Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I already have a Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 but curiosity was killing me; I had to see what the differences were between the two model years. I think the Galaxy Tab 4 8.0 is a great tablet! I am a Galaxy Tab fan from the beginning. I still have and use a Sprint Galaxy Tab sph-p100 which is now several years old, but has been tweaked in nearly every way. I have watched the Galaxy Tab line evolve from the beginning. The GT4 8.0 is an evolutionary change from the 3. The introductory price was lowered by $30 on the first day of its release and it is currently $60 less than the introductory price of the GT 3 8.0. To keep the price down other than the processor and the newer operating system there are no other notable improvements and some compromises were made. The speakers and cameras were downgraded and the data/power cable was shortened. The cable that was used to output an HDMI signal from the GT 3 8.0 no longer works with the 4. I find this very disturbing. Even my original Galaxy Tab has HDMI output through an adapter. In most ways this was less of a performance upgrade than a response to current market conditions. Because of the competition in 8" tablets... at the current price point consumers expect a more modern quad-core processor. That is what we got. My first impressions... To me the GT4 8.0 seemed slightly zippier than the GT3 8.0. However when I ran the applications that I actually use on a tablet most of the time (web browsers, book readers, video and music players) with the two tablets side by side there were no appreciable differences. So I have to admit that my first impression may have been psychological... knowing that the newer unit has a quad core processor vs a dual core in the GT3 8.0 gives the expectation that the GT4 8.0 would be faster. I ran approximately 20 benchmark programs on the two tablets side by side. The GT 4 8.0 was faster by most but not all measures. The Gtab4 8.0 has the same processor as the Motorola Moto G. In nearly every benchmark I ran the scores were almost the same as the Moto G. Since the Moto G has been out longer... if you want to know how the GT4 8.0 is going to perform using a certain benchmark just look at how the Moto G performed; you will most likely be within a very few percentage points. Most notably on the initial runs using the Antutu Benchmark program... the GT4 8.0 earned a score of 17281 and the GT3 8.0 received a score of 15263. On the Antutu 3DRating Benchmark the 4 got a score of 2765 and the 3 just 1870. Neither is a speed demon compared to many other Android Devices. Neither tablet is meant to be a maximum performance gaming device. Overall however both tablets have a lot of features for entry level tablets as noted in other reviews and both are very good, well rounded devices. Compared to the GT3 8.0, the GT4 8.0 shines running applications which take full advantage of its 4 processors and on chip Graphics Processor Unit. There are benchmarks where the GT3 8.0 outperforms the 4 due to its faster clock speed and the design of its processors and gpu. Overall, however one must reasonably conclude that the new processor in the 4... future proofs it more as compared to the GT3 8.0. It will be interesting to find out what type of overclocking potential the processors and GPU have. Whether either unit has any practical real world advantages for the a particular user depends entirely on the applications being used. A budding tablet gamer would be better off with the 4. My guess is that most users who do not run 3D games, photo or video editing apps would not be able to tell much if any difference using typical applications. Unless there are applications that you want to use that you know are CPU intensive and are going to run better on the quad core tablet it would not be a worthwhile upgrade for most. If however you are making a decision about which tablet to purchase... I would be willing to spend a little more on the GT4 8.0 than the GT3 8.0. Some advantages of the 3 are: 1. It has been out for a while and has a lot of community support. It is easy to root; there are many custom ROMS and setups that one can take advantage of without having to reinvent the wheel. 2 .The 3 has loads of cheap accessories available through eBay, Amazon and numerous retailers. 3. The 3 has better speakers and cameras. Some advantages of the 4 are: 1. It has a newer quad-core processor that out performs the 3 in many benchmarks. 2. The Kitkat Operating System... as annoying as it is to have to learn new features... it is an upgrade. There probably already are custom ROMs to upgrade the GT3 8.0, but there are advantages to having a factory supported OEM version with the latest OS. 3. The back of the 4's case has a faux leather finish that is not a fingerprint magnet like the shiny 3's is. Personally I never take the 3 out of its gel case because you can't pick it up without getting nasty looking fingerprints all over it's beautiful shiny white exterior. 4. {{{edit 5-18-14}}} After using the 4 for over two weeks I can report that in its stock configuration plus a couple dozen of my favorite apps, that it seems to have exceptional battery life. I normally charge most devices that I depend on such as my phone every night. I haven't charged the Galaxy Tab 4 for several days and have used it regularly, often with the screen at full brightness and the battery is still indicator still shows that it has 64% left. If you leave it in standby mode and don't use it... I can now report that it doesn't seem to lose more than a couple of percentage points of battery life in a day. I am pleased enough that I raised my rating from 4 to 5 stars. Kudos to Samsung for not putting a bunch of battery eating fluff in the stock configuration! Some disadvantages of the 3 are: 1. Older Operating System. 2. Dual Core vs Quad Core processor... albeit running at 1.5ghz as opposed to 1.2ghz 3. The shiny case attracts fingerprints. Some disadvantages of the 4 are: 1. Lower quality speaker and cameras. The speaker is in the back so if you cover it or lay it down flat it will be muffled. The 3 has great speakers and goes louder to begin with. The 4 doesn't sound bad but it is not as good as the GT3 8.0. 2. The case has different dimensions than 3 so there are very few custom molded gel cases currently available. This of course should improve within a month or two. 3. It is so new that currently there is very little support in the tablet community... you will probably have to wait a while to run your favorite applications that require rooting. I took many pictures and videos of the two units running side by side. When I get the chance I will try to post those in updates to this review. {{{Update 10-11-14}}} We have had the Tab 4 since May and it has served us well. I am disappointed that Samsung still hasn't released a firmware update that would allow one to attach an HDMI adapter to this device and display content on a High Definition Television. It seems ridiculous considering that all of our Android phones, a $75 Chinese tablet, and our 4 year old sph-p100 Sprint Galaxy Tab 7 all have working HDMI adapters. As far as I am concerned Samsung has really dropped the ball on this. Samsung, why has this still not been corrected after nearly 6 months? {{{Update 12-02-14}}} One thing that I forgot to mention in my review that has been used a lot by my family is the IR Blaster. This is a feature on both the Tab 3 and the Tab 4 that allows you to use them as a universal remote control. I have found that with a $6 App from the Play Store that this is an incredibly useful feature and there is no limit to the number of remotes that you can emulate. The App that I am using has half a million remotes already in its database. These can all be customized easily. It can also learn commands from the IR signal if you have a remote not in the database. I have got a whole lot of supposedly universal remotes but none seem to work as well or as easily as this feature on the Galaxy Tab. So, in conclusion... if you already have a Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 the GT 4 8.0 is most likely not enough of an upgrade to justify purchasing the 4 unless you have a family member who could use a hand me down or any other excuse that you can make up. If you are looking for a new tablet I would recommend either the 3 or the 4 because of the features they both provide features that have been well covered in other reviews. I would be willing to pay a little more for the 3 than the 4 but not more than around $30 at this time. Basically, if you plan to use the tablet for processor intensive applications such as editing photos or playing the latest 3D games you would probably be better off with the 4. If you want to take pictures with your tablet and like to listen to the built in speakers I would lean towards the 3. As far as browsing the internet, staying connected, watching videos or looking at pictures I doubt whether you will be able to tell the difference. Both are good values as far as I am concerned.