Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 5G 128GB (Dark Grey)

I'm really enjoying using this tablet. I highly recommend pairing it with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard and using it in dex mode for an Android desktop environment experience. Some apps can be a little strange in dex mode, but nothing catastrophic that I've seen so far. It's super nice.The tablet itself is pretty snappy, and haven't seen it struggle with anything I've needed to do. I don't do heavy 3D games or anything on it though, so YMMV on that. Stardew Valley runs flawlessly FWIWIt's surprisingly light and comfortable, but again, I'm not really using it handheldThe only issue is I keep knocking the pen off the back. It's held on with magnets, and while they're pretty strong, something about the way I grip it means I'm constantly knocking it free. There ... MoreI'm really enjoying using this tablet. I highly recommend pairing it with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard and using it in dex mode for an Android desktop environment experience. Some apps can be a little strange in dex mode, but nothing catastrophic that I've seen so far. It's super nice.The tablet itself is pretty snappy, and haven't seen it struggle with anything I've needed to do. I don't do heavy 3D games or anything on it though, so YMMV on that. Stardew Valley runs flawlessly FWIWIt's surprisingly light and comfortable, but again, I'm not really using it handheldThe only issue is I keep knocking the pen off the back. It's held on with magnets, and while they're pretty strong, something about the way I grip it means I'm constantly knocking it free. There is an alternate spot on the side that you can mount it, but it's weaker than the back, and wont charge the pen. Pretty sure I'm going to lose it eventually. I don't need/care about it though, so not an issue for me, and I've actually just tossed it in a drawer now, but something to keep in mind.As for using the pen... ye, it's good. I tried some handwriting stuff, and it's surprisingly good at blocking out your palm, so you can rest your hand on the screen and write. That's as much as I've done though. I can barely write my name so that it's legible. Drawing is well beyond me. I am not the target audience for the pen.

Insane potential. Poor execution in typical samsung fashion. Poweruser here who decided to create a new workflow, combining University studies, Excel based project management and extreme ammonts of pdf antonation. This device had the potential to be the one device that would come between my main rig/laptop setup and mobile phone to allow me to be productive, study efficiently, and consume/create online content, but the user experience sadly led me to return it. Its a hassle to get the samsung book cover keyboard they promised, so you might as well buy the ipad pro if you were expecting the samsung product to offer better value. Samsungs inhouse note app is perfect, but offers no proper way to sync with other platforms. Even apple notes has a browser extension to ... MoreInsane potential. Poor execution in typical samsung fashion. Poweruser here who decided to create a new workflow, combining University studies, Excel based project management and extreme ammonts of pdf antonation. This device had the potential to be the one device that would come between my main rig/laptop setup and mobile phone to allow me to be productive, study efficiently, and consume/create online content, but the user experience sadly led me to return it. Its a hassle to get the samsung book cover keyboard they promised, so you might as well buy the ipad pro if you were expecting the samsung product to offer better value. Samsungs inhouse note app is perfect, but offers no proper way to sync with other platforms. Even apple notes has a browser extension to remedy this. This makes it difficult to slide the samsung tab into my existing workflow since its surprisingly harder to sync between windows and android when compared to windows and iOS

Big upgrade from my regular iPad

My brother bought this for me in Korea. And I'm literally obsessed and honestly use it everyday. It's a tablet but it takes better pictures than my phone ㅠㅠ (I have lg g8x) I had base model iPad and I was completely happy with it. But this is what I was enjoying on iPad x10... the screen is so bright I don't have to put full brightness to watch TV shows, the speaker souns amazing, my brother once thought I was watching a movie on TV ㅠㅠ and omg s pen.... I like to handwrite notes and s pen works just like a real pen and it makes sound effects of a pen brushing on paper (사각사각 sound) when I use Samsung notes and I really love it ㅠㅠ I simply use s pen at all times when I use the tablet (I scroll & click with it) oh and this sounds like very petty but I loooooooooove ... MoreMy brother bought this for me in Korea. And I'm literally obsessed and honestly use it everyday. It's a tablet but it takes better pictures than my phone ㅠㅠ (I have lg g8x) I had base model iPad and I was completely happy with it. But this is what I was enjoying on iPad x10... the screen is so bright I don't have to put full brightness to watch TV shows, the speaker souns amazing, my brother once thought I was watching a movie on TV ㅠㅠ and omg s pen.... I like to handwrite notes and s pen works just like a real pen and it makes sound effects of a pen brushing on paper (사각사각 sound) when I use Samsung notes and I really love it ㅠㅠ I simply use s pen at all times when I use the tablet (I scroll & click with it) oh and this sounds like very petty but I loooooooooove that a default calculator comes with it. Ipad didn't come with default calculator so I had to use free calculator that comes with ads and I hated that I had to watch ads to use such a basic function like calculator. I'm even writing this review on the tablet... 11 inch feels perfect for me. Oh and it comes with 4 months YouTube premium too. I haven't tried yet though. Also... amazing battery life!! Lasts more than a week of moderate video viewings

