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The 9.7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 comes to Sprint in early September.
Josh Miller/CNET
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 is set to touch down at yet another wireless provider’s doorstep, as Sprint on Tuesday announced the tablet’s addition to its portfolio.
Sprint’s variant of the Galaxy Tab S2 will launch September 3, the same day that T-Mobile begins selling its own cellular-connected model. Priced at $648, the Sprint take on the Galaxy Tab S2 comes in at right about the same price as T-Mobile’s $650 slate.
With tablet sales expected to decline by 8 percent over the coming year, Samsung could be facing an uphill battle getting customers to buy its Tab S2, no matter how attractive the hardware and design. The continued release of cheaper, rival tablets challenges this S2 and others to stand out from the crowd. Also an ongoing threat to Samsung’s business is Apple’s popular tablet, the iPad , and Microsoft’s rumored upcoming workhorse, the Surface Pro 4 .
Design and specs
As Samsung’s current flagship metal-framed tablet, the Galaxy Tab S2 employs the same design language found in the company’s other recent mobile devices. Unlike the all-plastic builds found in previous models, the tablet gives the impression of a more premium experience.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 runs the most recent version of Android, 5.1 Lollipop, and features a 9.7-inch 2,048×1,563-pixel display. The tablet gets its strength from an octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM, and the 5,870mAh battery is a good size that’s pretty on par for a tablet of its size.
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2 is a beautiful tablet that comes in two sizes (pictures)
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The slate also packs an 8-megapixel rear camera as well as a 2.1-megapixel front-facing sensor for video chat and selfies. In terms of storage, the device comes with 32GB onboard, but the microSD expansion card slot allows for up to 128GB of music, movies and other files.
