Tablets and Samsung Dex - advice please

[Stu]

My 10 year old has asked for a new tablet... she currently has a Huawei MediaPad M5 lite 32GB, and is complaining that it is getting "glitchy" and she is running out of space. She used her tablet for games, watching movies and school work. I found myself considering multiple (and very different) paths forward and would appreciate some opinions. Potentially relevant to the thought process, she has two older siblings, and we have 2 desktops and a Chromebook in the house.

1. Go full in with a new tablet... Samsung S8 tablet 128GB with slim book cover keyboard cover for £340. Honestly, this is more than I would like to spend, but a major influence is productivity and Dex - big question here... is Dex any good? During lock down my daughter did all of her home schooling on her Huawei tablet using Google Classrooms, including docs, ppt and annotating pdf docs, and didn't even use a mouse/kb. This made me realise that a good Android tablet can get close to a Chromebook, and Dex could really step this up... hence, is an S8 both and Android tablet and a Chromebook?
2. Samsung S6 lite 128GB for £158. Much more palatable price, but no Dex. Some reviews say it's a bit gutless and doesn't run games well. Is it a significant upgrade from current Huawei tablet?
3. Different tablet make/model? Redmi Pad, Xiaomi Pad 5, something else? I'm struggling to find an alternative that offers more than the Samsung S6 lite for <£250.
4. Phone... OK, this is taking a tangent! We got the older kids a phone each when they got to the end of year 6, which is 18 months away for my youngest. Rather than spend on a new tablet now and then a phone in 18 months, do we get her a phone now (Xiaomi phone, budget £200) which will sort out her getting annoyed with glitchy tablet and can be used for games and offer better portability, and the Huawei pad continues as main media consumption device.
5. Do nothing right now... we have a Chromebook and 2 desktops in the house, and her school work isn't going to significantly step up until Year 7, so either use what we have for wait for the S10 (or whatever) in 18 months, and try a reset on the Huawei tablet to get it running smoothly again? She won't like this solution, but it would mean whatever we buy (phone or tablet) in 2024 will be better than current models... notably, I have a pet peeve over the lack of HDR in current tablets, and I expect the next generation of the Samsung S line and Xiaomi tablets to all support HDR (and maybe all have AMOLED screens), which may justify waiting considering a 10 inch tablet is significantly used as a media consumption device.

Tagging @AHarvey because he had a similar scenario a year ago.

 

[Diagro]

The one with Dex. I use Dex from my s22 ultra. Works well

 

[sandys]

Yes Dex is very good. Should do all you need. Works well with keyboard and mouse.

One of your other options is the phone option and dex, it is most of the same experience, I use Dex on my phone as a tablet daily on a 14" portable touch screen, have done since Galaxy S8 phone years ago, it is very good, where Dex falls over on the phone with external screen is playing back secured content, most things work like Netflix, disney, youtube but you will find the odd thing like Sky saying this content can't be played on an external device, it can only be played on phone screen but other than that office stuff, browsing and games etc. is very good, 5 windows can be a bit of a limit if like me you have many things open, an S8 tablet would do more multitasking. It will of course need an external screen (either a TV, monitor or portable screen) for the phone to be used as a PC.

If you use Dex on a tablet it will have none of these limitations as you are not playing back on an external screen so it will in effect, be just like a chromebook.

I'd favour a Samsung tablet over Xiaomi just due to support.

I decided to hold off buying my daughter anything until I see what direction the schooling takes and her real needs, turned out to be wise as they did everything on windows and as such PC/laptop is where it is at, whilst it could be done on anything as it is remote desktop stuff over VPN there are less issues just using windows machine.

 

[Countcussy]

If you can get the Tab S8 for £340, it would be a no brainer for me. DEX and keyboard takes it to a whole new level. Please tell me where from
I still have an S4, and use it every day. As a tablet at home, and with keyboard and DEX for work, teams, zoom etc. Its a nice experience. My 9yo is always stealing it for penup and schoolwork. Still getting updates, battery life still great.

 

[Stu]

Thanks for input. I'm a big fan of Xiaomi phones (and Honor, Oppo, etc) and can't bring myself to pay the money for a comparable Samsung phone.

It is reassuring to hear positive feedback about Dex, which is a bit of an unknown for me right now.

@Countcussy I can get discount through Perk@work, then £150 cashback for an old tablet trade-in, then they sent me a 15% discount code for my birthday (I'm hoping this all stacks, I've not actually tried, but the birthday code says it can be used with other offers). They free keyboard is an offer they are currently running with the S7 and S8 tablets. However, I do wonder if worth waiting for Black Friday since my discount code is good until end Nov... I've seen other times that the Tab S8 gets to similar prices with an A8 or Buds thrown in, though I actually think the free keyboard is best for current needs.

 

[Stu]

Anyone have any predictions whether to purchase now or wait for Black Friday?

 

[AHarvey]

Sorry, haven't been on in ages. My daughter uses Dex quite a bit on a monitor, with an amazon USB-C adapter with HDMI but 75% of her use is adapter and direct on the tablet.

She is always on her Tab, it's absolutely great and I can see her using it well into secondary school to help with projects etc. Think it was the S7 we got her, S6 didn't seem worth it and I've not even looked at the S8.

Only issue I've seen is when connecting it to a TV and running Disney+ through it, doesn't seem to scale properly but it's not a deal breaker for us.

I'm not sure you'll see massive discount on your work offer though, I can't see black friday dropping that a lot at all.

 

[sandys]

Anyone have any predictions whether to purchase now or wait for Black Friday?

As they are unlikely to have a price cut just a voucher deal I'd say it doesn't matter as most vouchers don't stack, it'd only make a difference if they do some holiday bundling like free watch or buds etc.

Only issue I've seen is when connecting it to a TV and running Disney+ through it, doesn't seem to scale properly but it's not a deal breaker for us.

Not seen an issue here my self but it may be because S7 has a none 16:9 screen, there is an option to configure resolution for Dex, perhaps try one if the other resolutions, seem to recall there is an option that comes up when you connect to say whether you want to match source or target too, not do it that way in a while, that might only be when mirroring rather than Dex.

In fact just had a quick test on mine if I use screen mirroring via cable I see what you describe weird scaling with black borders around the whole media image because my screen is not 16:9, if I enable DeX mode and launch Disney+ on the external screen it then scales perfect, perhaps you are not using DeX mode with the cable attached and are just mirroring?

In dex mode you can enable the tablet touchscreen as a mouse touch pad to drive DeX, you can drop in and out of touchpad mode freely and so it does not lock up tablet.

 

[Stu]

Sad news... can't use my birthday voucher on the EPP website, so best price I can achieve is £401... still a decent discount, but we were already on the fence at £340... will wait and see what comes up in Samsung Week and BF.

Another option that has distracted me is the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro Gen 2 which is £413 before I start digging around for discount codes (the website is instantly offering 10% off with newsletter)... the processor appears to be comparable to a Snapdragon 860, 8GB RAM matches the Samsung S8, 256GB storage vs Samsung 128GB, both have SD card, Lenovo lacks Dex and does not include the pen, but the Lenovo does have 11.2 inch OLED screen and Dolby Vision support, plus the battery life looks to be much better than the S8.

I might be patient and keep an eye on both these models during BF sales.

 

[sandys]

Mediatek chipset is on comparable on paper, you can find some games have had compatibility issues with their chipsets in the past.