Samsung's New Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra vs. iPad Pro

[Macalway]

I have the S9 Ultra and have actually had a few from each generation. Android is rather weak with some things, like audio production. Apple is unified across all their devices so an iPad is superior in this way.

The Ultra is a very good device, crippled by tablet Android IMO. It's surprising to me that there seems to be little interest from Google with some popular functionality, that has gone underdeveloped. After all this time you would think....

I have noticed a difference in pen functionality between the iPad and S-pen. The Wacom type S-pen, when engaged will effect the window attention in a different way than the bluetooth pen, which seems to work better for a combination pen and touch.

 

[Digital Dude]

I tried the tab S9 ultra side-by-side with my M1 iPad. Love the size of the Samsung, but the software is weak. Ended up returning it and picked up an M2 iPad. I would love to have the Samsung once they refine the software/OS. 🐣

 

[Muzzakus]

I put movies on a tablet for my kids to watch in the car on long rides. I tried to do this with an older 256gb ipad, but getting them onto the device through iTunes was a massive PITA and just did not work at all. Ended up using an android tablet with a MicroSD card. Handbrake transcodes them and I drag/drop right to the tablet or I drag them over from a network location. I'm glad tablets still have expandable storage. On the ipad, I had to keep the files app open and wait for the network transfer to complete before I could use the ipad again.

Plex is what I can recommend. All your movies, everywhere. And local download as needed.

 

[dozoy]

Plex is what I can recommend. All your movies, everywhere. And local download as needed.

I run a plex server at home. However, I won't pay for another cellular connection/hotspot/whatever considering we don't use the tablet all that frequently. I tried the local download, but that feature has well-known issues on both ipados and Android. I can't get it to work consistently. Same with a lot of people, according to the research I've done. Otherwise, that would be my ideal solution.

 

[dozoy]

I tried the tab S9 ultra side-by-side with my M1 iPad. Love the size of the Samsung, but the software is weak. Ended up returning it and picked up an M2 iPad. I would love to have the Samsung once they refine the software/OS. 🐣

I'm curious if you can expand on that. Android/OneUI isn't as polished as ipados, but there's absolutely no doubt that it can do WAY more.

 

[Muzzakus]

I run a plex server at home. However, I won't pay for another cellular connection/hotspot/whatever considering we don't use the tablet all that frequently. I tried the local download, but that feature has well-known issues on both ipados and Android. I can't get it to work consistently. Same with a lot of people, according to the research I've done. Otherwise, that would be my ideal solution.

That’s a shame. Used the downloads perfectly fine as have the kids for long trips & flights. You do need the subscription, lifetime best bet.

 

[DeepSix]

Justl got mine. Sold my M1 11'. Boy this ultra is massive. Amazing screen, for content it's amazing. And cheap. Got it NIB off swappa for $800. The new iPad 12.9 will likely be much more expensive. It's not as fluid as ios but so far so good. Time will tell.

Wow easy sale for you. How long did it take for you to decide to sell your m1 11"?

 

[dozoy]

That’s a shame. Used the downloads perfectly fine as have the kids for long trips & flights. You do need the subscription, lifetime best bet.

It really is a shame because it's a great feature. I did some digging and apparently it's a common issue. Glad it works for you though!

 

[Chevyguy2021]

Wow easy sale for you. How long did it take for you to decide to sell your m1 11"?

Typing this on my M4 IPP 11. lol The Samsung was too big. I tried it, glad I did. But sooooo glad to be back in an iPad lol

 

[lyunmac]

I'm curious if you can expand on that. Android/OneUI isn't as polished as ipados, but there's absolutely no doubt that it can do WAY more.

Depending on your work it could do more tasks more efficiently. Dex lets you have multiple windows open so if you're working on a document and have a browser open and another app I can see it being more efficient. Now of course if you edit photos, videos or music then the iPad is the better option. For those that don't use those apps then OneUI with Dex would be a great option since it provides the traditional laptop OS experience with a file manager.

 

[DeepSix]

Typing this on my M4 IPP 11. lol The Samsung was too big. I tried it, glad I did. But sooooo glad to be back in an iPad lol

Oh darn. How long did you keep it before selling it? Hopefully you got a good return on it.