If you are considering a new tablet, it is currently very difficult to argue against
the Apple options. You have the incredible M1 iPad Pro, the iPad 9 and the increasingly
popular… iPad Mini 6.
But is Apple really the only option?
I've had the M1 iPad Pro since launch and let me tell you... It's far from perfect.
I honestly think that there are many gaps in what this device could offer.
And every day that goes by that Samsung doesn't release their new tablets is basically another
day of Apple domination.
Sure, maybe I should tune down my expectations for the iPad Pro but we will talk about those
shortcomings later in this video, and hopefully you will see what I mean.
But yes, I do believe Samsung have missed a big opportunity this year by not upgrading
their tablets.
The Tab S7 range is superb but it’s been a while!!
I am not suggesting that Samsung should release a tablet every year, but given how far Apple
have jumped, I think Samsung should have at least announced something.
Even if it was just a chip upgrade, right? Like talk about their plans for snapdragon
898 for example. Instead, they did nothing.
Not in a meaningful way anyway.
Release dates Let's talk about release dates. It feels like
an eternity since I published a video excited about the Tab S8 rumours and leaks. That was
like April 2021.
And here we are nearly at the end of 2021 and... whilst we have a good idea that it
will be around February 2022, we still we don't know the exact date when Samsung will
release their next tablet.
I know the year is not done yet but there's some evidence out there that supports this
Q1 2022 date.
According to Ice Universe who seems to know a lot about Samsung launches and rumours,
suggested we could see the new Tab S8 in January. Jon Prosser reckons it's February.
By the way, some of the renders you see in this video are collected from Twitter accounts
of reputable sources and I've made to credit them here... In case you want to check it
out for yourself. If want to go down that rabbit hole.
These dates, coupled with the rumour that the Tab S8 line-up will feature the SnapDragon
898, makes that February timeline very plausible. The chipset hasn't even announced yet so yeah,
Q1 2022 is more likely to be when we see the Tab S8.
What I'd like to see in the new Tab S8 Ultra All that being said, 2-3 months is not really
a long time to wait. And even though I've been using the iPad Pro since launch, I am
still excited about the Tab S8. I always like to keep an open mind when it comes to brands
and the iPad isn't perfect. It is awesome, it is THE BEST tablet on the market right
now. But it's not perfect.
Here are the things that I think Samsung COULD bring to the Tab S8 that I believe would make
it a compelling option for people on the market for a tablet.
Display Starting with the display. Samsung ALWAYS
delivers on displays. The Tab S7 display was already incredible.
By the way, for the PRICE, what you get with the Tab S7+....is STILL an amazing buy even
now!
That is if you are not wedded to Apple iPadOs apps. More on that later!
And with the iPad Pro Liquid Retina XDR, Samsung for the first time since I can remember have
to play catch-up with Apple. This worries a little bit, especially if they don't go
OLED and decide to use an IPS display. Unless they bring something new, maybe a higher refresh
rate? More brightness? Don't know.
The only thing we know so far based on the information available is that the display
on the Tab S8 Ultra will be a WHOPPING 14.6 inches!
That is impressive. What's NOT impressive is the notch! Can you believe this? After
all the criticism that Apple got for using a notch on their iPhones and now even on the
MacBook Pros....
And let's not forget, Samsung themselves used to make fun of Apple because of the notch!
And all of a sudden are looking to implement this, IN THEIR flagship tablet no less!
I hope these renders are not accurate. Samsung have great design for cameras on their smartphones.
I am at a loss as to why they would do this on their tablet.
Maybe it's just me but let me know what you think in the comments. Would this notch impact
your buying decision?
Processor The
other thing I'd like to see on the Tab S8 is a decent processor. Rumours suggest that
we will get the SnapDragon 898 and there's been some benchmark tests starting to appear
in the wild. Way too early to tell but for me, the processing power alone is not that
important.
We have an M1 Processor on the iPad, with Thunderbolt 4. But we're still not really
able to use the iPad with external monitors. And whilst there's clear performance improvement
when using things like ProCreate or Lumafusion to edit videos. The majority of apps were
running perfectly fine on the iPad Pro from 2018!
So this for me is when, we need to be realistic. SnapDragon 898, 998, 1008 will be pointless
if all we can do is run the same old Android Apps.
