Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019) Tries To Carry The Torch For Android Tablets

While Apple is revolutionizing its iPads, particularly its iPad Pros, the Android tablet market is almost on life support. Only a few OEMs are still making slates and many of those are pretty much "budget" tablets for basic media consumption and Internet browsing. Samsung remains one of the few stalwart tablet makers and it covers all the tiers and price ranges you can think of. Its latest tablet still isn't the premium Tab S5 but something for more casual users who need a larger screen than their phones can manage.

Samsung's naming scheme for its tablets has been rather confusing. It may have tried to simplify things under a single "Galaxy Tab" or "Galaxy Tab A" name but that only means there are half a dozen models with the same name. You have to carefully mind sizes, years, or, better yet, model numbers.

The Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019) is not to be confused with an earlier tablet with the same name and screen size but came with an S Pen tucked inside. This new model that has yet to be released has the model numbers SM-T290 and SM-T295, the latter presumably for the LTE variant. Aside from the number difference, this Galaxy Tab A 8.0 is pretty much on the low-end side of the line.

It will be powered, for example, by a Snapdragon 429 and has only 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of expandable storage. The 8.0-inch screen has a resolution of 1280x800, just enough for HD viewing. It will have a rather sizable 5,100 mAh battery pack and will at least run Android 9.0 Pie.

In terms of design, the Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019) won't be much to look at, with thick bezels all around despite having no buttons on its face. There is no word yet on when and where it will launch but Samsung does bring its cheaper tablets to the US eventually.