Samsung Galaxy Tab S3

£259 inc VAT • samsung.com/uk

The tablet market may have petered out but Samsung hasn’t give up on it, even if it seems the likes of Sony, HTC and Google have. At MWC 2017 it exclusively launched tablets, one of which is an iPad Pro rival. While we wait for the Galaxy S8 launch, Samsung has some new tablets to keep us entertained. We finally have the Tab S3 alongside two new Galaxy Books running Windows 10 – these seem to be a follow up to the Tab Pro S but with a different naming system.

Price

There’s not too long to wait until the Galaxy Tab S3 is available with pre-orders starting on 17 March ahead of its 31 March release date. At the time of writing Samsung hadn’t announced the price, but we predict the tablet will sell for at least £399, if not closer to the iPad Pro price of £549.

Design

The Korean tech giant has become a master of design and build with its Galaxy products (and others), forming a distinct style emerging since the Galaxy S6. This design language has now made its way across a number of products and the Galaxy Tab S3 is no exception.

For starters it’s astonishingly thin at just 6mm. Although this is actually a tiny bit thicker than the Tab S2 (and it’s also heavier at 429g) it’s still impressive (better than the iPad Pro on both counts) and can be, we think, attributed to some of the innovations found in the device.

It feels more premium than its predecessor but it does look a little odd with the USB port off-centre. This is made slightly better by the headphone port being the other side of the home button.

It’s not waterproof like the Galaxy S7 which is a shame so you’ll have to look to Sony for that on a tablet (not that the firm has anything new so far this year on that front).

As you’d expect the Galaxy Tab S3 has USB-C and also four speakers much like the iPad Pro. We’re not totally convinced by the shiny glass rear cover, though. You’ll probably keep it in a cover most of the time, though, as the tablet has Pogo

metal contacts to easily connect to the keyboard case. The tablet has a home button once again, as per the launch event invitation hint, and this contains a fingerprint scanner. The usual navigation buttons sit either side.

Hardware

Moving on from a similar design, the Galaxy Tab S3 cements itself as an iPad Pro rival with its 9.7in screen that has a 4:3 aspect ratio. It’s still got a 2048x1536 resolution and Super AMOLED display technology but now supports high dynamic range (HDR). We’re really impressed with the superbly detailed screen which has bags of colour and brightness. The HDR support means better colours and contrast, in theory, but it’s worth pointing out that you’ll only be able to take advantage of it via selected titles on Amazon Prime Video.

Core specifications are decent with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. You can always add more if needed via the microSD card slot. It’s also got features likes Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, 11ac Wi-Fi with 2x2 MIMO and optional LTE Cat 6. Performance during our handson time was extremely smooth but we’ll test further.

Inside is a 6000mAh battery that’s about twice the size of a typical smartphone. It’s also got fast charging via the USB-C port and we’ll test the battery life when we get a final sample.

Not that cameras are especially important on tablets but the Galaxy Tab S3 comes with a 13Mp rear camera and a 5Mp front camera.

Samsung is touting a couple of key features for the Tab S3 starting with the four-speaker

system that’s tuned by audio company AKG. It’s similar to the iPad Pro’s, although we can’t comment on whether it’s better yet due to the noisy show floor at MWC.

Another key feature is the inclusion of an S Pen, although this doesn’t slide into the tablet, so that’s why it’s not called a ‘Note’ device. The refined stylus has a smaller 0.7mm tip and improved pressure sensitivity. This reviewer is no artist but it seems decent, although we did accidentally push the button on the side a few times. The S Pen is included in the box.

While the Galaxy Book tablets run on Windows 10, the Galaxy Tab S3 comes with Android 7.0 Nougat. The device features Samsung Flow which allows you to wirelessly tether compatible devices to transfer documents and sync messages. You log in with biometrics using the fingerprint scanner.

Verdict

There’s still a lot to test on the Galaxy Tab S3 including the audio, battery life and performance but we’re impressed so far and looking forward to getting our hands on it properly. Chris Martin

Specifications

• 9.7in (2048x1536) Super AMOLED screen

• Android 7.0 Nougat

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 CPU

• Adreno 530 GPU

• 4GB RAM

• 32GB storage

• MicroSD card slot

• Bluetooth 4.2

• GPS

• 11ac Wi-Fi with 2x2 MIMO

• LTE Cat 6

• USB-C

• 6000mAh battery

• Fast Charging

• 13Mp rear camera

• 5Mp front camera

• Fingerprint scanner

• Four speakers

• 237x169x6mm

• 429g (Wi-Fi), 434g (LTE)