The best ultra-premium Android tablet

You must hand it to Samsung. Even throughout the darkest days of Android tablets, when Google itself noticed no worth within the type issue, Samsung stored pumping out slates each quarter. In actual fact, it will definitely began making ultra-premium tablets to compete with Apple’s costlier iPads. In some methods, it’s paid off now that Google has not less than began providing lip service to large-format units, however not less than till we see the rumored pro-grade Pixel Pill, in order for you a premium Android pill, Samsung is actually your solely selection.

Samsung is now on its third era of Extremely tablets with the $1,200 Galaxy Tab S10 Extremely — the highest slate within the Tab S10 sequence. This gadget seems to be like a carbon copy of 2023’s Extremely pill with an an identical 14.6-inch OLED and slim aluminum physique, however the S10 Extremely has gotten an inside transform that includes a MediaTek processor. Nonetheless, this extra-large, extra-powerful, extra-costly pill, clearly designed for energy customers, feels a bit missing as an expert device when there are nearly no apps that make the most of all it presents.

The OLED steals the present

For all intents and functions, the Galaxy Tab S10 Extremely is only a big display. It has a larger than 90% screen-to-body ratio, similar to the Tab S9 Extremely. In actual fact, it may be exhausting to inform the distinction between the brand new and previous fashions, even when you’ve them each sitting in entrance of you.

Bodily, little or no has modified in a yr. The Tab S10 Extremely has a 14.6-inch OLED panel at a powerful 1,848 x 2,960 decision with a 120Hz refresh charge. There are units with larger pixel density, however the Tab S10 Extremely is spectacular given the dimensions (239 pixels per inch). At regular viewing distances, the show is completely sharp, and the brightness is an much more spectacular 930 nits. Once more, that is unchanged from final yr, however it’s nonetheless about twice the height brightness of the typical laptop computer show. Samsung did institute one minor display improve — an anti-reflective coating that makes the pill a bit simpler to learn in vibrant circumstances.

The 16:10 facet ratio is just like what we see on laptops, however at this dimension, it additionally makes the pill unusably awkward in portrait orientation. You’ll be able to nonetheless flip it that manner in order for you, however it’s not a good suggestion. If you need a extra adaptable pill, iPads have a comfortable 4:3 ratio. The Tab S10 Extremely is nice for watching video, although.

For $1,200, I might count on the most effective of every little thing in an Android pill, however there’s nonetheless a moderately apparent cost-cutting measure right here. The fingerprint sensor on the suitable aspect of the display is optical as a substitute of ultrasonic, like Samsung’s flagship telephones. Meaning it’s much less forgiving to moisture or smudges, and it lights up the room when scanning your finger. It’s fairly quick and correct, however it’s not what this costly pill deserves.

Samsung didn’t skimp with the audio system, that are once more a quad setup tuned by Samsung’s AKG subsidiary. I discovered the audio from these audio system to be higher than many laptops I’ve examined — they’re clear, loud, and keep away from distortion, even at excessive volumes. It’s too skinny to have a headphone jack, although.

The physique of the pill is aluminum with a clean matte end. It’s not slippery, however there’s little or no to carry onto. There’s nearly no seen bezel across the periphery, save for the notch on the prime that makes room for the 2 front-facing cameras. The slim bezel is barely sufficient to carry the pill with out unintentionally touching the display. Whereas a bit extra bezel would make it extra comfy to carry, the gadget is already so enormous I can perceive why Samsung stored it slim.

Along with being giant, the Tab S10 Extremely is heavy, tipping the scales at about 1.5 kilos (718g). That’s 139 grams greater than Apple’s largest 13-inch iPad Professional. Holding the Tab S10 Extremely is awkward except you’ve one thing to assist help the burden, like your lap or a desk. Nonetheless, slightly clunkiness is value it to get this attractive OLED display in entrance of your face. It’s not probably the most handy slate to hold round, however should you do, it’ll look nice nearly wherever, because of the super-bright display and low reflectivity.

Round again, the Tab S10 Extremely is fairly unremarkable. There are two rear-facing cameras, a 12MP broad and 8MP ultrawide. They’re about on par with a mid-range A sequence Samsung cellphone, which makes them excellent in comparison with different tablets. Subsequent to the cameras is a magnetic attachment for the S Pen stylus. When related, it fees the battery to the superior Bluetooth options. Lining the stylus up with out trying is a bit tough, however the magnets are robust. So long as you keep in mind which route the purpose faces, it’s best to be capable of make it work.

Who wants Snapdragon?

I’ll admit to being slightly nervous about Samsung’s choice to change from Snapdragon to MediaTek for its flagship pill. In any case, different OEMs making that transition are doing so to save cash on the expense of efficiency. Nevertheless, the Dimensity 9300 Plus on this gadget is on a unique degree than the MediaTek chips you’ve in all probability used earlier than.

