Gadgetory

hey what is going on guys lon here from Android Authority and earlier this year Samsung released two of the first Android tablets ever to feature super high resolution Super AMOLED displays one of them being in 8.4 inch model more recently Google released the Nexus 9 one of the first Android devices to run Android 5.0 lollipop which one has the bigger selling point and which one should you buy well that's what we're here to find out with the Google Nexus 9 versus the Samsung Galaxy Tab s 8.4 so we're going to kick this comparison off with the design of these two tablets starting with the Nexus 9 the Nexus 9 is built by HTC and when people first found out about this they had really high hopes about the design and build quality the build quality is pretty good if you can manage to snag a unit that doesn't have any defects like non tactile buttons or a give on the center of the back and I was lucky enough to not have either one of these problems the design however is more Google with just a little bit of HTC sprinkled in the back is made of soft touch plastic and there's a metal band that wraps around the entire frame adding to the overall rigidity but otherwise it's a pretty minimalist design that falls in line with previous Nexus devices with the Galaxy Tab s 8.4 you get a design that's very familiar of the old Samsung so there's no metal here it's just all plastic and the back features the same dimple pattern as the galaxy s5 you would think that would be Nexus 9 being made by HTC and the inclusion of a metal band that the build quality would completely Trump the Tab s 8.4 but that really isn't the case even though the Tab s 8.4 is entirely made of plastic it feels pretty sturdy in the hand and is extremely lightweight the biggest difference between these two tablets is the size the Tab s 8.4 is smaller than the Nexus 9 in practically every dimension some of that is due to the smaller display but the thinner vessels and the 16 by 9 aspect ratio on the 8.4 has a lot to do with it too the 8.4 is shorter less wide and much thinner than the Nexus 9 it's actually one of the thinnest tablets on the market it might not seem like a huge but the 8.4 can easily be held in one hand allowing you to have the other hand free for interacting with the display the Nexus 9 can be held in one hand but it feels a little bit like palming a basketball it's possible but you're not going to want to do it for a long period of time also as a side note the Tab s 8.4 features micro SD card expansion which you don't get on the Nexus 9 and this is nothing new when it comes to Nexus devices so if microSD expansion is a must-have feature for you then Nexus is never really an option but if you prefer Samsung anyways then you are in luck if there's one thing that the Nexus 9 and the Tab s 8.4 have in common it's the speakers they both feature dual speakers but the Nexus 9 has the edge because they're located on the front and sound a lot better overall whereas the 8.4 s are located on the sides with the side mounted speakers not only do you get sideways firing audio but they're also fairly easy to cover up when holding the tablet and landscape Google and Samsung also like to name their tablets after their display sizes so with the Nexus 9 you're looking at a nine inch LCD display it's 8.9 inches to be exact with a resolution of 2048x1536 with the Galaxy Tab s 8.4 you get an 8.4 inch Super AMOLED display with a very high resolution of 2560 by 1600 putting it slightly above quad HD both of these displays look fantastic with solid viewing angles and sharpness but if you want a more natural and color accurate display then you're better off with the nexus 9 the only flaw with the screen of the nexus 9 is the slight amount of light bleed but in normal day-to-day use it's not all that noticeable if you prefer punch your colors deeper blacks and you've been anxiously awaiting a high-resolution AMOLED display on a tablet that Samsung has you covered it's one of the brightest and most beautiful AMOLED displays that Samsung has ever made at 359 PPI it's also one of the most pixel dense displays you can find on a tablet taking a look at the specs the Nexus 9 features the very powerful and video Tegra k1 processor 192 kepler GPU and 2 gigs of ram the Tab s 8.4 on the other hand features Samsung's own Exynos 5 octa core chip a Mallee GPU and 3 gigs of ram the nexus 9 s processor has 64-bit capabilities so it's able to take full advantage of Android 5.0 lollipop and in day-to-day use the Nexus 9 is very fast smooth and responsive it also handles gaming like a champ just as you would expect from a Nvidia made processor so if gaming on a tablet is a very important aspect for you then the Nexus 9 isn't going to disappoint the Tab s 8.4 is also pretty fast and can handle gaming quite well but in day-to-day usage it feels just a half a step slower than the Nexus 9 even with that extra gig of ram if you only have one of these tablets you won't really notice the difference but when it comes to swiping and scrolling through social media feeds or web browsing in chrome the Tab s 8.4 is just a little bit choppy in comparison to the Nexus 9 and the benchmark scores definitely line up with the real-world performance moving on to the cameras the Nexus 9 and the Galaxy Tab s 