Samsung Galaxy Tab S6

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We're going America in the new year and I'm saving up... planning on picking one of these up over there (if there's a deal to be had). My iPad mini 2 is feeling a little sluggish, so will probably give that my daughter so she can get more out of it.
 
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I decided to pickup the 256GB/LTE version after looking a bit more at DEX mode - with an external screen this has been a great mobile workstation for most of my day to day work albeit the 10.5" screen on its own is a bit small for much more than just sending emails but its better than lugging the Surface Book 2 that I've got from work all the time.

For non-work stuff though this thing is awesome, the screen is great for media; either Netflix or content I've got locally; its also brilliant for gaming (especially emulation) and the speakers are great.

On the keyboard cover - I do feel for the price that its a bit much, I'd probably feel less bothered if I'd pre-ordered and paid £50 for it, I've had no issues with the back coming unstuck at all but then once its on thats it for me - the keyboard itself is nice having a trackpad but like the S3 and S4 before it the keys are a little small. I take my Logitech K380 if I know I'm going to be needing to do a lot of work.

That said I love having a kickstand on the back thats always there (almost like the Surface Pro / Go) and having the keyboard as part of the case means that I always have it even if I don't have the external screeen, etc.

Its a bit like the Apple Smart Keyboard in some ways - overpriced but light enough its always with you!

Overall though I'm well impressed with this device, its pricey - yet but its easily the closest an Android device has ever some to being as fast and snappy as an iPad and frankly having used this and the iPad Pro 12.9 2018 I reckon that I can get more done work wise with this..
 
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My ageing iPad 2 screen has just cracked for the second time and i'm looking at this and the S4 Tab. Is there really that much difference to justify the price?

£430 vs £579 on Amazon, I'd say it's worth the extra.

The main difference is going to be performance SD835 vs SD855 and increased base memory, the flash storage is a lot faster as well. Speakers have more bass which was a complaint with the S4.

HDR10+ support is also a thing, not that you can get the content anywhere right now, Amazon Video doesn't support HDR at all on this tablet yet.

It's more compact a well, the fingerprint scanner has been very reliable for me, glad they included that.

Not so impressed with the included S-Pen, it's too chunky for me, I usually end up using the S-Pen from my Note 9 instead.

The book cover is fine but like others, it does come unstuck occasionally. It's weird as it appears to rely on suction to keep it in place. It's worth bearing in mind as I've had it unstick on a coffee table and the tablet fell on our floor.
 
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I had a massive fight with Currys to exchange my keyboard book cover, despite it only being ~5 days old when I logged the request. They tried to get me to deal with Samsung directly on it. I don't think I'll bother with Currys next time and instead wait for it to come back into stock with John / Amazon.

DPD picked it up today at last and the replacement is coming tomorrow. If this one doesn't stick, I'm going to stick it on with some strong mounting tape and leave it there forever as the keyboard and mouse is great.
 
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Sadly I'm going to have to return mine, when I change over to the dark mode it's apparent the black level is uneven, tried a black saturation test and it's pretty obvious something isn't right. The bottom row is visible when the device is rotated one way and but not the other.

I'll give John Lewis a call later, not something I can ignore once I've seen it.
 
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I've heard of some people having issues with the keyboard cover......the most obvious one is them not removing the film covering, but also some have attempted to clean down the pads as well which just makes things worse apparently.
Not had a problem with mine since launch, but I suspect its not the sort of implementation that'll appreciate repeated removals/attachments.
 
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My ageing iPad 2 screen has just cracked for the second time and i'm looking at this and the S4 Tab. Is there really that much difference to justify the price?

Considered a used S4? You can get Grade A for a decent saving. I have the S4 and it seems to handle anything thrown at it. I upgraded from an iPad 4 and haven't missed iOS as much as I thought I would.
 
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I've currently got a tab s2 9.7" and it's a decision between a Tab s6 , or the ipad pro 11" , i was leaning towards the ipad purely because of apps that are designed for the apple pencil i.e procreate , but then at the same time i'm fairly invested in the android ecosystem as i do prefer the samsung phones... Is the pencil/pen with this as good as the apple offering? I've not had a chance to try one but was blown away by the accuracy/sensitivity of the apple pencil. Though the tab s6 is quite a bit cheaper and you don't need to buy the pencil separately...

