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Tab 3 8.0 is a winner

Another advantage the 8 has over the 10 is that the 8 supports miracast , the Intel chip in the 10 does not. haven't bought one yet but probably will shortly. I use miracast from my s3 to my 50 inch plasma with surround sound system and it works flawlessly. Everything I do on my s3 appears on big screen, not just pictures and videos but web browsing, games, everything. It is fantastic and it is for that function I will buy the 8
 
After reading these mini reviews I was excited about checking out one myself. However I am very cautious now before buying tablets as I have been burned before. So while visiting my local gadget emporium I chose 4 8” tablets that I thought looked the best and purchased them. Logic being, I would test them at home in a lot more detail and then just return the three that didn’t fit my needs, the customer service and repair manager is a friend of mine so I knew I wouldn’t have any problems returning them, he was also interested to find out more himself . So I bought the Samsung Tab 3 8, LG G Pad 8.3, HP Slate Pro 8 and the Kindle 8.9 HDX. Below I put them into separate sections.

Specs:
Price: 280 CHF
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8
Resolution: 1280 x 800 (189 ppi)
CPU: Exynos 4212 DualCore (released 2011, yep that old)
Ram: 1.5GB
Camera: 3MP rear, 1.5MP front
Quadrant Benchmark: 4,861
The Good: light weight, clean looking design
The Bad: slowest out of the bunch, hardware isn’t very new. Samsung has the worst track record when it comes to updating their software, probably won’t get version 4.5

LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition
Price: 250 CHF
Resolution: 1920 x 1200 (273 ppi)
CPU: Qualcomm Pro Snapdragon 600 (released 2013)
Ram: 2GB
Camera: 5MP rear, 2MP front
Quadrant Benchmark: 10,678
The Good (It will be updated quickly, will definitely get the 4.5 update, good price)
The Bad (battery is only 8 hours in real world usage)

HP
Price 300 CHF
Resolution: 1600 x 1200 4:3 (251 PPI)
CPU: Tegra 4 QuadCore (released 2013)
Ram: 2GB
Camera: 8MP rear, 2MP front
Quadrant Benchmark: 16,163
The Good: built in HDMI (love that), extremely fast graphics, cool 4:3 aspect ratio for reading
The Bad: very small development community and like Samsung, HP is not very quick to update their software.

Kindle 8.9 HDX
Price: 350 CHF
Resolution: 2560 x 1600 (339 PPI, insane I know)
CPU: Qualcomm Pro Snapdragon 800 QuadCore (released 2013)
RAM 2GB
Camera: 8MP rear, 2MP front
Quadrant: 20,008 (friggen insanely fast CPU)
The Good: one of the best looking, fastest, most amazing screen, HDM out, amazing speakers from such a small body, build quality is exceptional, large development community, AOSP ROMS available
The Bad: Amazon Android OS but there are many AOSP Rom’s available giving you a pure Android experience, expensive but then again look at what you get, my god is this thing brilliant


After playing around with these four tablets I ultimately chose the Kindle 8.9 HDX. Because of the price though I decided to return the Nexus 10 and go all in with the Kindle. The 8.9” size is not much of a difference to the 10” Nexus but is still small enough to comfortably take with me. With the money from the Nexus 10 and what I would have spent on a 8”, I bought the 4G LTE, 64GB version, a 128GB SanDisk SD, along with the Kindle branded red Origami case. I also rooted it and installed a AOSP Rom. This is without a doubt the most incredible tablet I have ever used and should serve me well for the next 2 years. Everything about it screams impressive, screen, speed, and build quality, built in HDMI. As for the Tab 3 8”, well, it’s the very definition of mediocre. There is nothing about that tablet that screams buy me. Not that there was anything ultimately wrong with it except maybe that it's obsolete before you even buy one, it’s just not worth 280 CHF, again, especially with its 3 year old technology. It’s worth about 150 CHF, any more than that and you would be better off going with the LG G Pad 8.3 for 250 CHF but it wasn't 150 CHF, the Tab 3 is 280 CHF. The LG is a fantastic tablet for the price with features that wipe the floor with the Tab 3 8”. Actually after my experience with the Kindle I would probably get the Kindle 7 HDX. Anyway thank you guys, if it wasn’t for this forum I would have never found my new beloved, seriously though guys, my goodness is the Kindle awesome. If I insulted anyone for not giving the Tab 3 8” a glowing review, excuse me for that as well, I just don’t get the entire Tab 3 line. But who cares what I think, it’s you that has to live with it.
 
