Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Review & Price

They may be a step down from the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra in terms of their size, features, and price but it doesn’t make them inferior. In other words, they just cater to a different clientele. However, unlike its more business-oriented sibling, the Tab S8, the classic Tab S8, and the S8 Plus are excellent value-for-money Android tablets that provide a good balance of performance and entertainment capabilities.

Even when comparing the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 and S8 Plus side-by-side, there isn’t much of a difference. Although the S8 Plus has a 12.4-inch screen, it is still smaller than the S8 at 11.22 by 7.28 by 0.22 inches and weighs 1.27 pounds. The 11-inch Tab S8 is the most portable at 9.99 inches by 6.51 inches by 0.25 inches and 1.1 pounds, but none of them is built for optimum mobility like the iPad Mini.

However, both tablets share a premium metal unibody and a rear wireless charging panel for the S Pen, which is now included with every purchase. For the first time ever, Samsung has included the S Pen with the purchase of any of the company’s tablets.

A comparable audio experience can be had with the S8 Ultra’s quad AKG speakers and Dolby Atmos tuning. Although I wasn’t able to turn up the volume on the speakers in the demo area, it’s encouraging to see that formerly exclusive features are now available on a wide range of Samsung devices.

The screen is where things finally begin to change. A 2800 x 1752 Super AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 120Hz graces the Tab S8. There’s a 120 Hz frame rate and a 2560 x 1600 resolution, but it’s an LCD, which means you won’t get the rich, saturated colors and thick, inky blacks that AMOLED is renowned for..”

Things like surfing and scrolling should be buttery smooth on both tablets, despite the fact that they seem quite different when placed next to the other. I’ll have to put both devices through their paces, but I’m leaning toward the S8 Plus for gamers.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8

Key Features

• 11-inch WQXGA (2560 × 1600), 16:10, LTPS TFT, 120Hz
• Snapdragon 8 Gen1 SM8450 2.99GHz Octa-core
• 8GB/12GB +  128GB/256GB
• Dual 13MP + 6MP Rear/12MP Front
• 8,000mAh (quick charge 45W)

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What makes Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 stand out

The Galaxy Tab S8 has a lot going for it, both in terms of software and hardware. A 10.5-inch screen on a 10.5-inch tablet may seem little, but to me, it was still an improvement over the Microsoft Surface Go 2. As a result, the split-screen view on the Galaxy Tab S8 seemed more natural than on the Surface Go 2’s tall 3:2 screen.

In spite of the fact that the OLED display on the Galaxy Tab S8+ was brighter and sharper, the 2560 x 1600 screen was a welcome boost. It helps that the Samsung tablet is lighter and thinner than its Windows equivalent, and is quite similar to the iPad Air 5 in terms of the aforementioned metrics.

The Galaxy Tab S8 has an advantage over Windows laptops thanks to a slew of useful features. To provide one example, it may be used as an additional display with a high pixel density for a PC without the need for any additional software or wires. The battery life is excellent, with enough juice to power the speakers for a whole day.

You can transfer files between your phone and tablet at lightning speed using Nearby Share, and a 5G connection is another practical advantage over a PC or Mac. For the next five years, Samsung will provide four years of free Android OS upgrades and security patches, which is a remarkable commitment to long-term support and unmatched in the Android ecosystem.

In the end, it’s Samsung’s software that shines.
The great DeX mode prevents you from having to switch between a desktop UI and a badly stretched Android phone UI on the tablet. The Windows-like design style seemed totally at home with me. Window resizing in DeX mode is also a joy due to the fluidity of the process. Window resizing is seamless, and working with floating windows is a pleasure.

It is possible to bring up online search results and translations in a pop-up view on the same page instead of a new tab while using Chrome’s Android app, unlike when using Chrome’s desktop version.

At this stage, a single UI enhances the whole experience. With the great side panel, you can easily access your most commonly used applications with a simple swipe action regardless of whether you are in DeX mode. However, it is capable of much more. Creating GIFs and taking screenshots may both be stacked. The weather, contacts, clipboard, and reminders can all be accessed with a single swipe, as can a slew of other essentials like alarms, messages, and calendar entries. It’s also quite configurable.

Unlike on a PC or a Mac, you don’t have to keep track of shortcuts. The S Pen’s rapid instructions and air motions bring a whole new level of ease to the table. S Pen is a great stylus alternative, not only for its smoothness and minimal input latency but because it is customizable at the core. Moreover. It’s difficult to go back to the PC keyboard and mouse interface after you’ve become accustomed to the combined trickery of the edge panel and S Pen shortcuts.

Whenever I returned to my Asus Zephyrus laptop to play games, I found myself tapping the non-touch-sensitive screen and missing the ease of the Galaxy Tab S8’s stylus. It does take some time to get accustomed to using a pen as an input device, but after I got used to it, I no longer needed a mouse or touchpad. A laptop trackpad’s multi-finger motions were missing, but the Alt + Tab combination and Android’s navigational bar movements compensated.