Excellent for my needs as a retired old hen.

This is my first tablet, and I bought is specifically because I wanted the familiarity of Samsung and I wanted one that could act as a desktop. Smart Switch worked perfectly and my phone contents were shared to it with one tap. I am enjoying it, so far, as the learning process continues. The only part I struggled with was the keyboard, but I read some reviews ahead of time about how to get it to act like a regular qwerty Canadian English set-up. In an effort to be international and to cram in extra key functions, they dropped the ball on that one. There are still a few that I won't use and don't know how to access. For those who are Canadian especially, after set-up you can choose French for the keyboard and the # sign will work plus all the usual symbols above the ... MoreThis is my first tablet, and I bought is specifically because I wanted the familiarity of Samsung and I wanted one that could act as a desktop. Smart Switch worked perfectly and my phone contents were shared to it with one tap. I am enjoying it, so far, as the learning process continues. The only part I struggled with was the keyboard, but I read some reviews ahead of time about how to get it to act like a regular qwerty Canadian English set-up. In an effort to be international and to cram in extra key functions, they dropped the ball on that one. There are still a few that I won't use and don't know how to access. For those who are Canadian especially, after set-up you can choose French for the keyboard and the # sign will work plus all the usual symbols above the numbers using the shift key. I thank previous reviewers and pass that info forward. The pen works great, no lag, and of course the display is unmatched. I am not using this tablet for any work/ professional purposes, so for me the display and the DeX are the big selling points.

Excellent product - just what I wanted

I am very pleased with my S8 256GB. I haven't awarded it five stars, because (as others have said), it comes without a charger. You would think that Samsung would have waited a few years for people to have obtained devices with one standard method of charging. It comes with a data cable, with a Type-C connector on both ends. I do have lots of chargers, but all with different connectors to this. Fortunately, I do have a Samsung A21s mobile and this charger's cable has a Type-C on one end - the end that plugs into the device.If you already have a Samsung Tablet and have backed it up to Samsung Cloud (as I have and did), then just about everything replicates exactly, if you follow the on-screen advice - just get all your passwords ready!I also purchased a 256GB SD ... MoreI am very pleased with my S8 256GB. I haven't awarded it five stars, because (as others have said), it comes without a charger. You would think that Samsung would have waited a few years for people to have obtained devices with one standard method of charging. It comes with a data cable, with a Type-C connector on both ends. I do have lots of chargers, but all with different connectors to this. Fortunately, I do have a Samsung A21s mobile and this charger's cable has a Type-C on one end - the end that plugs into the device.If you already have a Samsung Tablet and have backed it up to Samsung Cloud (as I have and did), then just about everything replicates exactly, if you follow the on-screen advice - just get all your passwords ready!I also purchased a 256GB SD card, which allows for additional backup.There is no physical manual (of course), but everything seemed to go smoothly via Samsung Cloud.So, with the above taken into account, I must say it is absolutely brilliant. Great screen, fast, accurate fingerprint reader and a joy to use. Highly recommended.

