Gadgetory

for years now Apple has completely dominated the tablet market but now it has some serious competition on Taylor Martin this is PocketNow and this is the Apple iPad Mini versus the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 in the tablet market Apple has largely ruled the plane but over the last year thanks to several high-end Android tablets with highly competitive price tags Android OMS have started to make some headway in the tablet realm cutting into apples significant market share lead and slowly bringing Android tablets into the mainstream one of the few manufacturers bringing Android tablets up to speed is unsurprisingly Samsung it's Galaxy Tab line is relatively successful but the brand that's truly turning heads is the Galaxy Note lineup thanks to the added utility of the s-pen at Mobile World Congress in February Samsung announced one addition to the Galaxy Note lineup the Galaxy Note 8.0 boasting high-end specifications and a hoard of software features that set it apart from the competition but how does samsung's latest mid sized tablet fare against its toughest competitor Apple's wildly popular iPad Mini surprisingly well the first matters are hardware and design both in which Apple's mid sized tablet win by a wide margin the iPad minis design is not unlike that of the iPhone 5 that shell is made of anodized aluminum making it both feel great in the hand and relatively durable not to mention it feels extremely lightweight for a 7.9 inch device its buttons are solid the design is minimal and there is almost no bezel on the sides it's not that the Galaxy Note 8.0 is hardware is bad but it's unmoving like virtually every other galaxy device from Samsung the Note 8.0 is made almost entirely of plastic and it shares the same mundane design as all its siblings wide radius corners lightweight plastic and faux brushed metal trim along the edges in fact it's practically a much larger Galaxy s4 with an S Pen the Note 8.0 is also larger than the iPad Mini in all dimensions it's taller by 10.8 millimeters wider by 1.2 millimeters and thicker by 0.8 millimeters it's also 30 grams heavier and has a point one inch larger display yet features much more bezel on the sides the part of the note 8.0 s design however is the inclusion of a camera hump around back on a device as large as the note 8.0 there's no excuse for a notable camera hump one because the rear camera is not a notable feature and two because there are thinner smartphones with larger sensors and no camera hump both devices are geared towards consumers seeking a powerful ultra portable device with a large display and both Samsung and Apple succeed Apple simply does it with more class once you look under the hood however it's apparent where apples and Samsung's priorities lie the Galaxy Note 8.0 may not be as pretty as the iPad Mini it may not be a small light weight or nearly bezel 'less but it's packed with raw horsepower whereas the iPad Mini is much more conservative the note 8.0 has a distinct advantage in terms of specifications granted the iPad Mini doesn't need a ton of horsepower to run smoothly the Galaxy Note 8.0 comes with a 1.6 gigahertz quad core Exynos chip set 2 gigabytes of RAM either 16 or 32 gigabytes of built-in storage a micro SD card slot for expansion 5 megapixel rear camera 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera and a 4,600 milliamp hour battery they I've had many features a 1 gigahertz dual-core a5 chip 512 megabytes of RAM 16 32 or 64 gigabytes of built-in storage a 5 megapixel camera around back 1.2 megapixel camera on the front and a 16-point 3 watt hour battery on tablets displays are generally make-or-break features unfortunately in the mid-sized sector no tablet has a killer display both the iPad Mini and the Galaxy Note 8.0 feature mediocre displays the Note 8.0 display measures 8 inches diagonally and sports a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels for a density of 189 pixels per inch the iPad minis display measures seven point nine inches with a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels or 162 pixels per inch the Note 8.0 has a distinct advantage in sharpness and saturation but make no mistake both of these displays will be rather disappointing next to the ultra high density display on your smartphone pixelation can be viewed from a distance and although viewing angles are fine the contrast and color reproduction is paltry compared to other displays between the note 8.0 and the iPad Mini when it comes to hardware design and specifications it's a toss-up you're either looking at a device that's gorgeous but conservative in specifications or a device that's not nearly as polished made of cheap materials but packed with top-notch specs when it comes to tablets though software plays a major role in the usefulness of a device content on the iOS App Store even for tablets is chock-full of quality applications as generally the first stop for developers and has resulted in hundreds of thousands of tablet compatible applications for download while the iOS software itself may be dating poorly the content within the App Store is what's keeping the iPad brand relevant and even ahead of the competition on Android the story was once quite different one had to search high and low for decent tablet applications but high quality tablet apps have slowly found their way to Android 2 though not nearly to the same degree just yet there are tablet applications to be had but there are still a ton of apps out there Facebook for example that do not support tablets once you look past the application support however the Galaxy Note 8.0 jumps ahead way ahead day I've