Design and Display
After unboxing the Tablet, we were really impressed with the design of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6. To make it more user-friendly the company has given it a sleek look and is much lighter and can be carried in a small bag without any trouble. The tablet has thin bezels and curved edges giving it a much fresh look, but we were expecting a bezel-less screen that Samsung offers in its flagship smartphones. That is not the case here.
The device comes in a sleek all metal and glass body. The front display features 10.5-inch WQXGA super AMOLED HDR10 screen that offers 2,560 x 1,600 pixels resolution. On the top, there is a front-facing camera with an 8-megapixel sensor for taking selfies. It also comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor and a face unlock feature, which gave us mixed reaction times. The display is brighter than the competition and it was a treat to view videos on it. We just loved watching movies and music videos on the device. The screen is also bright enough to be used outdoors under bright sunlight. The back panel is made up of aluminium that does not attract many scratches and fingerprints. On the left top corner, there is a dual camera set up comprising of 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel camera sensors. Below you will that you get an S pen indent that can hold the S Pen to the tablet, magnetically. But the magnet is not super strong and has a movable grip, but does a fine job of keeping it in place. The Samsung logo has been as usual inscribed in the middle of the machine
On the upper and lower edge, you will get quad speakers tuned by AKG and we really loved the sound of the speakers. On the right side, a power key, a volume rocker and a microSD card slot have been put. The device comes with a stylus (S-pen) as well. It works as a remote control and can control the tab form a distance just like the S Pen on Galaxy Note 10 series. It also comes with Air Actions feature similar to Note 10 where you can prompt certain apps on the device like the camera. Personally, we loved writing notes in our own handwriting. The handwritten notes get automatically transcribed if your handwriting is readable, which in our instance was the case.
Performance and camera
Now, this is the most important part of the review and we loved every bit of it. Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 is powered by Qualcomm’s top of the line Snapdragon 855 chipset. The unit which we got for the review had the 6GB of RAM with 128GB of internal storage. The storage if needed can be expanded up to 1TB using a microSD card.
The device is a multitasker and with several app and internet browsers open on it, it never hanged or slowed down the performance of the Tab. The tablet runs on Android 9 Pie with Samsung One UI. You get the stock Android feel and is bloatware-free. Below are a few benchmark results of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 which we ran: Geekbench 5: 725 single-core score and 2,543 multi-core score AnTuTu 3D Bench: 4,49,441 The scores were quite satisfactory as per the machinery inside. All the benchmark results indicate good performance. We did not come across any sort of heating or lag either while playing games or during long sessions of watching movies. The DEX Mode comes to your rescue when you are in a no mood to carry your heavy laptop while traveling or while you are with friends enjoying a day out. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 can be attached to a Book Cover Keyboard and the Tab turns into a desktop-like mode. When the DEX mode is triggered you will see a system tray at the bottom right where you can access notifications and navigation buttons. The app drawer is on the bottom left.
Coming on to the camera capabilities, Samsung Galaxy Tablet S6 features a dual camera set up comprising of a 13-megapixel primary camera and a 5-megapixel wide-angle lens that offers a 123-degree field of view. The camera did a fine job. The pictures taken were vibrant as well as sharp and detailed but that is only during the daylight. At night or low light conditions, the quality was a little unsatisfactory. There is also an 8-megapixel selfie camera on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6, which clicks fine pictures but the quality of the pictures drops off during the low light situations as well.
The flagship tablet comes with an all-day battery life as it houses a 7,040mAh battery supported by a 15W fast charger that comes inside the box. To charge completely it takes around more than two hours offering an all-day battery life. We used it to browse the internet, Facebook, check feeds on Instagram listening to music and watching lots of videos and by the end of the day, it was able to survive with 30 to 35 percent battery.
Verdict
The overall performance of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 was decent. You get a vibrant and crisp display. The Tablet is slim as well as lightweight. We loved the AKG powered quad speakers that made the overall experience of watching videos or movies much better. We just skipped using the earphones as the stereo speaker’s performance was excellent. You do not need to carry your laptop everywhere when Samsung DEX is here. We were turned off by the erratic performance of the fingerprint sensor and face unlock instead we used the pattern lock for unlocking the device quickly. And lastly, we enjoyed working with the S Pen. Price is also on the steeper side and is comparable to a laptop, but that laptop will not give you the same type of portability which this tablet will.
Pros Vibrant display Good battery life Lightweight Cons Cannot fully replace a laptop Pricing is slightly high For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also stay up to date using the Gadget Bridge Android App.
