Just received my new Samsung Tab S6 and keyboard case. Great products that I hope will get some attention. Apple has a lot of catching up to do in the tablet space. We'll see what October brings.
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Tab S6
- Thread starter MarkB786
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Nice! One thing that always bugged me, and prevented me from getting an iPad and KB combo to try is the lack of trackpad. I see the S6 has that so how well does it work?
How do you work that out when they’ve been out in front for years? And there’s already a thread on this same page.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/samsung-galaxy-tab-s6.2195224/
Works great. Smooth and precise. And the s-pen cover on the back works great. Also, I find myself using DEX a lot more now that there is a short cut key.
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Didn't see the other thread. Agree that Apple led for years (I happily owned most of those iPad iterations). But I think anyone who takes a hard, honest look at the iPad and Tab S6 would likely conclude that Samsung has now taken the lead. Plus, Android is now very stable and is more feature-rich than iOS. I plan on writing a full comparison of the two products to better make my point.
I don't hate Apple; I'm just a disappointed and frustrated former fan. For me, Samsung launches now carry the excitement and anticipation that Apple used to have.
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They really need to introduce a bigger size to truly compete with the iPad. That's the only thing stopping me getting a Tab S6. The downgrade in size is too much.
Sorry but as long as developers continue to not care about android tablets tablets like the S6 will never truely compete.
Don’t get me wrong it’s a good tablet and I have the S4 tab and it’s performance is not great and does freeze from time to time.
It’s good Samsung still care about tablets but there’s a reason why the rest of android have stopped trying.
Good point, although I have not yet had difficulty finding an app that does what I need. And the tight relationship between Microsoft and Samsung has been working out well for my needs. Most of the third party apps I had bought for my iPad in days past were fun and whimsical, but few had staying power. The big ones (Adobe, MS, Evernote, etc) are what really count, I believe. Those are all robust and powerful.
Maybe it comes down is the Tab being a productivity tablet, and the iPad bring more of a playful, artsy, media tablet.
You're not really suggesting an iPad can't be used as a productivity tablet? They both use similar apps, so both can do very similar tasks. Would be quite different if one could use a full Mac or Windows OS.
So I'm in the market for a high end tablet right now, and I find myself actually not being able to rule out the S6. It does have a few compelling advantages over the iPad Pro 11, mostly hardware based:
- OLED screen is a big one for me. The iPad Pro screen is great but nothing beats OLED for watching movies or reading white text on black background which I do a lot.
- Keyboard cover with track pad/standard mouse support is actually a significant step towards laptop replaceability, especially in combination with DeX (in my case not very useful on a phone, but on a tablet it actually seems to be quite nice to have).
- SD card support is big on a tablet. With the S6 I'd have no worries getting the base memory version whereas on iPad I'd have to pay €160 extra to get more than the useless 64GB of its base version.
- There are a few S Pen functions I really like, such as writing/drawing directly on the system calendar, text conversion directly in the standard note app, system wide language translation, etc.
- Last I tested the tablet version of the S Pen (on the S4), its rubbery tip actually had a much nicer feel on glass than the harder/more glossy plastic tip of the Apple Pencil 2.
- And of course the price. The base model S6 (comes with S Pen at no extra charge!) + keyboard cover is ca €930. For the iPad I would have to pay extra for not only the keyboard over but also for getting more than the measly 64GB base model memory, and even for the Pencil...landing then at a whopping €1330, aka €400 more than the S6.
That said though, of course the iPad packs one massive advantage over any Android tablet: software, software, software... I'm very wary of ending up feeling like I'm lost in the app desert without water if I get the S6. For example, if I do spend the €400 extra for the iPad Pro, I know I could use it also as a serious music production/performance tool whereas in that field I could do virtually 0 with the S6.
On the other hand, I'm not sure what my use situation will actually be in the end. I might actually be fine with the basic functionality set offered by the S6, in which case the superior media consumption experience made possible by the OLED screen would be a serious argument for choosing that over the iPad.
There is one deal breaker app that I absolutely need to find on the S6 though, and that is an infinity zoom note app for mind maps/workflow sketches. On the iPad there's ZoomNotes which lets you not only sketch/write on an infinite canvas but also organise notes very well + has a bunch of slick bonus functionality. So far I haven't found an Android alternative that I absolutely know will work for this. Still looking though, please let me know if you have a tip!
So all in all, I'd say yes the Tab S6 actually is a real iPad Pro alternative, at least to some extent, with Samsung offering certain hardware advantages I personally can't just dismiss. And the price difference is definitely significant. On the software side though, there's no doubt that it's not Apple but Samsung/Android who need to catch up on the tablet scene...
- OLED screen is a big one for me. The iPad Pro screen is great but nothing beats OLED for watching movies or reading white text on black background which I do a lot.
- Keyboard cover with track pad/standard mouse support is actually a significant step towards laptop replaceability, especially in combination with DeX (in my case not very useful on a phone, but on a tablet it actually seems to be quite nice to have).
- SD card support is big on a tablet. With the S6 I'd have no worries getting the base memory version whereas on iPad I'd have to pay €160 extra to get more than the useless 64GB of its base version.
- There are a few S Pen functions I really like, such as writing/drawing directly on the system calendar, text conversion directly in the standard note app, system wide language translation, etc.
- Last I tested the tablet version of the S Pen (on the S4), its rubbery tip actually had a much nicer feel on glass than the harder/more glossy plastic tip of the Apple Pencil 2.
- And of course the price. The base model S6 (comes with S Pen at no extra charge!) + keyboard cover is ca €930. For the iPad I would have to pay extra for not only the keyboard over but also for getting more than the measly 64GB base model memory, and even for the Pencil...landing then at a whopping €1330, aka €400 more than the S6.
That said though, of course the iPad packs one massive advantage over any Android tablet: software, software, software... I'm very wary of ending up feeling like I'm lost in the app desert without water if I get the S6. For example, if I do spend the €400 extra for the iPad Pro, I know I could use it also as a serious music production/performance tool whereas in that field I could do virtually 0 with the S6.
On the other hand, I'm not sure what my use situation will actually be in the end. I might actually be fine with the basic functionality set offered by the S6, in which case the superior media consumption experience made possible by the OLED screen would be a serious argument for choosing that over the iPad.
There is one deal breaker app that I absolutely need to find on the S6 though, and that is an infinity zoom note app for mind maps/workflow sketches. On the iPad there's ZoomNotes which lets you not only sketch/write on an infinite canvas but also organise notes very well + has a bunch of slick bonus functionality. So far I haven't found an Android alternative that I absolutely know will work for this. Still looking though, please let me know if you have a tip!
So all in all, I'd say yes the Tab S6 actually is a real iPad Pro alternative, at least to some extent, with Samsung offering certain hardware advantages I personally can't just dismiss. And the price difference is definitely significant. On the software side though, there's no doubt that it's not Apple but Samsung/Android who need to catch up on the tablet scene...
