MEGATech Reviews: Samsung Galaxy Tab S3

The lines have been blurring for some time now. It used to be that you’d have touchscreen tablets that are used mostly for media consumption, and then you have proper laptops for when you want to be a little more productive. These days, you’ve got plenty of convertibles and 2-in-1s that fit somewhere in the middle, theoretically offering you the best of both worlds. And as such, some people are saying the tablet is dead. Samsung disagrees. Enter the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 arrives at the more premium end of the Android tablet market. If you’ve been thinking about picking up an iPad Pro or a Surface Pro, this is actually a more affordable alternative. But is it the right choice?

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Highlights

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that Apple and Samsung have been “borrowing inspiration” from one another for a number of years. That’s why it’s not at all surprising that the 1st generation 9.7-inch iPad Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 share a lot of similarities. For starters, they both have 9.7-inch screens with resolutions of 2048 x 1536 pixels. The iPad Pro has an IPS panel, whereas the Samsung goes with the company’s signature Super AMOLED.

It’s a matter of personal preference whether you prefer this sort of square-ish aspect ratio over the elongated 16:9 that has been the standard on Android tablets for so long. The rest of the specs put the Galaxy Tab S3 in line with the company’s mid-range to upper end smartphones. This model came equipped with a Snapdragon 820 quad core (2.15GHz + 1.6GHz) chipset with Adreno 530 graphics, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, microSD expansion, quad speakers tuned by AKG, and a 6,000mAh battery.

Rounding out the specs are fast charging via the USB-C (USB 3.1) port, the included S Pen stylus, fingerprint sensor built into the home button, a 13MP camera on the back, and a 5MP camera on the front.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 – Slim, Svelte, and Spectacular?

People tend to have a love them or hate them relationship with Samsung, so you really shouldn’t expect any different with the Galaxy Tab S3. It’s glass all around, including the back, so you’ll probably want to keep a cleaning cloth handle to wipe away your smudges and fingerprints.

The bezels around the screen are understandably nowhere near as minimal as we see on the Galaxy S8, but this perhaps makes more sense on a tablet to provide you with an easier way to hold it. The body itself is remarkably slim at about 6mm (0.24 inches) of thickness, but the construction is very solid with minimal chassis flex.

I’m not that big on stylus use, but the Galaxy Tab S3 does come with an S Pen. Unlike the Galaxy Note phablets, however, there is no built-in slot for you to put away the stylus when you’re not using it. This is also because the S Pen is decidedly larger, like the size of a regular pen. The trade-off is that it’ll be more comfortable and more natural to use.