had many features virtually the same exact software is the much smaller iPhone sure the homepage has been updated to hold more icons and folders and the settings application is paying to be better optimized for extra real estate other than that there is nothing truly compelling or unique about how the iPad Mini operates there is no true multitasking no additional features aside from the display size that make it any different from using an iPhone the Galaxy Note 8.0 comes with the S Pen which not only acts as a stylus but as a tool that unlocks more unique software features on the tablet hold the button on the S Pen and DoubleTap the display yes note will open and top the current application hold the button on the S Pen and long press on the display a screenshot is taken or press the button on the S Pen and outline a section of the display where you want to capture and it saves the selection as a clipping for pasting into s note the Note 8.0 also comes with the multi window feature which allows the user to run to applications side by side the application selection may not be nearly as developed on Android but on 8-inch tablets that's less of an issue than it is with full-sized tablets and we have such expansive and useful software features like multi window or pop-up note it's hard to deny that the Note 8.0 has a leg up on the iPad Mini in terms of software content is something that comes with time something that more of as being added to Android by the week as far as everyday tasks go the Note 8.0 and iPad Mini Excel and performance rarely skipping a beat or bogging down both tablets feature enough horsepower to push through common tasks with ease but when something more graphically intensive is thrown into the mix the iPad minis dual-core a5 chipset does tend to get bogged down while playing the amazing spider-man on the galaxy note 8.0 everything is buttery smooth from swinging to intense fight scenes on the iPad Mini the entire gameplay is choppy such as the case for a few other games too though more lightweight games play just fine it's difficult to compare performance between two completely different operating systems in the mobile space there aren't too many software agnostic synthetic benchmarks but if the SunSpider JavaScript test is any indication to the difference in horsepower between the two mid-size tablets the Note 8.0 has very little to worry about the Galaxy Note 8.0 ran circles around the iPad Mini with an average of nine hundred and sixty two point eight milliseconds - the iPad minis higher 1440 nine point eight millisecond average and the SunSpider test lower is better battery life is an important factor with any mobile device without a long lasting battery you'll stay tagged to an outlet which is hardly mobile in normal use both the iPad Mini in the Galaxy Note 8.0 last well over a full day I struggled to kill either tablet in a single day when performing routine tasks browsing the web email social media watching YouTube videos like photo editing taking notes and some instant messaging both lasted on average about a day and a half outside of normal usage either extremely heavy usage or no usage at all total standby the iPad Mini takes the cake it easily lasts upwards of a week on standby but the Galaxy Note 8.0 needed to be plugged in after just a couple days of standby and an extremely heavy usage the Galaxy Note 8.0 is 4600 million power battery seems to drain notably quicker than the iPad minis likely due to the extra horsepower under the hood lastly the cameras on the two devices will hardly knock your socks off both are equipped with five megapixel cameras and for the most part they can pair with most smart phone cameras from a few years ago images like the level of detail we're used to seeing in 8 megapixel cameras and beyond colors are pretty washed out and seriously taking pictures where the tablet looks plain silly but that's your own prerogative on a serious note tablet cameras are great for record-keeping and both the Galaxy Note 8.0 s and iPad minis shooters will suffice for video calls and snapping stills and a pinch both the Galaxy Note 8.0 and I've had many our fine specimens in the mid-size tablet market through most tasks they perform quite well and they're both ultra portable exactly what Samsung and Apple intended when building these tablets however it's hard to overlook the most disappointing feature of all mid-size tablets display quality when 5-inch smart phones feature 1080p displays and 10-inch tablets feature displays double that resolution it's hard to understand why 7 inch and 8 inch tablets still feature WXGA and 720p resolution the density is so low comparatively that it's difficult to look at the iPad Mini or Note 8.0 and be impressed with the display that aside the Note 8.0 and iPad Mini are easily the best midsize tablets money can currently buy with the s-pen and multitasking features the Note 8.0 offers the perfect amount of utility for an 8-inch tablet and the seemingly endless supply of content along with its superior design and build keep the iPad Mini though slightly underpowered in the running for the best midsize tablet if you can deal with some content gaps and a lower quality build the Galaxy Note 8.0 is for you however if you're after a premium tablet and don't need excessive multitasking the iPad Mini is probably your best choice I hope you enjoyed the video and if you did be sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel you can find us on all of your favorite social networks Google+ Twitter and Facebook at PocketNow you can find my personal account on twitter at casper tech I'm Taylor Martin and I will see you next time