Samsung is looking to create a new home entertainment niche with its new Galaxy View tablet, which features an 18.4-inch Full HD display, a kickstand for easy viewing and a host of preloaded streaming content sources where users can view movies and television shows on the fly.
The Galaxy View, which was announced on Oct. 28 on the Samsung Tomorrow Blog, includes a video-optimized user interface on its touch-screen display, where consumers can choose between content offered by YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, CBS and other video content providers, according to the company.
The new machine will retail for $599.99 and be available in black starting Nov. 6 through Best Buy and other major retailers in the United States.
The big screen tablet features a 1.6GHz octa-core Exynos 7580 processor, 2GB of memory, 32GB of built-in storage, a microSD slot that accepts storage cards up to 128GB, stereo speakers and a 2.1-megapixel camera. The machine, which runs on the Android 5.1 operating system, also includes 4G LTE and WiFi capabilities and a SIM card slot so users can bring movies with them when traveling. The tablet’s 5,700mAh Li-Ion battery provides up to about 8 hours of video viewing or up to about 299 hours of music playing and Internet use.
“At Samsung, we are committed to creating new possibilities and bringing our consumers the best mobile experience,” J.K. Shin, CEO and head of Samsung’s IT and mobile business, said in a statement. “We are very excited to introduce the new Galaxy View, providing an entirely new way of consuming mobile video and entertainment.”
The Galaxy View is a multimedia machine that can also be used by consumers for music, gaming, video calls and more. The View includes a customized dashboard called “Family Square” that lets users connect with friends and family members via 4G LTE or WiFi.
In August, Samsung launched its Galaxy Tab S2 tablets, 13 months after launching its original Tab S devices in June 2014. The new machines, in 9.7-inch and 8-inch screen sizes, now have eight-core processors, which is a jump from the quad-core processors used in the original machines.
The octa-core processors in both new Galaxy Tab S2 devices feature four 1.9GHz cores, plus four 1.3GHz cores, combining to provide more performance for applications and processes that are built to take advantage of the architecture. Also included in both tablets are improved Super AMOLED displays, 3GB of RAM, 32GB or 64GB of built-in storage that can be expanded with a microSD card to 128GB, an 8-megapixel auto-focus rear camera, a 2.1MP front camera and the Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system. Each model comes in WiFi or LTE cellular versions, while both will also include Bluetooth 4.1 BLE connectivity.
The larger 9.7-inch tablet is equipped with a 5,870mAh rechargeable battery, while the 8-inch model includes a 4,000mAh rechargeable battery.
The screens of both devices are configured to provide users with quality viewing angles, screen contrast and brightness ratios for easy reading of digital content, including ebooks, magazines, Web pages and newsfeeds, while reducing scrolling. The latest versions also include adaptive displays, which automatically adjust gamma, saturation and sharpness based on the application, the color temperature of the viewing environment and ambient lighting, according to Samsung. A new reading mode automatically modifies the screen’s brightness level to help users read content for longer periods of time without eyestrain.