity

The 'Pro' branding on this tablet guarantees high-end components. Samsung has used Qualcomm's Snapdragon 2.3GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and offers a choice between 16GB or 32GB of internal storage.

In the Sunspider web-browsing benchmark, the device clocked a mediocre score of 620m/s. It's slower than the iPad mini 2, but in real-world testing you won't notice the difference in time it takes to load a webpage.

Transitions between home screens were smooth. There was the occasional judder - we noticed the Pro occasionally took a second or two to load the large weather widget when returning to the home screen and the Chrome app did crash a couple of times. But we also managed to stream content using demanding apps such as Netflix and Now TV, with no problems.

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On the back there's an 8-megapixel camera, which takes clear shots.

The Tab Pro supports Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and also the HT80 standard so you can hook up professional microphones. Wi-Fi Direct is available too and there's Bluetooth 4 and Kies support bundled in.

It's also possible to use the Android tablet as a giant remote control for your TV via the infrared sensor. There's a standard set of sensors built into the tablet including an accelerometer, geo-magnetic, gyro and light sensor.

Physical ports come in the form of the micro USB 2, with support for MHL and a micro SD card slot capable of housing a card up to 64GB in size.

Khidr Suleman was the Technical Editor at IT Pro and during his time with the site was responsible for the reviews section. Prior to joining IT Pro, Khidr worked as a reporter at Incisive Media. He studied law at the University of Reading and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism and Online Writing at PMA Training.