The 9300 Plus doesn’t have any small effectivity cores. As a substitute, it’s acquired all “massive” cores — 4 Cortex X4 CPUs, together with one clocked at 3.4GHz, and 4 Cortex A720 cores backing them up. It additionally sports activities a 12-core Arm Immortalis GPU that may commerce blows with Qualcomm’s Adreno (and Mali help on most emulators is consistently bettering, too). In benchmarks, the Galaxy Tab S10 Extremely runs simply forward of final yr’s mannequin, which ran on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and competes very properly with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 contained in the Galaxy S24 Extremely (remember a pill is more durable to chill, too).

It seems to be just like the Dimensity chip received’t be as {powerful} as the brand new Snapdragon 8 Elite — if or when it will definitely makes its technique to tablets — however the general thermal efficiency is strong. Samsung’s Qualcomm units usually undergo from heavy thermal throttling, however the losses for the MediaTek chip have been decrease. So, you may discover the Tab S10 Extremely’s efficiency in video games is pretty much as good as the most effective Qualcomm has to supply.

I’ve been very pleased with the pill’s efficiency, even when operating a gaggle of apps in split-screen and floating home windows. There aren’t many video games on Android that decision for a giant pill, however this gadget ran every little thing I threw at it with out breaking a sweat. It might even run Civilization 6 with all of the settings maxed with out overheating or lagging—a uncommon feat certainly. If solely there have been extra Android video games that benefitted from a giant display.

Battery life doesn’t appear to have taken a dive from the change to MediaTek, both. You should utilize the Tab S10 Extremely intermittently for a number of days earlier than you’ll want to fear about plugging in — I often go three or 4 days between plugging in. Samsung didn’t improve the battery capability in any respect, so the pill remains to be sitting at 11,200mAh with 45W charging. The charging is a bit sluggish, and naturally, Samsung doesn’t embrace a charger. Utilizing a USB PD PPS charger of 45W or larger, it takes nearly two hours to completely cost the Tab S10 Extremely. Quicker charging is one other of these nice-to-have options that basically must be included in a $1,200 pill.

Android big-screen blunders

Whereas Android 15 has began rolling out on the time of this writing, the Tab S10 Extremely just isn’t but prepared for the newest OS. It’s operating Android 14 with One UI 6.1 out of the field. It is going to get an replace to Android 15 within the close to future, and that’s not even near the tip for this pill. Samsung guarantees to offer safety patches and OS updates for seven years, by means of October 2031. That’s rather more help than you get on most Android units.

The model of One UI on this pill shall be acquainted to anybody who’s used a latest Samsung gadget. There aren’t any main adjustments, however some AI options are a bit extra distinguished. For instance, the Sketch to Picture characteristic has migrated to the S Pen popup for simpler entry. If you need Galaxy AI to rewrite textual content for you or get a abstract of notes, that’s all accessible on the Tab S10 Extremely, too.

Samsung features a raft of apps you in all probability don’t need out of the field — it’s not as unhealthy as some cheaper units, however you’ll nonetheless must undergo and take away bloatware like Peacock and Samsung TV, except you need them. Apparently, Samsung has included a couple of third-party apps with newly acquired S Pen help, together with Clip Studio, Goodnotes, Noteshelf, and Sketchbook. It’s good to see Samsung making the stylus extra helpful, however a number of of the brand new choices are simply note-taking apps with much less integration than Samsung Notes, and nearly all of them price cash regardless of being pre-installed. I hope Samsung continues selling third-party S Pen help even when this batch of apps is a bit underwhelming.

In actual fact, the app state of affairs on Android tablets is mostly irritating, however the difficulty is much more apparent on an enormous pill like this. There have been too many occasions once I opened an app on the Tab S10 Extremely to search out not solely did it appear like a blown-up cellphone app, however it didn’t even work in panorama. It might be comical to see a mediocre app like Reddit blown as much as 14.6 inches if it wasn’t so miserable. Google-blessed Android tablets have existed for over a decade, and issues are nonetheless this unhealthy? I don’t blame Samsung — it’s all on Google.

As revealed by Google’s latest antitrust loss, the search big has managed to regulate app distribution on Android although the platform is nominally open. Google’s conniving and bullying successfully stopped any various to the Play Retailer from gaining traction, so Google owns the present state of Android apps. It primarily ignored something that wasn’t a cellphone for years, failing to present builders steering or instruments to create large-screen experiences. And that is the end result: a robust pill with a stunning display that’s caught operating cellphone apps.

Fortunately, Samsung’s multitasking system in One UI is excellent. You’ll be able to run all these phone-optimized apps in floating home windows or in as much as three live-updating tiles, which makes them rather more usable. So, even when an app doesn’t have a correct pill interface, you don’t must make do with an obnoxiously inflated cellphone UI. It’s nonetheless an additional step, and it might be vastly preferable to have apps that have been designed with tablets in thoughts. Even if you split-screen cellphone apps on this monumental pill, they give the impression of being outsized and inefficient.

