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Rise of the turncoat, the (not) Xperia z4 tablet review...

viridis
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Galaxy Note pro 12.2 wifi 

 

"You see, an android user is more educated in value than their fruity counterparts."

 

It was set in stone, a dead cert, weeks of building up enough free funds to be able to do this had finished and I now had disposable funds of £499, the Tablet z4 was mine...

as I logged on the Sony pre order store and loaded my basket with the tablet with free keyboard I fished around in my coat looking for my debit card and pulled it out, I even filled out all the numbers. Just one click, one final click and I'd have pre ordered the slimmest, most powerful tablet on the planet, ready to land on my doorstep just 20 days later.

then in a nano second, a fleeting whisper of a thought crossed my mind, it was literally a blink of consciousness. "What else is available" it was as if my own beliefs and my own criticisms of isheep had prevented me from finishing the purchase. You see, an android user is more educated in value than their fruity counterparts, we often criticise the ifan for aimlessly queueing up on release day like a well oiled herd ready to part massive sums of money for something inferior.

that's what I was doing, without even looking for the best deal, I was ready to part with 500 quid on a name. The hypocrisy alone was shameful.

I kid you not, I then got anew email from pc world about their Usual "offers"......

 

 

SPECIFICATION

Samsung Exynos 5 Octa (1.9 Ghz + 1.3 Ghz, Octa core)
3 GB Ram
32 GB storage

SCREEN 

12.2"
Super Clear LCD
2560 x 1600
247.5 ppi
Multi-point touchscreen
LED backlighting

CONNECTIVTY 

802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with WiFi Direct
Bluetooth 4.0
USB 3.0
3.5 mm jack

MEDIA

microSD card reader up to 128gb

FEATURES 

- 8.0 MP camera 
- Integrated webcam
 

POWER 

Lithium-polymer
Up to 13 hours

 

now only £324!

 

So I think I'll go and take a look at this tablet after work and see how it stacks up.

very well is the outcome it would seem......

 

Opening the box of this mahoosive tablet you are greeted by its gigantic screen, and that's no exaggeration as you can see,

that's a note 3 on a note pro 8.4 on a note pro 10.1 all sitting on the note pro 12.2, it's huge it really is, in fact my tablet z entire body will sit inside the screen.

turning it on you are greeted by the Samsung boot logo with usual sound but coming out of stereo speakers the sound is superb,  the speakers are really good quality. Setting it up was easy too, entering usual Google log in and Samsung account login took no time at all and the tablet was ready for use in just a few minutes.

 

As well as the screen, the Tablet takes a lot of its design from the note 3, with its faux leather rear panel, aluminium STYLE surround and usual samsung curves, there is also the s-pen located in the rear panel which you can use For writing on websites such as this or any other text entry.

 

you can also use the pen for gestures and other functions which I'm still in the process of learning. 

The display is crisp and sharp, as you'd expect from a 2k display and the colour is reproduced well on the LCD panel, so while it's not an amoled display, it is a very capable screen indeed, in fact the following shows not only the great colours, but also just how much you have to actually try and see a pixel





 

It really is that nice.

 

The inside guts of the note pro contain a Samsung Exynos 5 cpu and is the same Exynos found inside the more popular Tab S,  whilst not the fastest cpu around its still an Octa core powerhouse capable of running multiple tasks, apps, videos all at once, in fact the note pro allows multiple windows to be opened and running at the same time, not just held in a state in the recent apps screen. 

 

As mentioned before the sound quality is amazing and I suspect the sound system is the same audio processor found in the Galaxy s5 which has amazing audio properties.

The camera was quite a surprise, usually tablet cameras are cap by default, no really, they are,  we just have grown to accept it. But the camera on the note pro is actually quite good. Capable of 8 mpix hdr shots in a variety of scenes the camera also comes with a very bright led flash. All of the above being pointless though as I can't imagine anyone on earth using this monster as a camera, I just can't. 

 

The battery life is good, with a full charge taking absolutely yonks to run out, I watched 3 films the other day at 1080p so both screen and cpu were being used a fair bit and it still had 30% left after, that's pretty damn good.

 

Do I regret not getting the Xperia? Yes of course but I'm also intelligent enough to know that the £200 difference is not justified based on waterproofing or cpu, I use my tab for watching films and Web browsing, it's not gonna get wet, I don't need the 64bit 810. What I needed was a superior viewing experience and more information on the screen.

and after a 3 year hiatus, Samsung have ticked my boxes.

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viridis
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And I believe this to be the first O2 community review ever written 100% using s-pen.

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perksie
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It looks great, a laptop without Windows must be worth a look. LOL

Android goes humongous and I love it, bit heavy though.

To support Disasters Emergency Committee: http://www.dec.org.uk/appeals text Nepal to 70000 to send £5

Sky Unlimited Broadband - Windows 10 - Nexus 4 Android 5.1.1
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Cleoriff
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I must admit to being shocked when I heard you had changed your mind about the Z4. (More than shocked if absolutely honest) So I read this review looking for excuses and cop outs. I found none of that. It is quite simply an excellent review of what appears to be a superb piece of kit.

I won't pretend to understand half of it but it's obvious you think the Galaxy Note Pro does everything you want and exceeds your expectations.

Thanks for the pictures and congratulations on another outstanding review.:smileywink:

Just to add...for me, a real bonus was the picture showing the comparison sizes of the 4 tablets.

Veritas Numquam Perit

Girl in a jacket
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Cairdeas
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Excellent review and very well written.  I'd  come here first for an honest view,  having witnessed some tattle on tech blogs Smiley Very Happy x

giphy-3
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Cleoriff
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@Cairdeas wrote:

Excellent review and very well written.  I'd  come here first for an honest view,  having witnessed some tattle on tech blogs Smiley Very Happy x


I always think tech reviews can be very biased (and less than honest).....All dependent on who writes them and their personal preferred OS

Veritas Numquam Perit

Girl in a jacket
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Cairdeas
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Couldn't agree more @Cleoriff wink x

giphy-3
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jonsie
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Love the review, great writing style keeping it an interesting read as well as technical. 

I purchased a Tab Pro 10.1 for this trip but feel this would be a shade too large to carry round from bar to bar but an impressive piece of kit. 

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MI5
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Another great review, well done.
I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

Currently using:
Pixel 7a (O2 & Lyca), One Plus 6 (Sfr), iPhone 12 Pro Max (Vodafone)
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Toby
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A flippin' sweet review @viridis

 

That picture quality is out of this world.

 

Well done slight_smile

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