Hey Relic

Thanks for your input, even if I disagree with your final assessment. :)
I've had my Tab 3 8.0 for 9 months and it has done everything I need and performed flawlessly. Come back in 9 months and let us know how your Kindle is doing...if you still use it.
 
HurrycaneJohn said:
Hey Relic

Thanks for your input, even if I disagree with your final assessment. :)
I've had my Tab 3 8.0 for 9 months and it has done everything I need and performed flawlessly. Come back in 9 months and let us know how your Kindle is doing...if you still use it.
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't I use it for that long, it has a two year warranty and a 2 year 150Mbit LTE contract to make sure of it. That's why I spent the time and tested four of them, to make sure. The Tab 3 was just too outdated for me, the CPU is 3 years old already, the Tab 4 is coming in a month or so. Plus I really wanted a high resolution screen with HDMI out.
 
HurrycaneJohn said:
Actually, the 8.0 and 10.1 have more functionality then the 7.0 .... and there in lies the problem. The Tab 3 7.0 is the weak link and also seems to be the most popular seller because it is has cheapest price. Unfortunately, most of the weaknesses on the Tab 3 7.0 are attributed to the entire Tab 3 line in many of the Tab 3 generic forums. The truth is...

The Tab 3 7.0 doesn't have backlit Home and Back Keys
The Tab 3 7.0 doesn't support Move to SD
The Tab 3 7.0 has a smaller screen and less memory.
The Tab 3 7.0 has a slower processor
The Tab 3 7.0 doesn't support HDMI out

The Tab 3 8.0 and 10.1 have lager screens , more memory, faster processors, support Move to SD card ,support HDMI out and have Backlit Home and Back keys.
Click to expand...

Unless you choose the LTE variant of the Tab 3 7" which is almost twice as fast as the 8", has 2GB of memory and 16GB of storage, HDMI but you are still stuck with that awful resolution of 1024 x 600.
 
Sideman said:
I bought a Tab 3 7.0 and did a lot of research first. According to what I found, the Samsung HDMI adapter is compatible with the 7.0, and my menu and back buttons light up just fine...but they do go out after a few seconds of non-use...to save some battery I guess.

From all I have seen, the 8.0 only has a bigger screen and more memory, which is good, and a slightly faster processor (1.2ghz compared to 1.5ghz). But, for the $100 difference, I think the 7.0 is the better buy.

I don't have an 8.0, but did seriously consider it. I just don't have need of a slightly larger screen, and have had no problems with the memory size, or processing speed of the 7.0...then again, I don't play huge games either.

YMMV
Click to expand...

For someone who did a lot of research you sure chose the worst possible tablet in a sea of really good ones. Why were you even comparing the 8" to the 7" and not another 7". You could have and defiantly should have bought an EVGA Note 7, HP Extreme 7 or even a Nexus 7 v2 for just 50 dollars more. The first two would have given you a brand new insanely fast Nvidia Tegra 4 CPU that is literally 10 times faster than the horrible Marvell CPU found in the Tab 3 7. Twice the resolution, 1280 x 800 vs. again horribly spec'd 1024 x 600, twice the built in storage space, 8GB vs. 16GB (especially bad for an OS that takes up half of the space out of the box), built in HDMI and Miracast, an active digitizer pen (included) and much, much better build quality. The EVGA Note 7 will also be updated much quicker and supported longer as it's a vanilla android and Nvidia reference design, think Nexus here. The Tab 3 7 has probably seen it's last update as it wasn't on the KitKat update list but even if it does there defiantly won't be anymore for Samsung. The development community is almost none existent as well so not much in the way of custom ROM's when the updates stop.

I get that you don't need much but this is a perfect example of compromising on crappy hardware for price alone. Even if money was tight you could have bought a Nexus 7, 32GB 2012 model or a even a brand new Dell Venue 7 with 2GB RAM, 16GB SSD, SD Card, new intel Z2560 which is the same CPU found in the Tab 3 10.1" and is also faster than the CPU found in the Tab 3 8", here's the kicker both are only 150 dollars, just 20 dollars more than the Tab 3 7". You defiantly didn't do your research or if you did just kept it to a limited few, i.e. just the Tab 3 7 and 8.
 
Looking for posts for my 7 inch at&t tab. I come across this thread. While the points made about the proc and others are true. The one about not moving apps to sd is completely wrong. I love this little tablet. Its fast enough for me and I have found a way to root it easily. I can tether off my phone and slip in a sim when I need to. Bought it used for 90 bucks and its perfect size for the pocket.. just saying..
 
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