STRICTLY A TABLET

Housed in aluminium casing for protection against bumps and drops, the tablet doesn’t feel heavy despite weighing over 500 gm. The 12.4inch OLED display with a resolution of 1,753x2,800p is super bright and looks great even under direct sunlight. Powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor with 8 GB of RAM, the tablet brings enough power to the table to be used for designing and editing videos, playing graphic-heavy games, browsing the Web, reading books and even handling documentation. But what lets down the hefty hardware is Android OS. The interface feels similar to Samsung smartphones and many apps on the Play Store are still not optimised for big-screen tablets.

Stroke Play: Unlike the Apple Pencil, Samsung’s stylus, the S Pen, comes in the box with the Tab S8+. Using magnets, it snaps on at the top or the rear of the tablet (and charges as well). The S Pen can be put to use for taking notes, sketching, drawing and doodling, among other things. The Tab S8+ comes with a few preinstalled apps to put the stylus to use, and more apps can be installed from the Play Store.

Productivity push: Samsung has designed a Book Cover Keyboard ( `12,499, sold separately) to enhance the productivity of the Tab S8+. While the keyboard does hold the tablet at a 60-degree angle— which is great for typing—the magnets play spoilsport; they don’t hold the tablet firmly, making it impossible to use the Tab S8+ as a laptop on the road. Travel between the keys isn’t great either, nor does it feature a trackpad, like Apple’s Magic Keyboard. Available on: samsung.com/in