Jose Yamut, Jr

Fond of +rw but seldom has time 4 both. 😎😋🤖

Android zeroes and ones

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A Experience

It Stutters

Yes, it does. Badly. The lag is very noticeable and happens a lot of times. I cannot even just turn a blind eye on it and pretend there is no stutter. Because it does. Granted there are moments where everything goes smoothly. Not buttery smooth still. Yet, when I’ve gone on a string of gestures and taps where this humble tablet responds straight away without so much as a fart or a hiccup, I rejoice.

It is bothersome. Really. Imagine this – I click on a very obvious button with my fat finger and I’d expect to get a reaction out of it. Nothing. I tap it a few more times until I get one. Sometimes I would have to position my finger deliberately and caress the screen gently to elicit a response from it on a single tap. Another experience, for example, the one with the YouTube app where I spend a lot of time with on this tablet. Countless times I’ve played other videos unintentionally while browsing the video list at the right side because of the lag. I’m trying to scroll up/down, then the app will freeze. The next thing I know, after it thaws out, is that the video where my index finger was last at starts playing. And that’s not all of it. Any app is affected.

This is the level of annoyance that I’ve been dealing with on my Samsung Galaxy Tab A.

This is Me trying to finish all 9 Seasons of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix in just a week! I managed to complete it too with a few days to spare. 😁

Why I Bought it?

Out of nowhere, I just up and decided that I would get myself an Android tablet this year (2021). A small-ish one that I can hold up with one hand, lie down on the bed, and watch movies on it with. And what a coincidence it was because that time I got an offer to buy this little piece, cheap.

I bought this from a friend of a friend some time in March this year. She got it free of charge due to something, and was trying to dispose it even at a fraction of its actual store price. This was all brand new and in original condition. Sealed and boxed in it’s pristine factory wrappings the moment I laid my hands on it. Also, at perhaps slightly less than half the cost of its original price, it was too hard to pass up. I thought I had a great bargain.

Of course, at that time I was not aware what this tablet would be like. It’s also, my first Android tablet ever. I was never much of a tablet guy. The allure for this particular form factor wasn’t really there. It’s either go full size – a laptop – or, go mini – a smartphone. Why settle in between?

Despite all the heartbreak and frustrations I’ve had with this Samsung tablet, I still use it daily to satisfy my insatiable hunger for Twitter and Netflix/YouTube media. Second to that is to brush up on news, mostly on technology, science, entertainment and games. So it’s not all gone to waste at all. I got this too at a point where my Nokia Android smartphone was on its death throes. Just in time too, I was able to migrate many of my apps here before I lost access to my smartphone. So this tablet proxied as my “phone” for several weeks before I finally decided to get the Samsung Galaxy A52 which I’ve been eyeing for some time. Still a very useful piece of disappointment, I would say.

Specs

So there’s no confusion on what Samsung device I have.

  • Model number: SM-T295
  • Model name: Galaxy Tab A (8.0″, 2019)
  • Storage: 32GB
  • Memory: 2GB
  • SIM card slot: Yes
  • Expandable memory: Yes

I could not care less about the cameras, front or back, of this device. The audio quality of this tablet is good enough for me. Dual speakers, volume is loud. It comes with Dolby Atmos. There is no fingerprint scanner.

The battery can last long. I’ve been able to binge on Netflix series/movies and YouTube videos for a whole day on a single full charge. I’m satisfied with that department. It doesn’t feel super hot too.

Other Gotchas

As with any Samsung phone or tablet, you will have to accept the fact that they pre-install a number of Android apps on this device that are NOT uninstallable. People call this bloatware. Be warned! You will get redundant apps that are both offered by Google and Samsung, and not all can be uninstalled or disabled.

Of course, this can be remedied by rooting your Android phone. I won’t recommend that route, but it is all up to you as the owner of the device.

The charger that came with this tablet is the slow kind. It takes several hours to fully charge this unit to 100%. It’s still using the old USB 2.0 type-B mini as well.

Consolation

Samsung boldly upgraded this tablet to Android 11. Yes, as of this writing that is the operating system version that is currently out in the market. Not bad, considering how badly this guy is performing.

Verdict

Do not buy! It’s already 2021. This came out way back in 2019. Save yourself the trouble and the money. Get something else with better specs and newer.

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It Stutters Yes, it does. Badly. The lag is very noticeable and happens a lot of times. I cannot even just turn a blind eye on it and pretend there is no stutter. Because it does. Granted there are moments where everything goes smoothly. Not buttery smooth still. Yet, when I’ve gone on a string…

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