Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus: Until now, Android tablets have gotten a terrible name, owing to the fact that neither Google nor developers seemed to care much about them. But there is one firm that does care: Samsung. Similar to the smartphone market, Samsung has established itself as the go-to tablet manufacturer for high-end premium Android tablets. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 tablets are the company’s most recent attempts to create excellent Android tablets.
However, the tablet is not without flaws, only some of which are due to Samsung. I have had the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus as my sole tablet for three weeks, and this is my comprehensive evaluation.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus Hardware, Display, and Design
The design and build quality of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ is one of its strong aspects. Simply put, this tablet is breathtaking. The 12.4-inch screen is large, with narrow yet perceptible bezels all around, making it ideal for gripping the tablet. The Armor Aluminum frame is strong and has a quality feel about it. Around the edges, in landscape mode, there are speakers on both sides, a power button and volume rocker on the top, the SIM and SD card tray, and a USB-C charging and data connection on the right. A camera enclosure stretches the majority of the way across the rear of the tablet. This is where you can magnetically store and charge the included S Pen.
The tablet is only 5.7mm thick and weighs 567 grams. My review item is the Wi-Fi-only variant; the 5G model weighs 572 grams more. The weight of the keyboard enclosure and the S Pen is not included in these specifications. On the inside, there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, 128GB of storage, and 8GB of RAM. The tablet is powered by a 10,090 mAh battery, which can be charged at 45 watts if Samsung cared to include a charger.
The screen is a stunning 12.4-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1752 x 2800 and a refresh rate of 120Hz. It offers excellent contrast and color reproduction. It is protected by Gorilla Glass 5 and has excellent viewing angles. When the tablet is in landscape mode, a fingerprint sensor is situated on the right side (sorry, southpaws).
The 16:10 aspect ratio is ideal for video consumption but maybe too small for some jobs. My Lenovo Legion 5i has the same aspect ratio, but its 16-inch screen is more suitable for business applications. My only gripe is that I’d want to see something closer to 3:2 on a screen this small.
Overall, the design of this tablet radiates quality. This is a tablet that business executives would be proud to pull out of their briefcase, from the thinness to the build materials to the screen. This is a home run.
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Keyboard Cover and S Pen
Along with the tablet, you receive an S Pen, and my testing unit had the $160 book cover with a keyboard. That’s unfortunate, and we’ll get to the book cover first. Simply put, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ is a fantastic work PC alternative with a keyboard cover. The keys are small and travel well. The buttons are firm. The keyboard layout is fantastic, with excellent key spacing. Because the keyboard is made of plastic, it flexes a lot when typing on a non-flat surface. This could make typing on your lap difficult. In addition, the keyboard cover only holds the tablet at a fixed position; it is not adjustable.
The pogo pins on the tablet’s bottom magnetically snap into the keyboard shell, launching Samsung Dex, which we’ll discuss in the following section. The keyboard is adequate but not spectacular; it is good but not outstanding. Combine that with the keyboard’s requirement in a tablet of this caliber, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t come standard. Even if it meant adding $100 to the cost of the tablet, it would be worthwhile.
The S Pen is a fantastic item that is simple to handle and use. It responds quickly and has low latency. It’s ideal for everything from cartoon painting to text selection. Although my writing is fluid, Samsung appears to be having difficulty turning my chicken scratch into words. My handwriting isn’t great, but Apple’s Scribble doesn’t have nearly as much trouble recognizing it.
I’ll mention how convenient it is that the S Pen from my Galaxy S22 Ultra works on this tablet as well. That is something Samsung did not have to offer, but I like it.
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Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus Software
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ runs Android 12, and I spent most of my time using Samsung DeX. Samsung DeX essentially Windows-fies your Android tablet by adding a system tray with alerts in the bottom-right corner and a dock displaying your active apps across the bottom of the screen. Does this sound familiar? You are accurate if you think it sounds like a desktop operating system.
DeX also allows you to use apps in resizable windows, which means you can do some serious multitasking. During my testing time, I utilized the Galaxy Tab S8+ as my work machine for three days and it performed admirably. I was able to easily write, videoconference with my team, revised articles, and transfer tasks using Asana.
The flaws in the software that I discover are not even the responsibility of Samsung. Asana, the task management program we use at Digital Trends, is excellent as a web interface but a disaster as a mobile app. Fortunately, I can return to the process I know and love by requesting the desktop site in Chrome.
For some reason, the 1Password app will not run in DeX mode. Because it’s my primary password organizer, I found myself having to go back to tablet mode just long enough to copy and paste a password before returning to DeX mode.
All of these hassles highlight the Galaxy Tab S8glaring +’s shortcoming. It’s an Android tablet, and I don’t blame you if you’re nodding unconsciously right now. The truth is that numerous apps in the Android world imitate Asana and 1Password. Don’t get me wrong: certain apps are excellent. But the others either don’t work properly or, in some circumstances, don’t work at all. This is not entirely Samsung’s fault. Indeed, Samsung has little control over any of this, which means all it can do is smile and shrug.
One of the worst things a professional sports organization can say to its fans is “I don’t know,” as in “I don’t know why that ball that was definitely a strike was called a ball” or “I don’t know why the referee missed that call.” I’m not sure why 1Password won’t operate in Dex mode. That’s not ideal, but I’m tired of harping, so I’ll go on.
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Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus Battery
The tablet’s battery life is excellent. I usually finished most full workdays with 20% to 25% left in the tank. A typical workday for me comprises music streaming, video streaming, videoconferencing, web surfing, and responding to texts, chats, and emails. I never had difficulties getting through a day and even had some time left over at night for video watching or reading.
Camera and Audio
The only cameras that matter on a tablet are the front-facing cameras for videoconferencing. Two cameras are mounted on the back. A 13-megapixel main camera and a 6-megapixel ultrawide camera are included. I wouldn’t recommend using them for anything other than document scanning, and even then, only if you’re desperate. They’re not bad; they’re just fine. You, on the other hand, have a phone in your pocket. Make use of it. Nonetheless, I swallowed my pride and took the photos below.
The front-facing camera is a 12MP 120-degree ultrawide camera that performs admirably during video calls. The wide field of view captures a lot of background detail. The auto framing that Samsung introduced with its phones is now available, and it is good but aggressive. The camera pans with the slightest movement, which is, of course, what it’s designed to do. I think I would want a little more smoothing on that pan to make it look crisper, but the people I video conferenced with had no issues.
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