Anyone tried both?
 
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I've currently got a tab s2 9.7" and it's a decision between a Tab s6 , or the ipad pro 11" , i was leaning towards the ipad purely because of apps that are designed for the apple pencil i.e procreate , but then at the same time i'm fairly invested in the android ecosystem as i do prefer the samsung phones... Is the pencil/pen with this as good as the apple offering? I've not had a chance to try one but was blown away by the accuracy/sensitivity of the apple pencil. Though the tab s6 is quite a bit cheaper and you don't need to buy the pencil separately...

Anyone tried both?

In all honesty if its just for the pen / pencil apps then buy an iPad Pro - its better albeit more expensive and there are far more apps out there that support it and really are built for the Apple Pencil but if your not doing Art stuff then I wouldn't bother.

I find the Stylus with the S6 to be fine for what I do - mainly note-taking in Squid and I also use it as a "mouse" when navigating pages, the thin, flat shape can be a bit odd though but then I preferred the rounder Apple Pencil 1 v the slightly flatter new one - I've picked up a Wacom EMR compatible Staedtler Pencil stylus as it feels much nicer in the hand!
 
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Considered a used S4? You can get Grade A for a decent saving. I have the S4 and it seems to handle anything thrown at it. I upgraded from an iPad 4 and haven't missed iOS as much as I thought I would.

Yes I definitely would if I could find one in good condition.

I won't miss iOS at all - I only really used it for iBooks in the end as it's a nice ereader app. My phone is a Note 10 so a similar ecosystem would be welcome.
 
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I've currently got a tab s2 9.7" and it's a decision between a Tab s6 , or the ipad pro 11" , i was leaning towards the ipad purely because of apps that are designed for the apple pencil i.e procreate , but then at the same time i'm fairly invested in the android ecosystem as i do prefer the samsung phones... Is the pencil/pen with this as good as the apple offering? I've not had a chance to try one but was blown away by the accuracy/sensitivity of the apple pencil. Though the tab s6 is quite a bit cheaper and you don't need to buy the pencil separately...

Anyone tried both?
My girlfriend had iPad pro and the pencil is a little better than on tab s6. Both work well enough for me though, I don't use it that much and Android is much better for overall media consumption due to the freedom it gives compared to iOS SDK I've got this.
 
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Well the replacement keyboard book cover arrived and it still falls off, so I've attached it with Unibond No More Nails tape, a decision I'm bound to regret when the keyboard fails and I need to replace it!
 
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Well the replacement keyboard book cover arrived and it still falls off, so I've attached it with Unibond No More Nails tape, a decision I'm bound to regret when the keyboard fails and I need to replace it!

I've seen reports of this happening to others on Reddit too. Must be a bad batch as my cover is stuck on and I can't even pull it off. My one was direct from Samsung.
 
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I've seen reports of this happening to others on Reddit too. Must be a bad batch as my cover is stuck on and I can't even pull it off. My one was direct from Samsung.
Maybe I should have refunded it and bought it directly from Samsung then. Ho hum. At least I know it won't fall off now!

One thing I noticed was that the whole thing flexes into a different angle when the flap is opened and closed. That can't be right or help.
 
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Replacement arrived today and the banding is even worse than the first one. instead of one corner it's right down the centre of the display. Greens seem to be a problem, start with a black background and slowly adjust the green level and you'll see some parts of the display become active while the rest remains black. I can't believe how bad Samsung's quality control is. :(

Another replacement on the way, last chance then I'm getting a refund.

This is all meant to be one colour, that's not acceptable at all, and this is in good lighting.

348be9aafd7480fdc5300b8f372c7310-full.png
 
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I was thinking of purchasing one of these since it's black friday, but the lacking of a earphone socket is putting me off, i think you can get a converter to use wired earphones in the usb-c socket but i also would like to use a usb flash drive at the same time, is there some kind of usb-c splitter that can be purchased to do this? so i can use earphones and usb flash at the same time?
The reason for wired is to watch video from the usb flash drive, if you try with bluetooth earbuds you get audio lag, not great.
 
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