It's good, with a few caveats

OK so first off, the tablet says it will spy on you with your apps and that they will be cooperating with law enforcement. This is probably why there's some open boxes available. If you're OK with that, it doesn't matter. It comes in a nice box, but the title is wrong. This thing is android 12. At least mine was. It doesn't come with a charger, and because it's a big battery, on a slow charger it can take as much as 10% an hour to charge, I've found. Great for multimedia, the features that are standard like monitoring the brightness level of the room and changing the screen brightness accordingly is just fine. It loses charge about 3% a day, I think, just sitting there. Setting up fingerprints was fairly easy. The updating the OS took a while I found, which is ... MoreOK so first off, the tablet says it will spy on you with your apps and that they will be cooperating with law enforcement. This is probably why there's some open boxes available. If you're OK with that, it doesn't matter. It comes in a nice box, but the title is wrong. This thing is android 12. At least mine was. It doesn't come with a charger, and because it's a big battery, on a slow charger it can take as much as 10% an hour to charge, I've found. Great for multimedia, the features that are standard like monitoring the brightness level of the room and changing the screen brightness accordingly is just fine. It loses charge about 3% a day, I think, just sitting there. Setting up fingerprints was fairly easy. The updating the OS took a while I found, which is strange for a 4nm processor top of the line like this. Ultimately my opinion is I like android 11 better which is on my phone. Some things like easily shutting down most recent apps used, is a pain while scrolling through the list when they could just put it at the top, like my android 11 phone does. Battery life is a little lackluster. One previous reviewer online said the battery life he gets out of it is around 6 hours. The tablet is thin. I think they could've made it a little thicker and increased the battery life a little. Also only 4 stars because this does NOT come with a headphone jack. Again, if it was a little thicker a jack would be easy to add to this device, like previous samsung products I've owned. Still, it's like a mini tv. Full disclosure, I have not tried to run 4k media on the device. Hope this review helps. Oh and turning off the tablet was not super intuitive for me. Pressing and holding what appears to be the power button ends up opening up some app I never heard of before and I don't know what it does. Not totally impressed but not overly disappointed either, but for almost 1000 after taxes, I did expect a little better for something that's supposed to be top of the line.

Poor performance, not a premium tablet

I've been looking forwards to switching my tablet over to samsung after I switched my mobile phone a few years ago. I had a 2017 pro tablet from the leading brand so I expected a big upgrade. The build quality is great and it looks great. Unfortunately that's where it ends, this thing runs slower than my 6 year old tablet. Rendering is poor and the image is terrible compared. The samsung pride themselves on aspect ratio for watching movies but it's gone too far. It's awkward and unusable in landscape mode, everything is squashed down you end up scrolling for ages. Then there are apps, nothing fits the screen or works as it should. You either have bars at either side or it doesn't display or is pixilated. Also the fingerprint scanner is in a bad position i heve to ... MoreI've been looking forwards to switching my tablet over to samsung after I switched my mobile phone a few years ago. I had a 2017 pro tablet from the leading brand so I expected a big upgrade. The build quality is great and it looks great. Unfortunately that's where it ends, this thing runs slower than my 6 year old tablet. Rendering is poor and the image is terrible compared. The samsung pride themselves on aspect ratio for watching movies but it's gone too far. It's awkward and unusable in landscape mode, everything is squashed down you end up scrolling for ages. Then there are apps, nothing fits the screen or works as it should. You either have bars at either side or it doesn't display or is pixilated. Also the fingerprint scanner is in a bad position i heve to put the tablet down to use it.Lastly the s pen is a gimmick, keep your pen and give us an amoled screen. I'd say this tablet is worth £300 max, It only shows how far behind samsung is