For my picture editing and retouching requirements, Adobe Photoshop Express was more than enough. No throttling or fan noise was heard when I used Canva and other editing tools on Samsung’s top tablet, the Qualcomm processor. The Galaxy Tab S8 never seemed sluggish even while running 20 or more applications at the same time. Stuttering occurs when I push Chrome too hard on my Windows notebook with an AMD Ryzen processor and Nvidia graphics.

Another pleasant surprise was the Samsung tablet’s ability to instantly restart use after being unlocked. There’s a good reason why Intel emphasizes the “rapid wake” feature on PCs sporting the Evo logo. Even Intel Evo-certified Windows 11 computers can’t keep up with the Galaxy Tab S8 when it comes to getting back to work.

The PC experience has been overtaken

There is a lot of uniformity in terms of specifications. With 8GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB of storage options and microSD card slots that enable up to 1TB of extension, both tablets run on 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. I didn’t have an opportunity to do much more than browsing on either tablet, but I’m certain they can handle whatever you throw at them.

The back cameras on Samsung’s Tabs are quite conventional, with a pair of 13-megapixel regular sensors and a 6MP ultrawide sensor on each device. Both phones include a front-facing camera with a 12MP ultrawide sensor, which is sufficient for video chats but lacks the wide angles and sophisticated focusing of the S8 Ultra’s twin cameras. The lack of a notch is a benefit.

With 10,090mAh on the S8 Plus and 8,000mAh on the S8, battery life is expected to be strong. In addition, both include USB-C 3.2 ports as well as Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 for rapid charging.

In fact, the Galaxy Tab S8 is superior to a Windows PC in a few additional ways. As an example, using the stylus makes window control much easier. With the ability to alter a window’s transparency, you no longer have to minimize it. In a 2:1:1 perspective, the third app may be opened with a simple drag-and-drop action.

However, despite having all of the iPad’s M1 power, these functionalities are not currently available on Apple devices. Windows 11 or Mac OS X, for example, are also viable options. The Galaxy Tab S8’s ability to stack widgets on the home screen was a welcome addition. Compared to any laptop webcam I’ve seen, the Galaxy Tab S8’s 12-megapixel selfie camera is by far the best.

It’s also nice to have a 4K-ready 13MP primary camera and 6MP ultrawide camera array. Even if you don’t use the cameras to create photographs and films, AR solutions like Quick Measure are useful techniques that you won’t find on a Mac or Windows PC

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You’ll receive all the newest features of Google’s latest operating system, as well as a few additional bonuses thanks to One UI if you’re using an Android smartphone. My favorite feature was the ability to take calls and manage messages when linked to a Samsung phone since it prevented my attention from being diverted by Instagram or Twitter alerts when I received a phone call.

With the Galaxy Tab S8 as my main computing device, I haven’t encountered any issues in my professional or academic life. When applications didn’t function, I had to rely on the company’s web-based client. My impression of the Galaxy Tab S8’s capacity to be a serious computing machine was completely shifted by its combination of power, convenience, and battery life.

While the iPad as a computer discussion rages on, Samsung has already done it for me with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8. That’s no mean achievement, given how enlightening the encounter was.

It’s not cheap, but the Tab S8 is worth every penny.

A full-fledged business PC on an Android tablet is clearly a costly venture. High-end Android tablets like the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 only provide a computer-like experience if you invest in additional accessories, such as keyboard covers and/or style, if available. In spite of how counterintuitive it may seem, I promise you that using a pen does make a difference.

Even while I miss the ease of a mouse, particularly the ability to right-click and access several critical functions with a pen, there is no going back once you become acclimated to a capable stylus. However, the cost of these accessories is high. It costs $140 to get a simple keyboard folio for the Galaxy Tab S8 that doesn’t have a trackpad.

If you want to use your Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra as a laptop, you’ll have to fork out an additional $350 for the keyboard folio. If you have the money, you could purchase a mechanical keyboard, a Chromebook, an old Windows laptop, or even an Android tablet with a top-of-the-line chipset like the Xiaomi Mi Pad 5.

The Galaxy Tab S8+ or its Ultra brother, for example, is a stylish OLED tablet with a unique set of benefits over laptops and desktops if you can afford the price. Android 12L and Android 13 have several significant UI improvements that give users reason to believe that Google cares about Android tablets once again.

Android tablets like the Galaxy Tab S8 are poised to take over your computing demands for both works and play thanks to Samsung’s attention to detail in the One UI. Before you empty your bank account, do a SWOT analysis.

Is Galaxy Tab S8 best for you?

My guess is that most people will choose either the $700 Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 for its relative affordability and mobility, or the $900 Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, which delivers premium features like a SAMOLED screen without breaking the bank, as opposed to the 14.6-inch Samsung Galaxy S8 Ultra.

The S8 Ultra is Samsung’s flagship tablet, and it will be fascinating to see whether power users and multitaskers flock to it, or if most settle for the S8 Plus as a nice middle-ground choice that can accomplish much of what its siblings do at a more reasonable price point.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Full Specifications