Most people think of tablets as a secondary device with an extra-large screen, only good for browsing the Web or watching video on the couch. Samsung has something else in mind with its latest, the Galaxy Tab Active, which is rugged, water-resistant and aimed at business customers.
While most tablets built with the job site in mind are large, clunky devices, the Tab Active is thin, compact and attractive. It’s essentially a large LTE-ready phablet that can make phone calls, survive drops and spills and stick with you even at hazardous job sites.
Compared with something like the iPad Air, the Tab Active is much more durable. It’s built to withstand slight tumbles and drops of up to 1.2 meters with the included protective case. It is also rated for water resistance down to 1 meter, with larger-than-normal physical buttons for times when you can’t use the touch-screen.
As you’d expect from a Samsung tablet, the 8-inch, 1280 x 800 screen looks great. The display is surrounded by a slight silver-gray bezel and a notched outer edge providing just that extra bit of grip. The screen was more reflective than I would’ve liked, however, and it’s unclear how visible it’d be outside on a bright day.
Unlike many consumer-oriented tablets, there are fewer creature comforts on the Tab Active. The most obvious concession is the rear-facing camera, which is just 3.1 megapixels. The front-facing camera is a typical 1.2-megapixel unit, but when I snapped a few quick shots they all came out pixelated and noisy. It will probably be good enough for business-related pictures, but expectations should be tempered.
The Active does include a stylus — the C Pen — similar to the stylus you’d find with any Samsung Note device. It’s thicker than the Note’s S Pen, which is perfect if you’re using it while wearing gloves, but it’s otherwise unremarkable.
There’s also a dialer on the Tab Active, letting you make calls as you would with any phone. We’d recommend using a Bluetooth headset for making calls, because nobody wants to be “that guy” who holds an 8-inch phablet to their head.
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SOURCE: USA Today, Reviewed.com
Daniel Wroclawski
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