So I’ve been trying to decide whether to keep the Tab S2 8.0 or the Tab S 8.4. In terms of features, the S 8.4 has the S2 beat: larger battery, light/flash, larger screen area, better build quality, and so on.
But despite AnTuTu benchmarks saying that the two were very similar in their raw performance, the S 8.4 has felt dog slow in comparison to the S2.
So after spending a few hours updating the kids’ old Galaxy Tabs to CM10, today I took the step of installing CM12.1 (Android 5.1.1) on the S 8.4. There is an unofficial build of CM13 (Android M) as well, but some reading on XDA suggests that there are power management and battery drain issues there, so I went for the more established build.
And it feels like a new tablet. In every way. Snappy, snappy, snappy without all of the Samsung bloatware. And I get to leave TouchWiz behind as well. And everything works. Awesome.
I think my choice is made, and for anyone considering making the jump, I highly recommend CM12.1. One note: there are newer unofficial nightlies out there than the ones listed on the official site. Search through the threads at XDA to find them.