Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 vs. iPad mini: Which Tablet To Buy?

By Sumit Passary | Feb 26, 2013 04:36 PM EST

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Samsung took the curtains off the much-awaited Galaxy Note 8.0 at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. The tablet is expected to give stiff competition to other rival offerings in the 7-inch tablet category.

Let's see how the Galaxy Note 8.0 compares with the iPad mini:

Form Factor

The Galaxy Note 8.0 measures 8.30 x 5.35 x 0.31 inches and weigh 0.74 pounds, making it slightly thicker and heavier than the iPad mini, which measures 7.87 x 5.30 x 0.28 inch and weighs 0.68 pounds.

Display

The iPad mini sports a 7.9-inch LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology offering 1024 x 768 pixels resolution at 163 ppi. The Apple offering has a 4:3 aspect ratio, which means that it does not support true widescreen content.

On the other hand, the Galaxy Note 8.0 features an 8-inch TFT Super Clear LCD with an improved 1280 x 800 pixels resolution and 189 ppi.

Camera and Battery

The iPad mini is equipped with a 5-megapixel iSight rear-facing camera and a 1.2-megapixel FaceTime HD front-facing camera. The Galaxy Note 8.0 has a 5-megapixel rear-facing snapper and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

A 16.3 watt-hour (4440mAh) battery fuels the iPad mini, which offers 10-hours of usage. On the other hand, a 4600mAh battery powers the Galaxy Note 8.0. The productivity of the new Samsung is not known.

Storage and RAM

The iPad mini is available in 16/32/64/128GB on-board storage versions with no expansion option. The Galaxy Note 8.0 offers 16/32GB of internal storage and an option to expand the storage to a further 64GB using a microSD card.

Apple does not confirm the RAM size on its iPad mini's Web page, but a teardown of the tablet suggests that it has 512MB of RAM. The Galaxy Note 8.0, on the other hand, has 2GB of RAM.

Connectivity

The iPad mini is available in both Wi-Fi only as well as Wi-Fi and Cellular connectivity options. The Galaxy Note 8.0 is also available in Wi-Fi only as well as Wi-Fi and Cellular connectivity options.

Additionally, the Galaxy Note 8.0 is a smartphone as well, giving the option to use the tablet as a phone.

Processor and Operating System

The iPad mini runs on Apple's custom-made dual-core A5 processor. A quad-core 1.6 GHz Samsung Exynos processor powers the Galaxy Note 8.0.

The iPad runs on Apple's latest iOS 6, while the Galaxy Note 8.0 runs on the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Samsung's TouchWiz UI on top.

Availability and Price

The iPad mini is available for order from Apple and other retailers and has a starting price tag of $329. Samsung revealed the Galaxy Note 8.0 on Feb. 24. The company did not confirm the price and release date of the tablet but announced that it will be available worldwide from Q2 onwards.

Stylus

The iPad mini does not feature a stylus, whereas the Galaxy Note 8.0 sports Samsung's S Pen stylus, which gives the tablet an extra edge over any other smaller tablet available in the market.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 is packed with impressive features and we will have to wait and see if the latest tablet is able to capture a chunk of the 7-inch tablet arena.