When comparing Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (9.7) vs Amazon Fire 7 (2017), the Slant community recommends Amazon Fire 7 (2017) for most people. In the question“What are the best Android tablets around $80?” Amazon Fire 7 (2017) is ranked 2nd while Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (9.7) is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Amazon Fire 7 (2017) is:
The Fire 7 is only around $50, but in terms of build quality and performance, it is easily comparable with $200+ tablets. The chassis is durable, and it will easily survive a fall to the ground. Apps load fairly quickly; streaming videos and playing games, for the most part, works very well, although it does occasionally feel sluggish.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Amazing screen
The high resolution 2048x1536 Amoled display provides very rich colors and a pixel density of 264PPI (it has the same sharpness as the retina iPads).
Pro Very thin and light
At just 389g, the Galaxy Tab S2 (9.7) weighs less than a pound, and is incredibly thin at just 5.6mm.
Pro Great performance
The Tab S2 has Samsung's own Exynos 5433 processor, which has 2 quad core processors inside (one high power, one low power). Only one processor set runs at once, however when performance isn't needed the low power set will kick in instead of the high power set saving battery.
In GeekBench 3, the Tab S2 scored 4175, which is shy of the iPad Air 2's 4547 score but solidifies it's position ahead of the Dell Venue 10 7000 (2900) and Microsoft Surface 3 (3531).
Pro Multitasking
While not native to Andoid (yet - it's coming with Android N which is expected this fall), the Tab S2 supports for limited multitasking. You are limited to about 20 apps but Chrome, YouTube, and other applications are supported. Multitasking performance suffers a bit, but at least the option is there.
Pro It offers amazing value for the money
The Fire 7 is only around $50, but in terms of build quality and performance, it is easily comparable with $200+ tablets. The chassis is durable, and it will easily survive a fall to the ground. Apps load fairly quickly; streaming videos and playing games, for the most part, works very well, although it does occasionally feel sluggish.
Pro Battery life is decent
One charge lasts for about 8 hours of normal use, which is on par with more expensive 200 and 300 dollar tablets.
Pro It's a great tablet for basic everyday tasks
This tablet has you covered in terms of basic functionality. You can browse the web, read books and articles, and listen to music and audiobooks. It also comes equipped with Amazon's virtual assistant - Alexa. You can ask her to set an alarm, check the weather, jot down a shopping list, and so on.
Pro The display works very well for reading
The Fire 7 has a decent 1024 x 600 display with good contrast that makes the text of a book look clear and sharp.
Pro Portable
This tablet is only 7 inches in diagonal, it won't take much space in the bag and you might even fit it in the pocket of your jacket.
Cons
Con Average battery life
The Tab S2 scored 7h32m on LapTopMag's battery tests - above the Dell Venue 10 7000 (6h55m) but below the Microsoft Surface 3 (8h01m) and far behind the iPad Air 2 (9h20m).
Con Bloatware
As with all Samsung products, the Galaxy Tab S2 (9.7) comes pre-installed with a lot of stuff you'll never look at. You might want to uninstall what you can, and disable what you can't uninstall.
Con Lack of Android tablet apps
While Android has the largest app store, it lacks tablet-specific apps. Upscaled phone apps will still work, however not all of them rotate into landscape mode, and very few of them will make the most of the larger screens that tablets provide.
Con 4:3 screen ratio
4:3 is good for browsing the internet and using apps in portrait mode. If you want a tablet for media consumption this ratio will not help you because all video in landscape mode will have a 2 big ugly black bars (top and bottom).
For media consumption it is better to have a 16:9 ratio (which is rare on Android tablets) or a 16:10 ratio (common for Android tablets like the predecessor of Tab S2, Tab S).
Con The overall performance is sub-par
The Fire 7 deals pretty well with some basic tasks, but it's not the best choice for every-day use. With a quadcore 1.3 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM, it's not going to work for watching films or gaming.
Con It's very basic
For an entry-level tablet, the Fire 7 offers a lot of bang for the buck, but there's nothing spectacular or special about it.