Look, let’s be real. Tech moves fast. Usually, a tablet from 2014 belongs in a museum or at the bottom of a junk drawer next to those tangled micro-USB cables nobody uses anymore. But the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is a weird outlier. It’s one of those rare devices that, even a decade later, people still hunt for on eBay.
Why? It’s mostly the screen.
When Samsung dropped this thing, they weren't just making another iPad competitor. They were trying to prove a point about display tech. They shoved a Super AMOLED panel into a chassis so thin it felt like you could snap it if you sat on it. It was 6.6mm thin. That’s wild even by today's standards.
The AMOLED Obsession
Most tablets back then—and honestly, a lot of budget ones now—used LCDs. LCDs are fine, but they rely on a backlight. That means blacks are actually just dark grey. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 used a 2560 x 1600 Super AMOLED display. Since pixels in an AMOLED panel create their own light, when the screen shows black, the pixels are literally off.
The contrast ratio was 100,000:1.
That’s a massive jump from the 1,000:1 ratio you'd get on a standard screen. If you’re watching a movie in a dark room, the black bars at the top and bottom of the frame disappear into the bezel. It’s immersive. It’s ink-like. Even now, if you put this old tablet next to a modern mid-range device, the Samsung often wins on pure "pop."
Samsung marketed this heavily under the "Adaptive Display" branding. Basically, the tablet would tweak the gamma, saturation, and sharpness based on what you were doing. If you were reading an ebook, it would cool things down so your eyes didn't melt. If you were looking at photos, it cranked the colors up to 11.
Performance: The 2014 Reality Check
Under the hood, things get a bit more complicated. Depending on where you bought it, you either got the Exynos 5 Octa 5420 or the Snapdragon 800. In the US, the Snapdragon was common because of LTE compatibility.
It had 3GB of RAM.
At the time, 3GB was plenty. It handled multi-window multitasking—a feature Samsung pioneered way before Google put it in stock Android—fairly well. You could have a browser open on one side and a video on the other. But here is the thing: Samsung’s software at the time, Magazine UX (built on top of TouchWiz), was heavy.
It was bloated. It was colorful. It was... controversial.
Critics like Vlad Savov, formerly of The Verge, often pointed out that while the hardware was incredible, the software sometimes stuttered. It’s a classic Samsung story from that era. They had the best hardware in the world, but the code wasn't always optimized to keep up with that massive 1600p resolution. Pushing that many pixels takes a lot of GPU horsepower.
Design and That "Band-Aid" Back
We have to talk about the back of the device. Samsung went through a phase where they used this dimpled, perforated faux-leather texture. People called it the "Band-Aid" look, especially on the gold and "Dazzling White" models.
Honestly? It was practical.
Unlike the glass slabs we carry today, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 was easy to grip. It didn't slide off a couch. It didn't attract fingerprints like a crime scene. It was also incredibly light at 294 grams. You could hold it one-handed for an hour of reading without your wrist cramping up.
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One weird quirk was the "Simple Clicker" attachments on the back. These were two physical circular indentations. They weren't magnets. You had to physically snap Samsung’s official covers into these holes. It felt like snapping a button on a jacket. It was secure, sure, but it felt a bit clunky compared to the magnetic Smart Covers Apple was selling.
The Battery Life Trade-off
The battery was 4,900 mAh.
In a vacuum, that sounds okay. But remember that Super AMOLED screen? It was thirsty. If you kept the brightness at 100%, you could watch the percentage drop in real-time. Samsung claimed 10 hours of video playback. In the real world, most users got closer to 7 or 8.
The bigger issue was standby drain. TouchWiz had a habit of "waking up" in the background. You’d leave the tablet at 90% at night and wake up to 75%. It wasn't a dealbreaker, but it meant you had to stay on top of your charging routine.
Why People Still Buy Them Today
You might wonder why anyone would care about a tablet running Android 6.0 (Marshmallow). The answer is the aftermarket community.
