Samsung's next AMOLED tablet might still be a good week or two away, but the firmware for the Galaxy Tab S is now already available online. And thanks to some sleuthing by the folks at SamMobile, we're getting a peek at some of the features in this device, including a fingerprint scanner.
The manufacturer already made it known that it wants to bring the its biometrics-based security technology to more of its Galaxy line in the future. For now, that has so far been limited to a fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S5. An inspection of the firmware for the upcoming Galaxy Tab S, however, revealed instructions on how to use a fingerprint scanner, which pretty much confirms the presence of that feature in the tablet as well.
Also interesting is the presence of Ultra Power Saving Mode, a feature again so far only found on the Galaxy S5. This special mode tries to conserve battery by muting colors on the screen and turning completely black and white. Considering how this feature works only or most efficiently with AMOLED displays, which uses no power to display a black pixel, this also confirms the rumors and leaks of AMOLED technology being used for this tablet. The firmware also has other interesting tidbits, like the camera app interface and the new Magazine UX that debuted with the Galaxy Pro tablet line.
The firmware for the WiFi-only model of the Galaxy Tab S, namely the SM-T800, is already up, but mostly for the purposes of reflashing to stock ROM. The existence of this 10.5-inch tablet isn't expected to be formally acknowledge until around June 12.