8.4 both feature eight megapixel sensors but the megapixel count is where these similarities end if you want a more simplistic camera interface then that's what you're going to get with the Nexus 9 as it runs the stock Google camera right out of the box it comes with the usual features that you would expect like panorama photosphere and lens blur but you don't have very many controls outside of that Samsung's camera interface however couldn't be further from the word simplistic and depending on how you look at it you might think of it as cluttered or very feature-rich either way Samsung does offer a plethora in terms of manual controls and shooting modes you don't have to use them all but they are there if you want to have more granular controls over your photos the picture quality on the nexus 9 and Tab s 8.4 isn't going to blow you away but if I have to give an edge it would be to the Tab s 8.4 pictures appear just a tad sharper with more accurate looking colors but in low-light neither one of them are any good especially with a shutter speed on the 8.4 coming to a slow crawl at the end of the day the cameras aren't going to be a compelling reason to rush out and buy either one of these two tablets now with the battery you're looking at a 6700 milliamp power battery on the nexus 9 and a 4900 milliamp hour battery on the Tab s 8.4 and with heavy usage like gaming and watching a lot of YouTube I can get a day out of them both but the battery life definitely is better on the nexus 9 I can get between four and a half to five and a half hours of screen on time on the Nexus 9 whereas with the Tab s 8.4 I can only get about four hours of screen on time but if we're being completely honest here the battery life isn't spectacular on either tablet so with heavy usage I would expect to charge them almost every day and with lighter usage I would expect no more than two to three days tops both of these tablets do feature battery saving modes though and this is something that Samsung has been going for a while now on a lot of their devices but this is a relatively new feature to stock Android and it can really come in handy especially when you're down to your last 10 to 15% it's no secret that the biggest advantage of owning a Nexus is in the software so with the next nine you're getting Android 5.0 lollipop and when Google releases more updates the Nexus 9 will be one of the first on the list to get it with lollipop you're getting material design 64-bit support smoother animations and a ton of new and awesome features like screen pinning and multi-user support if software is your main concern and you need that pure Android experience with guaranteed updates then you can never go wrong with a nexus with the Tab s 8.4 you're not getting the latest version of Android nor are you guaranteed any updates instead the 8.4 is running on 4.4 KitKat with Samsung's TouchWiz skin and as far as I can tell Samsung has not released a major update for it since its release but hopefully they keep it updated because it'd be a shame to see a great piece of hardware go to waste TouchWiz does sort of make up for it by bringing a ton of features that you can't get on stock Android like magazine UX multi window for running multiple apps at once smart stay smart pause and a built-in fingerprint scanner just to name a few some of these features are very useful especially on a larger display and some are arguably gimmicky but if you're a longtime TouchWiz user you're probably used to that by now both the Nexus 9 and the Galaxy Tab s 8.4 are available now with the Nexus 9 coming in at a starting price of 399 for the 16 gigabyte Wi-Fi only model and it goes up from there depending on storage and connectivity if you're concerned about the colors the Nexus 9 comes in black white and sand the Galaxy Tab s 8.4 also starts at $400 for the 16 gigabyte model but as of this video it is currently on sale through Amazon for less than 350 bucks if you want to save a little bit of money the Tab s 8.4 also comes in a titanium bronze color if the white version doesn't suit your style but that is going to do it for the Google Nexus 9 versus the Samsung Galaxy Tab s 8.4 this is really a battle of software versus hardware and if you want that pure stock Android experience and you want fast updates and you love the Nexus brand then go with the Nexus 9 conversely if you've been waiting for a tablet with a high resolution Super AMOLED display and you don't mind TouchWiz or the possible lack of software updates then go with the Tab s 8.4 both of these tablets have their own selling points but ultimately what it's going to come down to is what you think is more important because neither one of these tablets do everything perfectly as always guys thank you so much for watching this video if you did enjoy please give a thumbs up down below and also subscribe to the channel which is also down below and make sure to check out the content from the rest of the guys here at Andrew thority some of them are linked over here on the side and if I don't see you before then Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays - whichever holiday you may be celebrating and a Happy New Year as well and as always keep it locked on Android Authority because we are your source for all things Android