STARTING PRICE: $1,099/£999/€1,150 | OPERATING SYSTEM: Android | SCREEN SIZE: 14.6-inch | CHIP: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | RAM: up to 16GB | CONNECTIVITY: USB Type-C | STORAGE OPTIONS: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | DISPLAY RESOLUTION: 1848 x 2960 | WEIGHT: 726g
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra clearly has Apple’s top machine in its sights, not just in terms of sheer power but also screen real estate. In some ways it supersedes Apple’s finest (the screen size at least) and it is certainly the top of our Android tablet picks for music production.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra has the biggest screen of any tablet in our buyer’s guide, at a massive 14.6-inches. This makes it a dream to make music on – you really feel like you can touch those notes. However, you definitely should consider the point of buying a tablet for music production in the first place, and that is that you probably want to make music anywhere and everywhere; so such a large screen – not to mention its weight – could be less practical to take out and about. Another nice touch is that you get an S Pen stylus included – with most iPads you have to buy an Apple Pencil separately.
What the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra also delivers is power, thanks in no small part to the top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. We also have to mention the great speakers – you’ll want to listen to your music back, and these really do deliver a great sound considering the compact size.
In some ways, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 can be seen as an even bigger iPad Pro – it’s just that it runs the
Android OS. Whether that suits you is, of course, a personal choice, but we’ve put it beneath the iPad Pro and Air simply because Apple’s OS is that bit slicker and does offer more apps for music producers. But for Android fans who want the best available option and aren’t on a budget, this is the tablet to buy.