Problems

The only way to set the tablet up is a two step process and if you don't have a cell phone you will have severe problems which Samsung cannot help you get around. It only took a few days of chat typing to get this information. There should be a warning on all advertising for this product that a cell phone is required as not everyone has a cell phone. In fairness to Best Buy they did say that if the tablet was brought into the store they could complete the two step sign in but that would sort of negate the purpose for second step of registering a cell phone for Samsung to contact you on. I suggested to Samsung that they should consider sending the second code to the customer by email or a land line telephone call with the second code.This tablet did not come with ... MoreThe only way to set the tablet up is a two step process and if you don't have a cell phone you will have severe problems which Samsung cannot help you get around. It only took a few days of chat typing to get this information. There should be a warning on all advertising for this product that a cell phone is required as not everyone has a cell phone. In fairness to Best Buy they did say that if the tablet was brought into the store they could complete the two step sign in but that would sort of negate the purpose for second step of registering a cell phone for Samsung to contact you on. I suggested to Samsung that they should consider sending the second code to the customer by email or a land line telephone call with the second code.This tablet did not come with even a scrap of paper with information on how to turn it on or off or where to download a manual for it. The on switch has to be held twice for a few seconds each time (still have problems with this) and the off switch is done by using two buttons (the second button has more than one use). If you have a copy of the manual, there is a way to make the on button work for turning it off too.There was nothing to warn that the tablet should be charged before turning it on to set it up. Also missing was a warning that the USB-C cable for charging it can only be used in another USB-C port and not all computers have one. The more common USB port found on most computers is not compatible as they are the larger USB 2 0r 3. Or the charging wire that comes with the tablet should have a USB-C connector on one end and a USB-3 connector on the other end. This would be similar to digital cameras.This is just the most important things to consider before buying. I have also sent this information to Samsung as the tablet is otherwise an attractive and hopefully useful one once the operating system is better understood.

Stick with brands you can trust

So for the first time ever I decided to leave the other brand to upgrade my tablet. I was disappointed to see this was going to cost me more money, around £100 more but I decided to take the plunge as there was a few features I like. One of them was the selling point of supercharge your charging. I looked into it and you got 45w charging compared to the included 20w charger with the other brand I looked at.So when it arrived I notice the package was slim, too slim. So the advertised 45w charging forgets to mention something, there is no 45w charger included and in fact no charger at all. So for £850, the most expensive piece of technology I have ever owned I don't get a charger. The ones I own are too low to even power the tablet.The cost of this tablet just ... MoreSo for the first time ever I decided to leave the other brand to upgrade my tablet. I was disappointed to see this was going to cost me more money, around £100 more but I decided to take the plunge as there was a few features I like. One of them was the selling point of supercharge your charging. I looked into it and you got 45w charging compared to the included 20w charger with the other brand I looked at.So when it arrived I notice the package was slim, too slim. So the advertised 45w charging forgets to mention something, there is no 45w charger included and in fact no charger at all. So for £850, the most expensive piece of technology I have ever owned I don't get a charger. The ones I own are too low to even power the tablet.The cost of this tablet just grows and grows, in the past few years I have only bought Samsung (phone, tv etc) but I will be looking for another brand. You lost a loyal customer with a cheap money making trick

Very disappointing replacement for an old Samsung notebook.

Purchased to replace my Samsung S Book 2014, and sadly no where near as good! For starters, not even a suitable cable included for charging this tablet, just a pretty useless length of double ended cable that fits only this product, and no idea what to do with other end! Fortunately I had an old Galaxy phone charger so managed to eventually fully charge this tablet. Fidley to turn off completely, as it has to be pressed a particular way, and be quick to finally power off. The pen that comes with the tablet, keeps dropping off the back, so have to ensure I have it front of me, so no handy slot to insert the pen. If like me, you are disabled, this is a BIG disadvantage, simply because it takes me ages to get up out my chair if the pen does drop off. To me, it's just a ... MorePurchased to replace my Samsung S Book 2014, and sadly no where near as good! For starters, not even a suitable cable included for charging this tablet, just a pretty useless length of double ended cable that fits only this product, and no idea what to do with other end! Fortunately I had an old Galaxy phone charger so managed to eventually fully charge this tablet. Fidley to turn off completely, as it has to be pressed a particular way, and be quick to finally power off. The pen that comes with the tablet, keeps dropping off the back, so have to ensure I have it front of me, so no handy slot to insert the pen. If like me, you are disabled, this is a BIG disadvantage, simply because it takes me ages to get up out my chair if the pen does drop off. To me, it's just a tablet, it works, it's fairly fast, but a hugely disappointing piece of kit! If I could have had my old Samsung speeded up, re-newed and supported, I would not have replaced it. Sorry Samsung, a Very BIG thumbs down from me!