I'll chime in as a product designer who likes to draw.
I had one for 2 weeks and returned it. But it was a somber, melancholy return, as I really loved it. I want work to buy me one, and they weren't ready to. I'm also waiting to see if the Snapdragon/LTE version is any better.
My review:
Overall great! Much more useful and powerful than an iPad. Never thought I'd say that. Wish Apple would pull a Samsung and steal some ideas in reverse.
Industrial design and some button specs are a mixed bag. It has some criminally bad elements: fake leather with comical stitching would have been much better as a geometric pattern, the fake metallic side molding is cheapo, as is the pen. Someone called it the 1950s diner style tablet and that fits. The existing hard key buttons are particularly hard to press, the capacitive ones too easy. However, this is minor and the tablet feels nice in the hands. From the front it's a handsome tablet. From the side or back, it's a lights off situation!
Curiously, the pen does not work with new cintiq pens. I blame Wacom for that, they have some incompatibilities in their line. But it's Samsung's job to help inform the consumer. Between the two of these fumbling, inept entities, we are left in the cold.
Overall pen functionality is really nice. It can detect when it's pulled out, you can have it launch an app or ask to launch one of several apps. Some of that is 3rd party apps you can download to fix what Samsung left unfinished. If you never use a secondary pen (the onboard one is too small to use for long drawing sessions, and has no eraser) you can turn off the digitizer if the pen is detected as inserted. Supposedly this will save battery.
TouchWiz is a joke, but overall harmless. Everyone wishes it would just die. UI elements are comically large. You have to turn off several well-intentioned features that don't work or don't work quickly enough, meanwhile they could have put that effort into making this a better looking and better working tablet.
Accessories are nil, we don't even know what's on the horizon. I don't even know if a smart cover is being planned or there is capability for one (it would be highly surprising). Meanwhile it needs a cover to hide its shameful design choices. Stands, chargers, additional pens... don't even ask. Also don't ask about the US release schedule for the LTE version.
Screen is great. The resolution is amazing, but there is a dot screen pattern that is visible, I imagine because this is a pentile or amoled screen or some such magic. It's noticeable but pleasant. Meanwhile, the note 8.0 screen is abysmal (and bezel ginormous), steer clear of that hot mess.
Speakers are also great, being stereo. I didn't crank the music but it shows that someone smart worked on this tablet. I wish that person had a louder voice.
IR blaster was surprisingly useful, albeit an inexcusable distraction to this tablet's design and development. For US Broadcast DTV, it actually helped me find some TV shows to watch. I think it was the Peel app that my neighbor recommended. However, I would have much rather see a better charging solution, smart cover capability, or some other bell or whistle.
Size/weight/heft were perfect. A few times it got Apple hot, somewhat worrying as this is a hunk of soft-feeling plastic.
Hopefully Samsung can sell a few of these and be motivated to optimize the software. I hope they abandon all the silly things and just optimize performance. They need a project butter—not that I'm not complaining about widely noticeable lag, but performance increases are always welcome.
It's been a few weeks so I'm sure I'm forgetting things. I'll wrap up with my review as an artist who actually uses the pen: It's great, I can't go back to using a ham-handed stylus. Having it always onboard is far preferable to any alternatives (ipad styluses that magnetize to the tablet, cintiq companion pens that have no onboard socket, surface pens that have tenuous external docks). Eraser functionality is super useful to me, they should include it in the onboard pen. The onboard pen is far too small. ... Samsung designs too many phones, old habits die hard.
As to apps, there are some. Autodesk (Sketchbook Pro) and other app developers need to pay attention to what already works in legacy apps for cintiq and wacom pens. There are not a lot great apps out there that are pen optimized, but there are enough to recommend this tablet and say that it shouldn't be a problem. Meanwhile, Samsung needs to pay attention to artists too. Their contributions to the pen/tablet functionality are somewhat comical. It may be an Asian market thing that is lost on me.
So I give it a thumbs up. I aim to see how Samsung continues the roll out and then I'll pick one up again. That said, I would dropkick this beloved tablet straight into a gurgling sewer if Google included an onboard pen in a new Nexus 10. They have far better instincts when buying hardware and developing software. I would also consider Apple a contender if they ever decided to add pen functionality to the iPad. I am a reluctant android tablet convert that is waiting to be re-wowed by iOS.