Samsung have been teasing about a Microsoft partnership for a long time and yes we've
seen the power of Dex which does give us good hybrid experience. But to really compete with
Apple, I feel that Samsung have to bring something a little bit more practical in terms of software.
Imagine if there were Adobe versions that were closer to the desktop experience. I have
to ask myself, if I want to run pro apps on a tablet, maybe I should just buy a laptop.
And I think that's a fair argument but why not both? Why shouldn't you be able to start
working on the desktop and continue the work, WITHOUT losing any functionality on the tablet.
Even if the experience wasn't exactly the same as the desktop experience... We know
that the technology is there to, for example, enable you to work on the tablet using the
same interface and having the same functionality of the desktop version.
But maybe when it came to processing those changes you made, that could be done in the
cloud or on your desktop when you're back online.
That sort of software differentiation is what I think Samsung need to focus on. Because
as we've learned with the M1 iPad Pro, the hardware advances alone won't really rock
the boat.
Ok great, I can have an amazing experience now watching content on Netflix, Disney, YouTube,
Amazon... and I can have better quality facetime calls and things like that, but really what
is the next thing that you could go... Wow, I can do this on a tablet now! That's brilliant!
In terms of accessories we can almost guarantee the Tab S8 will come with a new S-Pen. The
renders suggest that, with this area that looks like a magnetised strip for holding
the pen. I am not a big fan of having that there especially given how big this tablet
will be. But I hope they still include it and not make you buy it separately. Like Apple
do.
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iPad Pro shortcomings Talking about Apple, if you are considering
the M1 iPad Pro. I have done a few reviews on it already so I recommend you check those
out but in summary these are the shortcomings as I see them:
As I said this is an awesome bit of hardware but the key limitation for me is iPadOS. The
new iPadOS 15 is getting much better and has great features now around multitasking but
we really lack the apps that would take this device to the next level.
Do I want a full version of final Cut on the iPad? No, I am not going to be unrealistic
here. But an experience where I could do some video editing on the iPad without losing too
much functionality would be great.
I think Apple are worried that if they did that they would impact the sales of their
laptops but again, this is where I think Samsung could take advantage. Really make the Tab
S8 run a handful of really decent Windows apps and we have a serious case for choosing
it over the iPad.
The other shortcoming is a major one for me. And that is the ability to use external displays.
They didn't officially promise this but... were very close to suggesting this would be
possible. And with Thunderbolt capabilities... many customers, including myself thought that
this was gonna be it.
Sadly, it wasn't. We are still not able to use the iPad with External monitors, natively.
Some apps sort of allow you to do this but it's not a great experience.
The other shortcoming is a minor one and is something that Apple did promise on stage
and is support for PS5 and Xbox haptics on the controllers. I know Apple are not the
only ones that need to make this happen, the game developers probably need to update their
games as well but it was promised! And we still don't have it.
What about the blooming issue on the display?
That is a non-issue for me. It's something that exists in these types of displays and
it's really noticeable in certain scenarios but does not impact my viewing or usage of
the iPad in normal day to day work, creating and watching content.
Google Pixel Tablet? I thought it would be useful to let you know
those things so that you can make an informed decision and dig deeper into those issues
before shelling out on a new tablet.
OK Alex, so... What about Google?
Well, for a long time, this tablet BATTLE if we want to call it that... has been predominantly
between Apple and Samsung. Others tried like Microsoft, Lenovo, and others. But at the
top, only Apple and Samsung seem to have really invested heavily on tablets.
But with the success of the Pixel smartphone, and the Tensor chip that Google developed.
I mean, the Pixel 6 Pro capabilities are INCREDIBLE! And very transferrable I would imagine, to
a tablet experience!
With that control they have over Android software? Yeah, this could be a very interesting challenger
in the market.
Ultimately though, as it always is the case... The software will be the bottleneck. Can Google
do what Samsung couldn't and enable different workflows?
Or maybe their angle will be price point. If Google were able to offer a decent tablet
experience, even if it's without "Pro" capabilities but comes in undercutting Samsung and Apple
on price...
That could be an interesting move.
Let me know what you think!
Are you waiting for Samsung (or even Google)
Or will you just bite the bullet and get an iPad instead?
And I will see you and your smiling faces on the next one!
Bye!