Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Extremely evaluation: when larger isn’t higher

Tech demos are enjoyable. They provide us a take a look at what would possibly in the future be a commonplace, accessible know-how in a package deal that some courageous souls can select to purchase at present.

In the case of tech demos, Samsung is unmatched. It steadily brings merchandise to market that aren’t fairly totally developed or prepared — see the first-generation Galaxy Fold telephone or its absurdly costly 100-inch Micro LED TVs. Those who wish to dwell on the slicing fringe of know-how will pay a fairly premium for these tech demos to have them now, whereas the remainder of us wait just a few generations for Samsung to iron out the kinks.

The brand new Galaxy Tab S8 Extremely is a tech demo. The biggest of Samsung’s Tab S8 pill line (you possibly can see my evaluation of the extra pedestrian Tab S8 and S8 Plus right here), the Extremely explores the thought of a pill — operating a cellular working system — that’s the scale of a typical productiveness laptop computer. It takes the options of the opposite Tab S8 fashions and stretches them behind a gargantuan 14.6-inch show. It additionally instructions a steep worth: the Extremely begins at $1,099.99 earlier than you add equipment like a case or keyboard. Being on the leading edge doesn’t come low cost.

Being on the leading edge comes with different compromises too. It in all probability isn’t shocking to learn that the Tab S8 Extremely’s huge display makes utilizing it as an precise pill quite cumbersome. It additionally gained’t come as a shock to anybody accustomed to Android tablets that there isn’t a lot software program that takes good benefit of the S8 Extremely’s big display.

If you happen to’re in search of an Android pill to go together with your Android telephone, it is best to simply think about one in all Samsung’s different Tab S8 fashions. However in case you’re curious if a giant-screen pill that runs a cellular working system makes any sense at this stage, learn on.

The Tab S8 Extremely brings the design of the opposite Tab S8 fashions (which themselves are replicating the Tab S7 design) to a bigger scale. It’s an aluminum pill that’s nearly all display, with skinny bezels and a surprisingly skinny chassis. I’ve not bent the retail unit we bought for this evaluation in my time with it, nevertheless it doesn’t really feel like it might take a lot effort to crunch it in half if that’s your aim.

Other than its thickness, the opposite dimensions of the Extremely are Giant. It’s almost two full inches wider than the 12.9-inch iPad Professional in panorama orientation (although, due to the magic of facet ratios, it’s a few quarter of an inch shorter than the iPad) and ideas the scales at 1.6 kilos earlier than you add a case or any equipment. It’s not the sort of pill that may be simply held in a single hand, and even holding it up with two palms will be fairly cumbersome.

That measurement and weight additionally put it extra consistent with Microsoft’s Floor Professional units, which run Home windows as a substitute of a cellular working system like Android or iOS.

The draw back of its measurement is that the Extremely simply isn’t nice on the issues I usually count on from a pill: taking notes by hand, studying ebooks, or casually consuming content material on the sofa or whereas touring. Doing any of these issues with the Extremely is extra unwieldy than with a extra fairly sized pill. The 16:10 facet ratio is nice for a laptop computer however difficult for a pill, which could be used equally in portrait or panorama orientations. The Extremely is comical to make use of in portrait mode, each because of its measurement and the facet ratio of its display.

After all, the rationale for this bigger measurement is the show, which is a 14.6-inch, 2960 x 1848, 120Hz OLED display. It’s an amazing show, with the punchy colours and blackest blacks that OLED screens are identified for, plus the excessive refresh fee makes each contact interplay really feel very clean. For motion pictures and video, mixed with the loud and highly effective audio system, the Extremely’s display is a deal with.

However it doesn’t get as stunningly brilliant because the iPad Professional’s Mini LED panel, particularly in case you’re watching HDR content material. The brightness is completely effective for utilizing the pill indoors and even exterior at instances, but when that is the most effective Samsung has to supply, I anticipated a bit extra on the brightness entrance.

For the reason that Tab S8 Extremely is so huge, it makes essentially the most sense to make use of it in a keyboard case, very like you’ll a laptop computer. (This additionally goes for the 12.9-inch iPad Professional, which nearly at all times lives in its Magic Keyboard case after I’m utilizing it.) Samsung affords one such case, the E-book Cowl Keyboard, which comes with a staggering $349.99 price ticket. With the keyboard connected, the Extremely assumes the posture of a Floor Professional, with an adjustable kickstand on the again and a removable keyboard on the entrance.

The design of the case makes it very troublesome to make use of the Extremely as a laptop computer for the reason that keyboard doesn’t lock into the body like Microsoft’s do. The entire thing could be very wobbly, and since it’s so huge, the kickstand half extends previous my knees. You’ll even have a tough time utilizing this arrange on an airplane tray desk. Consequently, the Extremely in its keyboard case isn’t a lot of a laptop computer as it’s a pc you plant on a desk or desk to make use of.

The good thing about the Extremely’s display being so giant is that the keyboard and trackpad within the E-book Cowl are additionally fairly roomy. However sadly, that’s the one good factor I can say about them. The keyboard’s keys have very low journey and will not be very comfy to kind on, and the trackpad suffers from horrible palm rejection that continuously interrupts my circulation when typing. Shifting the cursor on the display additionally requires “waking up” the trackpad by touching it for a second or two earlier than the cursor reveals up and is obtainable, which will get fairly annoying over the course of a day. If you happen to occur to get the keyboard included in a bundle deal (as those who preordered the Extremely earlier than launch did), then positive, it’s effective, however in case you’re paying that steep retail worth for it, put together to be upset.