Android is years behind Apple on pill help, and I don’t know if Google has the wherewithal to repair it. Relying on how the antitrust case shakes out, different app shops might get a giant increase on Android. Possibly that’s what we have to enliven Android improvement and make tablets extra helpful. With advances in foldables, large-screen units are solely going to get extra frequent, and I consider extra-large touchscreens are a sturdy computing type issue that may solely turn into extra necessary sooner or later. We’d like functions that make the most of it. Yeah, Gmail and Samsung Notes work nice on tablets, however that may’t be all there may be.

Premium equipment for a premium slate

While you purchase the Galaxy Tab S10 Extremely for $1,200, Samsung will attempt to upsell equipment just like the $200 keyboard case. I’ve been utilizing the case with this pill, and it appears well-made for probably the most half.

The magnets that maintain the pill in place are very robust, and the case closes securely across the slate. It feels safe contained in the case whilst you carry it round, and it makes an incredible stand — a stand on which you’ll sort. If you’ll want to do quite a lot of textual content entry on the Tab S10 Extremely, this may very well be a worthwhile accent, however odds are that you simply don’t.

The keys are properly spaced and simple to learn, however the journey is minimal, and the underside is mushy. There’s no trackpad like some previous incarnations of Samsung’s pill circumstances, however the keyboard does have a Galaxy AI button. This might have been a helpful addition, however it doesn’t do a lot. As a substitute of launching the AI options in supported apps, it simply opens your chosen AI assistant just like the Copilot button on Home windows laptops.

One upshot right here is that the Tab S9 and S10 look so alike that the circumstances designed for every pill additionally work with the opposite. The AI button received’t work with the Tab S9 Extremely but, however Samsung guarantees an replace to deal with that. This spendy accent might work on future Samsung tablets, however there’s no assure. For instance, the Tab S8 circumstances didn’t match the Tab S9.

The case doesn’t add a lot, making an already costly pill much more difficult to justify. In the event you’re contemplating getting the pill and case for $1,400, you’d in all probability get extra use out of a laptop computer. The case and not using a keyboard remains to be fairly spendy at $100, however it needs to be equally well-constructed should you want a transportable stand.

It’s good that Samsung contains the S Pen — Apple’s stylus prices an additional $100 on prime of no matter you’re spending on a pill. This inductive stylus feels good within the hand and is in regards to the dimension of your common ink pen. With the quick refresh charge of the pill, the S Pen feels very responsive. The gentle tip additionally feels much less squirrelly on the display in comparison with the Apple Pencil.

The Galaxy Tab S10 Extremely doesn’t reinvent the wheel, however it’s nonetheless a powerful high-end Android pill. The shape issue is as compact as it may well fairly be given the dimensions of the show, and the OLED itself is impeccable. The Tab S10 Extremely can also be very snappy with that new MediaTek chip. Nevertheless, it’s additionally probably the most costly Android units that doesn’t fold in half.

Samsung’s tackle Android is a bit cluttered, however you’ll be pleased to have the One UI multitasking system on this slate. It makes it simpler to make the most of all that display actual property with split-screen, saved app teams, floating apps, and extra. There aren’t very many apps that work properly on the Tab S10 Extremely’s big display, so app windowing is important. Samsung does this higher than anybody else, and also you get a beneficiant seven years of software program help.

If you need an ultra-premium Android pill, Samsung is actually the one sport on the town. Do you actually need that, although? It’s tough to ascertain a client who can buy the Galaxy Tab S10 Extremely outdoors of media addicts. Having a giant, stunning OLED display for video is nice, however Android remains to be missing tablet-optimized apps to make it actually helpful. Add the $200 keyboard case, and also you’re taking a look at $1,400 earlier than tax. It nearly goes with out saying, however Tab S9 Extremely house owners mustn’t hassle upgrading.

At this worth, you could possibly buy a succesful laptop computer and a less expensive pill (just like the Galaxy Tab S9 FE) that’s simply pretty much as good for operating Android apps. There’s additionally the Tab S10 Plus ($999.99 at Samsung), which is simply as quick and well-designed, however it’s a bit smaller and cheaper. Nevertheless, there’s no common Tab S10 this time round, making the $1,000 Tab S10 Plus the most cost effective possibility. That’s nonetheless loads for an Android pill, however you don’t lose something necessary versus the Extremely, except you desire a pill that may successfully double up as a transportable TV.

The elephant within the room is the iPad Professional (2024) ($898.99 at Amazon), which isn’t fairly as large because the Tab S10 Extremely even with the bigger 12.9-inch mannequin, however does blow it out of the water by way of energy and app help (even when iPadOS typically isn’t fairly as malleable). Simply count on to pay simply as a lot if no more if you begin including in Apple’s equipment.