Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 review: S-class coupe

S-class coupe

GSMArena team, 25 June 2014.

Synthetic benhcmarks

The Wi-Fi-only version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 features Exynos Octa 5422 chipset with 1.9GHz quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU and 1.3 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU. The GPU is Mali-T628 GPU, while 3GB of RAM make sure everything runs smoothly on the device.

GeekBench 3 and AnTuTu 4 are benchmarks which put to the test the hardware combo inside the tablet. GeekBench 3 is more CPU-intensive, whereas AnTuTu 4 is a compound benchmark - testing CPU, GPU, memory performance among others.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

  • Oppo Find 7a
    3093
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    3011
  • Galaxy S5 Active
    3010
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    2856
  • Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
    2781
  • LG G3
    2687
  • LG G Pro 2
    2585
  • LG Nexus 5
    2453
  • HTC One (M8)
    2367
  • LG G2
    2243
  • Motorola Moto X
    2123
  • HTC One mini 2
    1526
  • Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
    1359

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8)
    37009
  • Galaxy S5 Active
    36162
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    36018
  • LG G2
    35444
  • Oppo Find 7a
    33344
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    33182
  • Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
    31754
  • LG G3
    30482
  • LG G Pro 2
    29603
  • LG Nexus 5
    25097
  • Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
    19896
  • Motorola Moto X
    19031
  • HTC One mini 2
    17883

Basemark OS II is another all-round benchmark. It gives an overall score along with single-core, multi-core, and math performance. The tablet didn't blow us away on this occasion.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

  • LG G3
    1151
  • LG G Pro 2
    1140
  • LG G3 (anti-cheat)
    1132
  • HTC One (M8)
    1126
  • Galaxy S5 Active
    1107
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    1082
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    1080
  • Oppo Find 7a
    1057
  • Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
    776
  • HTC One mini 2
    517
  • Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
    434

Next up we have GFXBench's 2.7 T-Rex and 3.0 Manhattan. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 performed in an underwhelming fashion here - its GPU simply couldn't manage all the pixels the way a flagship device should during the on-screen tests. The off-screen results were slightly better, yet still far from the top of the charts.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8)
    28.4
  • Oppo Find 7a
    28.4
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    27.8
  • LG G3
    27.6
  • Samsung Galaxy S5 Active
    27.5
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    27.2
  • LG Nexus 5
    23
  • LG G Pro 2
    22.9
  • LG G2
    22
  • Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
    20.5
  • Motorola Moto X
    16
  • Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
    5.8
  • HTC One mini 2
    5.8

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8)
    30.1
  • Oppo Find 7a
    28.8
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    28.7
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    28.1
  • Galaxy S5 Active
    27.7
  • LG G Pro 2
    24.1
  • LG Nexus 5
    24
  • LG G2
    23.1
  • LG G3
    20.6
  • Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
    13.6
  • HTC One mini 2
    11
  • Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
    10.9

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

  • LG G3
    11.9
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    11.8
  • Galaxy S5 Active
    11.7
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    11.7
  • Oppo Find 7a
    11.4
  • HTC One (M8)
    11.1
  • LG G Pro 2
    8.7
  • Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
    5.6
  • HTC One mini 2
    1.7

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Sony Xperia Z2
    12.2
  • HTC One (M8)
    11.9
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    11.7
  • Galaxy S5 Active
    11.7
  • Oppo Find 7a
    11.4
  • LG G Pro 2
    9.2
  • LG G3
    7.4
  • Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
    4.1
  • HTC One mini 2
    3.8
  • Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
    2.9

BrowserMark 2.1 looks at HTML 5 performance, while Mozilla's Kraken 1.1 is JavaScript-centric. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 set both benchmarks on fire - it posted the best results we've seen to date on both occasions.

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

  • Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
    1681
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    1398
  • LG G Pro 2
    1346
  • Oppo Find 7a
    1327
  • Galaxy S5 Active
    1319
  • LG Nexus 5
    1286
  • LG G3
    1254
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    1224
  • HTC One (M8)
    1069
  • HTC One mini 2
    945

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

  • Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Exynos)
    4927
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    6043
  • Galaxy S5 Active
    6341
  • LG G Pro 2
    6578
  • Oppo Find 7a
    6660
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    7041
  • LG Nexus 5
    7148
  • LG G3
    7610
  • HTC One (M8)
    10296
  • HTC One mini 2
    15684

Overall, the processing performance of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is quite good although its GPU could have been better, especially considering the high pressure that the high-res screen puts on it.

Reader comments

will samsung come out with a wifi only version of the tab a 8.4? Looking to upgrade my 2015 tab a model.

  • Anonymous
  • 02 Nov 2015
  • 0Tp

Antutu 36000

  • azadeh
  • 04 Aug 2015
  • B}6

My music app view suddenly changed into tabs view , but i want to switch to that folder view that i had from the first what shuold i do?