If you want to sell a tablet to the masses -- an increasingly difficult thing to do with tablet shipments now on the decline, according to International Data Corporation -- the go-to strategy is to pitch a vibrant display and boast about its thin and light design. Everything else is secondary for most consumers, including hardware specs and benchmark performance, which are of interest mostly to geeks and savvy tech enthusiasts like ourselves.

Admittedly, we're a niche bunch, so instead of chasing record breaking benchmark numbers, Samsung focused on flattening its Tab S tablet even further. The result is the Tab S2, a remarkably thin slate measuring just 5.6mm thick. That's true of both the 9.7-inch version and the 8.0-inch model we're reviewing here. It's also a tablet that's lighter than Air, as in Apple's iPad Air 2. More specifically, the 8.0-inch model barely registers a blip on the scale at only 272 grams, while the 9.7-inch version weighs 392 grams. For the sake of comparison, the iPad Air 2 is 6.1mm thick and weighs 437 grams The iPad mini 4 is also 6.1mm thick, but weighs 294 grams. These comparisons amount to splitting hairs -- let's face it, these are all thin and light tablets -- but for what it's worth, bragging rights belong to Samsung...