Developers on sites like XDA Developers kept this thing alive way longer than Samsung did. Because the hardware was so good, people spent years porting LineageOS and other custom ROMs to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4. A "clean" version of Android without the Samsung bloat makes this tablet feel surprisingly snappy even today.
It’s become a cult favorite for:
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- Dedicated E-readers: The high pixel density (359 PPI) makes text look like print.
- Cheap Media Consoles: People mount them in cars or use them as dedicated Spotify controllers.
- Retro Gaming: It handles emulators for SNES, Genesis, and PS1 perfectly.
- Photo Viewers: Because of the color accuracy (in certain modes), it’s a great way to show off a portfolio.
The Competition Back Then
In 2014, the main rival was the iPad Mini 3.
It was a weird fight. The iPad had better apps—Android tablet apps were notoriously just "stretched" phone apps back then. But the iPad Mini 3 was a lazy update from Apple; it was basically a Mini 2 with TouchID. Samsung, on the other hand, was swinging for the fences.
The Tab S had a better screen, more RAM, and expandable storage via a microSD slot. Apple, of course, charged a premium for every gigabyte of internal storage. If you wanted to carry a massive library of movies for a flight, the Samsung was the obvious choice. You could just pop in a 128GB card and be done with it.
Limitations You Can't Ignore
If you're looking at picking one up now, don't expect a miracle.
The WiFi chip is older (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), so it won't maximize your 2026-era fiber speeds. The micro-USB port is a pain if you've switched everything to USB-C. And then there's the "OLED burn-in" risk.
Because it’s an early-gen AMOLED, if the previous owner left it on a static image for 500 hours, you’re going to see ghosts of that image forever. Always check the screen for a pinkish tint or "shadows" before buying.
Also, the cameras. There’s an 8MP sensor on the back. It’s... fine? It takes photos that look like they were taken in 2014. They’re grainy in low light and the colors are a bit washed out. But let's be honest: nobody should be taking photos with a tablet in public anyway. We've moved past that as a society.
Making the Most of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4
If you happen to have one of these sitting in a drawer or you're looking at a cheap listing online, there are a few things you should do to make it usable.
First, disable the "S Voice" and all the "Galaxy Essentials" bloatware. They just eat up cycles. Use a lightweight launcher like Nova Launcher to hide the dated UI.
Second, stick to specific tasks. This isn't your primary work machine. It’s a media consumption beast. Load it up with high-bitrate movies or use it as a dedicated Kindle alternative. The 16:10 aspect ratio is much better for movies than the iPad’s 4:3. You get way smaller black bars.
Lastly, keep an eye on the battery health. These units are old. If the back panel starts to bulge, that’s a failing battery. It’s actually relatively easy to pop the back off and replace it if you have a plastic pry tool, which is another win for "old" tech vs. the glued-shut sandwiches we have now.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check the Screen: If buying used, ask for a photo of the screen displaying a solid white background to check for burn-in.
- Update the Software: Don't stay on the stock Samsung firmware. Research LineageOS builds for the "klimtwifi" (the 8.4 model's codename) to get a more modern Android experience.
- Storage: Grab a high-speed microSD card. The internal 16GB or 32GB will fill up instantly with modern app sizes.
- Battery Calibration: If you find the tablet shutting off at 15%, you might need to recalibrate the battery sensor or look into a $15 replacement kit.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 represents a specific moment in tech history where hardware specs peaked while software was still catching up. It remains a testament to how a great screen can keep a device relevant long after its processor has been outclassed. It’s not a powerhouse anymore, but for watching a movie in bed? It’s still kind of hard to beat.
Next Steps for Owners:
If you want to breathe new life into your device, start by unlocking the bootloader. This opens up the ability to install custom kernels that can overclock the aging Exynos processor, making modern web browsing feel significantly smoother. Additionally, investing in a "book cover" style case will protect that aging AMOLED panel from accidental pressure cracks, which are common in older, thinner tablets.