Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I own both the models of Galaxy Tab A 9.7 and 8.0 in our household and the Tab A 8.0 is the one I use personally all them time mainly because of its compact size which is great for one handed use and a sharper screen . I purchased the Tab A 8.0 after deliberating considerably whether to go for the Tab A 8.0 or the newer Tab E . In the end I choose the Tab A because if felt much more premium in hands compared to the Tab E. Here's how I feel these both the Tab A 9.7 & 8.0 tablets stack up against each other if you're considering either of the two : BUILD QUALITY - Both the tablets are made of plastic with a metallic frame that runs around its sides. Despite its plastic construction these tablets do not feel cheap in any way ( The newer Tab E in comparison feels cheaper) with its soft touch matte finish plastic - The color choices on the tablet is great , having owned both the White & 'Smoky Titanium' colors - you cant go wrong with either of them . The white color is a nice soft metallic white with a slight pearl effect and the 'Smoky Titanium' is more of a metallic gunmetal shade - a good departure of the standard solid whites ,greys or blacks found on most other tablets FEATURES & PERFORMANCE - Both the Tab A 8.0 & 9.7 feature the same Qualcomm SnapDragon 410 processor - A mid range quad core 64 Bit 1.2 Ghz processor released in 2014 - Both the 8.0" and 9.7" scored pretty similarly on the AnTuTu synthetic benchmark owing to their similar hardware specifications (see pics) - Both 9.7" and 8.0" tablets feature screens with 768 X 1024 resolution which gives them a pixel density ( higher values mean sharper images & text) of 160 PPI for the 8.0" model and 132 PPI on the 9.7" model - The 160 PPI pixel density on the 8.0" is adequate for most uses , including browsing text heavy websites like Wikipedia , without having to zoom in too much. The pixelation is much more noticeable on the 9.7" model - The screen colors are rich and vibrant with good viewing angles - The 8.0" tab features a 4200 mAh battery which is good for 1.5 days of heavy use , the only issue here is it charges rather slowly at max of 1A as compared to the max charging current of 2A on the 9." model - In terms of performance , it can easily handle about 3 simultaneous tabs in the chrome browser after which the limitations & slowdowns due to its 1.5GB RAM become apparent (Both models have 1.5GB RAM) - The single speaker at the bottom of the 8.0" model is pretty weak and you would usually have to turn up the volume above 75% to hear anything clearly (as opposed to better dual stereo speakers on the 9.7" model) - The tablet does have an expandable MircoSD card slot which is great THE GOOD - The 8.0 model has a rich and vibrant screen with good viewing angles and sufficient resolution for everyday use - Touchscreen sensitivity and fluidity is great with not stuttery UI performance - The 8.0 screen size is ideal for one handed use , yet offer enough real estate for media consumption like pictures or videos. - The tablet performance is more than adequate, I had no issues running 1080P movies on the Netflix app , browsing with 3-4 tabs open or playing light games like Temple Run, Subway Surfer etc - I absolutely love Samsung's implementation of multi-tasking which allows you to run two compatible apps side by side in windowed form . This is one feature , which once you get used to, you will be using very often - Expandable storage - Its upgraded to the latest Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS THE NOT SO GOOD - Weak single speaker - the 5MP rear and 2MP front camera's are not that great, though they are sufficient for video chatting - Average battery life of 1.5 days and very slow charging speeds at 1A - For these reasons I take away one star FINAL THOUGHTS Overall I really like the Tab A 8.0 (over our Tab A 9.7) and can highly recommend it to you as you get a great form factor , decent screen resolution and performance with bright vivid colors and expandable storage all for under a $150 price tag. In fact i still choose this tablet over heavily discounted Ipad Mini during Black Friday 2016 as I felt it fulfilled my requirements sufficiently and gave more bang for my buck