Face Off: Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 vs. Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact vs. Dell Venue 8 7000

Starting with Samsung, the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 utilizes a largely plastic chassis designed to give the impression of metal as is typical of the Galaxy family. Nonetheless, the case proves to be robust with no hints of gaps or manufacturing defects. Attempting to twist the case or apply pressure on the center do result in some creaking during our time with the test unit.

Sony's Xperia tablet is better built with its combination of stainless steel corners, tempered glass front, and plastic and aluminum back. The reinforced edges and corners allow the tablet to be airtight against both dust and water under certain conditions. Twisting and warping the frame is still possible with moderate to heavy force that would otherwise be abnormal during everyday use.

The Dell Venue 8 7000 holds the strongest chassis out of the three. Its machined aluminum is very difficult to twist or deform in comparison. The tablet is more rigid than its super-thin form factor would otherwise suggest at first glance.

In terms of size, these 8-inch tablets are essentially neck-to-neck and literally a couple of millimeters apart at most or even less when comparing thickness. If we're being picky, the Dell tablet is the thinnest while the Sony tablet is both 30 grams lighter than either tablet and with the smallest footprint (L x W).

The Venue 8 7000 wins this round based on construction quality and longevity. Users who are more likely to expose their tablets to coffee spills or splashing water may prefer the Sony solution.

Winner: Dell Venue 8 7000

Physical ports are identical between the models save for the docking port on the Sony tablet. There are unfortunately no HDMI ports on any of the tablets, so users will have to rely on WiDi or MHL-enabled monitors for video output.

The Xperia tablet is the only one with NFC while the Venue tablet is the only one lacking SIM support. Sony takes this round by just a hair over the Samsung followed by the more limited Dell tablet.

Winner: Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet

The 10-point capacitive screens and virtual keyboards on all models respond swiftly to inputs. None, however, have integrated styluses a la the Nvidia Shield Tablet.

The Samsung tablet is the only model with dedicated Android buttons (Home, Back, Tabs) near the bottom surface, which free up valuable screen real-estate for applications and content. Its home button is also a fingerprint scanner for fast unlocking.

Sony's tablet features metal Power and Volume buttons. Its virtual keyboard includes options to split the keys for easier use in landscape mode. Otherwise, the Xperia Z3 provides no other unique inputs. Oddly enough, there are no proprietary official keyboards that make use of the docking port even though Sony sells a charging station and PS4 controller adapter specifically for the tablet.

The narrow bezel of the Venue 8 7000 makes touch-typing a bit more difficult due to accidental inputs around the edges. Thus, more care must be taken when holding the device in the Landscape orientation. The tablet offers no haptic feedback either. Dell is pushing its USB-enabled Cast dongle to wirelessly connect to external displays, keyboards, and mice. While a neat extra, the same can be accomplished with Bluetooth-enabled accessories and Miracast-compatible displays.

Since no single model is any better or worse at basic keyboard inputs, we are down to choosing the one with more auxiliary features. The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 wins this round mainly for including haptic feedback, which is sorely missing in many other premium tablets.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4

While CPU differences are mostly marginal, a handful of graphics benchmarks show some notable differences. Unfortunately, the results are not always consistent with one another.

The Sony tablet scores highest in Epic Citadel, BaseMark X 1.1, GFXBench 3.0, and the Anomaly 2 benchmark in high quality. It's worth noting that the PowerVR GPU in the Sony only has to power a 1200p screen as opposed to the 2K screens on the Samsung and Dell. The pixel count is nearly double that of the Sony, so GPU demand on the Xperia Z3 Tablet is lower. The resolution differences make direct comparisons difficult through benchmarks.

Meanwhile, 3DMark results favor the Dell tablet likely due to other factors beyond GPU power. 

Subjectively, we faced no issues playing 3D titles from the Play market with a few exceptions. For example, the high native resolution of 2560 x 1600 can be a bit much for more demanding 3D titles like Anomaly 2 or Asphalt 8. These games stutter more frequently on the Samsung and Dell tablets when running on High settings compared to Medium or Low.

More benchmarks and technical data on the ARM Mali-T628 MP6, Qualcomm Adreno 330, and PowerVR G6430 can be found on our dedicated GPU pages.

Temperature

Idling temperatures are generally flat on both sides of the three tablets. However, surface temperatures are indeed warmer on the Sony with a recorded high of 41 C when under extreme processing load. This is perhaps unsurprising given the fact that the Snapdragon 800 series is notorious for its high heat output. The Samsung tablet suffers from a hot spot on the back surface as well, though not as severely as the Sony.

Dell comes out ahead with a flatter temperature gradient even when under high processing loads. The tablet barely reaches the mid 30 C range compared to ~40 C on the Samsung or Sony.

Winner: Dell Venue 8 7000

Runtimes are very long in all cases. The Galaxy Tab and Venue 8 7000 can last for over 8 hours each according to our older WiFi test. Sony comes out ahead for its potential to last for 14 hours under the same conditions. The Japanese manufacturer advertises 15 hours of continuous video playback, which is not far from the truth.

Winner: Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet