Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 10.5" 8 Silver 2022

The Galaxy Tab A8 is a budget tablet with a big screen and decent speakers, but 3GB of RAM and 32GB of slow storage hold it back hard. It's fine for streaming and light reading, but productivity is a non-starter. At USD 249 it's okay, at USD 309 it's overpriced.

The Unisoc T618 chip actually lands in the 83rd percentile for CPUs in our tablet database, which surprised us. It's not a powerhouse, but it handles basic scrolling and video playback without falling on its face. The GPU sits at 79th percentile, so light games and streaming are okay. The real bottleneck is the 3GB of RAM, which ranks in the 11th percentile. That's rough. Android 11 plus Samsung's One UI eats a chunk of that before you even open an app. Multitasking means apps reload constantly. The 32GB eMMC storage is even worse at 9th percentile, and eMMC is slow compared to UFS. You'll want a microSD card immediately, and even then, app installs and updates will crawl.

Stacked against the iPad Pro M4 or Surface Pro 11th Edition, this thing is in a completely different universe. Those are productivity beasts with desktop-class chips and price tags to match. The Tab A8 is a budget media slate, and that's fine. Against the Xiaomi Pad 7, the A8 loses on screen quality, RAM, and storage speed. The Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus also outclasses it in nearly every metric. The only place the A8 wins is price. If you can stretch your budget even a little, the Xiaomi Pad 7 is a much better long-term buy. The A8 is for when you absolutely cannot spend more.

Pricing is all over the place right now. We're seeing USD 249 to USD 309 across two Newegg listings, which is a USD 60 spread for the same tablet. At USD 249, it's a reasonable buy for a kid's first tablet or a kitchen recipe machine. At USD 309, you're getting into territory where better options exist. The cheaper listing is the one to grab if you're set on this. Just don't expect it to age gracefully. The 3GB RAM ceiling means it'll feel slow sooner than you'd like.

The Galaxy Tab A8 is Samsung's budget tablet that tries hard to look premium. It's got a big 10.5-inch screen, quad speakers, and a metal-ish build that feels nicer than the price suggests. But under the hood, it's running a Unisoc T618 with just 3GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage. That's a recipe for stutter city once you open more than a couple apps.

We ran this thing through our database and the scores tell a clear story. It's fine for reading and casual video, but productivity is a disaster at 21.6 out of 100. If you want a cheap couch tablet for Netflix and light browsing, it works. If you want to actually get stuff done, keep scrolling.

Skip this if you need to run more than two apps at once, edit documents, or do any kind of school or work tasks. The 3GB RAM and slow eMMC storage will make you want to throw it across the room. Also skip it if you care about screen quality, the LCD panel here is mediocre at best. And if you're already spending close to USD 300, put that money toward a Xiaomi Pad 7 or a used iPad instead.

Buy this if you need a cheap, big-screen tablet for streaming, light reading, or handing to a kid with parental controls. The screen is big enough for movies, the speakers are better than expected, and the battery will get you through a day of casual use. Don't buy it for school, work, or any kind of serious multitasking. The 3GB RAM and 32GB eMMC storage will frustrate you within weeks. It's a fine second screen, not a primary device.