Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 First Look and Unboxing of their RM999 Big-Screen Slate

Not everyone likes sitting in front of a telly to watch movies and a smartphone display is sometimes a wee bit too small to enjoy something like the Book of Boba Fett in all its glory which is where tablets come into the picture.

While they typically don’t come cheap, Samsung has managed to offer a large 10.5-inch slate for under RM1,000 in the form of the new Samsung Galaxy Tab A8.

We managed to get a sample in for review but as we’re field testing it and concluding our benchmarks, here’s our Galaxy Tab A8 first look where we share our initial impressions of their budget big slate.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 First Look – What’s in the Box, Build and Design

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab A series tablets have gained a reputation as being value for money and their latest offering, the Galaxy Tab A8 embodies these ideals in every fibre of its design. A close sibling would be the more compact Galaxy Tab A7 Lite that we previously reviewed awhile back.

Out of the box, our Galaxy Tab A8 review sample for the Malaysia market comes with the tablet itself wrapped in a protective fabric sleeve, a USB-C cable, a SIM eject pin, the usual warranty literature and – surprise – a modest 7.8W fast charger with a UK-style plug to juice it. Seeing as chargers are going the way of the dodo these days, having one bundled with a tablet is cause for celebration indeed.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 First Look – The tablet comes with a bundled charger and USB cable

When removed from its protective sleeve, our Galaxy Tab A8 looked pleasantly premium indeed belying its asking price. The entirety of the backplate and sides are finished in metal save for a plastic strip running across one side. 

Our Galaxy Tab A8 review sample came in a classy shade of Dark Gray though it’s also available in a shade of Pink Gold for Malaysia.

The finish itself is done up in a matte brushed metal paint job that repels fingerprints in a wonderful fashion and offers a fair amount of grippiness to prevent it from slipping from your fingers though a protective casing is still advisable. To keep things classy, there’s a bare minimum of bling here save for the Samsung logo in the corner and a single 8MP autofocus camera in the corner. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 First Look – Intended to be used primarily in landscape mode, the tablet’s power button and volume rocker is located on the longer right side of the slate

Primarily intended to be used in landscape mode, the Galaxy Tab A8’s controls and design are primarily oriented sideways. The top, which would be its right side if held vertically, holds a power button and volume rocker while the bottom holds a microSD card tray. 

The right side of the laptop hosts a pair of a quartet of stereo speakers with two per side tuned by Dolby Atmos and a USB-C charging port along with the pleasant addition of a 3.5mm audio jack for wired headphones while the left holds the matching pair of speakers.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 First Look – The right side of the tablet hosts a rare 3.5mm audio jack, a USB-C port and two of a quartet of speakers tuned by Dolby Atmos

Up front, the Galaxy Tab A8 hosts a large 10.5-inch TFT LCD display with modest bezels across every edge, a small 5MP camera for video calls and a generous 16:10 aspect ratio. Unfortunately, the display itself lacks a screen protector out of the box which means that, and a protective casing, ought to be the first thing you acquire if you aim to put it into service.

Galaxy Tab A8 first look – Belying its price point, the tablet features a metal backplate complemented by a narrow plastic strip on the side and a single 8MP rear camera.

At a glance the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 has a feature set that makes it ideal for enjoying content in tandem with its large display. You get an octacore processor of recent vintage dubbed the UniSoc Tiger T618 running Android 11 and their own One UI Core 3.1, 3GB RAM, 32GB of expandable storage via the aforementioned microSD card tray and WiFi 5 as well as Bluetooth 5 connectivity.

It also has a fairly massive 7,040mAh battery with 15W fast charging. While models in other regions have LTE connectivity, the models intended for Malaysia are WiFi only models so you’ll need to tether it to a hotspot from your phone if you aim to use it on the go.

Galaxy Tab A8 first look – The tablet comes issued with a USB-C charger and a cable to go with it too which is a pleasant bonus

The tablet itself has a pretty even heft for wielding it one-handed and has gently rounded corners on each edge. Overall build quality is excellent, especially seeing what you pay for and the addition of a free charger is icing on the cake.

It’s slim enough at just under 7mm thin and light enough at 508g that it’s viable for all-day carry in your backpack or handbag with the provision of an additional casing or stand for enjoying content on the go.

Our Galaxy Tab A8 first look is certainly promising and at first blush, the tablet scores highly on build quality that belies its price tag, throws in a bonus charger and has rare features that even higher end tablets won’t have like a 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card slot.

Stay tuned for our upcoming full Galaxy Tab A8 review where we put it to the test!

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 review sample courtesy of Samsung Malaysia. Available from the Samsung Online Store at https://www.samsung.com/my/tablets/galaxy-tab-a/galaxy-tab-a8-wifi-pink-gold-32gb-sm-x200nidaxme/buy/