One factor that doesn’t value something further is Samsung’s glorious S Pen, which comes within the field with the Extremely. It’s the identical S Pen that’s out there with Samsung’s different tablets, and it’s excellent for writing notes, doodling, or marking up screenshots on the show. I can’t converse to how nicely it really works for digital artists, so I encourage you to take a look at Brad Colbow’s YouTube evaluation for that perspective (spoiler: the massive display plus the S Pen make for a compelling artists’ slate).

The S Pen will be magnetically connected to the again of the Extremely, identical to the opposite Tab S8 fashions, the place it may be saved and charged. If you happen to don’t have a case on the pill, don’t be shocked if the pen will get knocked off in your bag.

Since I’m on the subject of what comes within the field and what doesn’t, Samsung doesn’t embody a charging brick with the Tab S8 Extremely, just like the way it has packaged its high-end telephones for the previous couple of years. I shouldn’t want to elucidate {that a} $1,100 pill not coming with a approach to cost it’s quite ridiculous, however right here goes: it’s a sign that Samsung doesn’t count on this to be your solely pc and assumes that you simply’ll use a charger from one other gadget for it. The Extremely helps as much as 45-watt charging, so chargers from most trendy laptops will work effective, although most phone-sized chargers will probably be a bit underpowered.

The final little bit of {hardware} that makes the Extremely distinctive are its twin huge and ultrawide front-facing cameras, which dwell in a notch that cuts into the highest of the display. The cameras are effective — about on par with what you get from different tablets and work nicely sufficient for video calls (they’re additionally on the right facet of the pill, one thing Apple nonetheless doesn’t get proper with the iPad). The notch can be effective — it by no means as soon as distracted me or blocked me from seeing vital info on the display.

Samsung has added a characteristic that makes an attempt to routinely hold your face within the heart of the body in a video name, just like Apple’s Middle Stage. Sadly, it doesn’t work very nicely and strikes the digital camera round a lot that colleagues of mine requested me to show it off lest they get sick watching me on a Zoom name.

Inside, the Tab S8 Extremely is identical as the opposite Tab S8 fashions, although with the choice for extra RAM within the greater storage tiers. It has Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 paired with between 8 and 16GB of RAM. Within the unit I’ve been testing — a $1,199.99 configuration with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM — efficiency has been snappy and responsive for all of the duties I’ve requested of it. My predominant disappointment has been how typically tabs reload within the net browser after I’ve left and are available again to them after a while; with this a lot RAM on faucet, I’d count on that to not occur.

Oddly, Samsung will not be providing a cellular-connected model for the Tab S8 Extremely, which makes it much less interesting as a pc for frequent vacationers.

The factor with the Extremely bringing a much bigger display and a much bigger price ticket is that it engenders larger expectations for what you would possibly be capable to do with it. This can be a pill that’s as huge as a laptop computer when paired with its keyboard case and comes with a premium laptop-level price ticket.

And that’s in the end the place this tech demo falls brief. Whereas the smaller Tab S8 fashions can skirt by with poorly optimized apps that don’t fairly make use of their screens, these deficiencies really feel way more acute on the Extremely.

Take Slack, for instance. Slack doesn’t have a tablet-optimized model of its Android app, so once you launch it on the Extremely, the telephone app is stretched to fill the huge expanse of the 14.6-inch show. There’s no approach to view a couple of dialog at a time or see an inventory of your conversations or rooms whilst you’re viewing one other. The identical will be stated for numerous different apps that aren’t developed by Samsung itself. It’d be comical if it wasn’t so disappointing.

Positive, you should use Samsung’s split-screen multitasking to share the display with one or two different apps, or you possibly can flip over to the windowed DeX atmosphere to layer app home windows on high of one another, like what you would possibly get from a Home windows or macOS pc. However neither of these issues makes the Extremely as simple to make use of or work on as a Home windows pill or laptop computer could be.

I’ve detailed my frustrations with DeX’s limitations within the Tab S8 evaluation, however all of them are much more irritating on the Extremely, with its bigger measurement and extra productivity-focused pitch. Lots of the stuff you would possibly count on to have the ability to do in a windowed desktop atmosphere, comparable to simply resizing app home windows to the vertical top of the display or choosing textual content with the mouse cursor, both don’t work as anticipated or are restricted in comparison with precise Home windows. It feels very very like a shoe-horned resolution to an issue that doesn’t go far sufficient to fixing it, and Samsung’s improvement progress on DeX has been painfully gradual in comparison with its development in different software program areas.

There are some issues that the Extremely is sweet at, comparable to video watching and sport streaming or emulation, nevertheless it’s no higher than Samsung’s smaller and cheaper tablets at them.

In the end, the Tab S8 Extremely is a pill that’s the scale of a laptop computer, mimics a laptop computer’s kind issue (particularly when paired with its keyboard case), and comes with the value tag of a laptop computer. However it’s removed from as succesful as a laptop computer that’s extra comfy to make use of and simpler to be productive with.

Nonetheless, as a tech demo, the Tab S8 Extremely is an attention-grabbing factor, and it’s doable that Samsung will proceed iterating on this concept of an outsized pill in future generations, very like it has accomplished with the Galaxy Fold line of telephones. For now, it’s greatest to attend this out.