Google has launched the Nexus 9 with a little assistance from HTC. However, in terms of design, build quality, performance, and style, how does it stack up to Samsung’s impressive Galaxy Tab S 8.4? These are undoubtedly the best tabs of 2014. Earlier, we saw Apple launching the iPad mini at a price of about 319 pounds.
Since them, this has become a rather competitive price for all manufacturers today. Earlier, Samsung launched their Tab at a comparatively higher price but rapidly reduced it in order to match up with that of the iPad. Google also decided to use the same policy as that of Samsung, which led to an increase in price from the Google Nexus 7.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 starts at a price of 319 pounds but you need to add 80 additional pounds in order to enable 4G cellular data. In the same manner, you need to add 60 pounds for the Nexus in order to enable this. The Nexus 9 has a 4G option only available for the 32GB variant. For the 16GB WI-Fi + Cellular variant, you need to shell out around 400 quid for the Galaxy Tab S 8.4. The 32GB WI-Fi + Cellular variant costs 459 pounds for the Nexus 9.
Design and Build Quality:
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 comes in Dazzling White and Titanium Bronze colors while the Nexus 9 is available in Sand, Lunar White and Indigo Black colors. With a relatively smaller screen, it is a lighter as well as more compact tablet. Weight-wise, compared to the 425g for the Nexus 9, the Galaxy weighs lighter at 294g.
Hardware and Performance:
Samsung has a smaller screen at 8.4 inches compared to the Nexus at 8.9 inches. In terms of aspect ratio, Samsung offers a 16:9 screen aspect ratio while Google sticks to 4:3, similar to the iPads. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 has a greater pixel density at 359ppi, which is quite high compared to the 287ppi (still great!) in the Google Nexus 9.
Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 runs on the Exynos 5 Octa-core chip which makes use of four similar 1.9GHz cores and four 1.3GHz cores. It runs on a massive 3GB RAM. The Nexus 9 is one of the first devices with a 2.3GHz 64-bit Nvidia Tegra K1 chip. It runs on a 2GB RAM. During Benchmark tests, GeekBench 3 has shown it to be running at 2.5GHz.
Storage:
Currently, we have only seen the 16GB variant of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4. However, it is expandable to 128GB with the help of a MicroSD card. Google’s Nexus 9 is available in 16/32GB variants, but you’ll need the latter for 3G/4G connectivity.