La Surface Pro 3By Technical specifications and by price, is actually closer to being an alternative to PCs, but with the new Surface 3, Microsoft can finally compete more directly with the more conventional high-end tablets and we have already faced two of the great references of these: the iPad Air 2 and Nexus 9. Today it is the turn of another of the greats Android tablets that we can find in stores at the moment: the Galaxy Tab S 10.5. Which of the two could interest you the most? We hope this comparative help you decide.
Integrated
Seen from the front, the truth is that there are no major differences to appreciate between the two, but if we look at the back cover, we can already find some more, starting with the materials (magnesium in one case, polycarbonate in another) and continuing with the punctuation characteristic of the Galaxy Tab S (which mimics the finish of the Galaxy S5) and the typical tab of the tablets Surface which allows us to hold it vertically (in three different positions, to be exact).
Dimensions
These two tablets are two of the largest that we can find (although they are still far from the 12 inches of the Galaxy Note Pro), far exceeding the usual 10.1 inches. Still, it is easy to see that the Surface 3 is the larger of the two26,7x18,7 inch against 24,73x17,73 inch). It is also thicker (8,7 mm against 6,6 mm) and, above all, heavier (622 grams against 425 grams).
Screen
In both cases, as we said, we have quite large screens (10.8 inches against 10.5 inches), but the resolution is noticeably higher in the Galaxy Tab S (1920 x 1280 against 2560 x 1600 y PPI 214 against PPI 288). In any case, we must not lose sight of the fact that they also have a different format (3:2 against 16:9).
Performance
The processor is probably the least strong section of the Galaxy Tab S: while on the tablet Microsoft we have a Intel Atom quad core to 2,4 GHz, in that of Samsung we found a Exynos 5420 eight core to 1,9 GHz. As far as RAM is concerned, the superiority will depend on which model of the Surface 3 we choose, since there is one with 2 GB and another with 4 GB, while the Android tablet has 3 GB.
Storage capacity
La Surface 3 comes with an internal memory much larger than the Galaxy Tab S 10.5, with a minimum of 64 GB (for the model with 2 GB of RAM) compared to the minimum of 16 GB on the other and, although it is true that your operating system will take up more space, it is to be expected that we will still have more GB free with it. Both have, in any case, the possibility of expanding the memory externally through micro-SD.
Cameras
The two tablets are quite even in this section, with a sensor of 8 MP for the front camera in both cases. The Surface 3 It has a small advantage, yes, when it comes to the front camera (3,5 MP against 2,1 MP).
Battery
If you are concerned about autonomy, it would probably be good to wait for the independent tests, because at the moment we have very little information to compare both tablets, since we do not even have the battery capacity data of the Surface 3, but only the autonomy estimates that it has given Microsoft (about 10 hours).
Price
Even though a Surface 3 is a more affordable device than the Surface Pro 3, the truth is that its price will finally be higher than that of practically any Android tablet de high end, including this Galaxy Tab S 10.5: the tablet Microsoft will be sold from $599while that of Samsung it can be obtained already well below its initial price, reaching lower than the $450 at some dealers.