▷Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 review: does a tablet still make sense in 2019? 🥇

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 arrived in the editorial office ten days and I couldn't help but wonder how much sense a tablet makes in 2019. In short, in an era in which we can do almost everything with the smartphone and in which laptops are now more and more powerful, What do I do with the middle ground?

To find out, not only did I try to take full advantage of its features but I decided to take it with me on a business trip to London, leaving my beloved HP Specter x360 at home. I'll tell you how it went.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 review: refined and light

The initial impact isn't particularly surprising - Galaxy Tab S6 indeed closely resembles its predecessors, proposing an aluminum body and a front panel with rather thick frames. All this however in a slim body - only 5,7mm thick - and undoubtedly light. Its 420 grams make it extremely comfortable in daily use: you will not notice that you have it in your backpack, you will not struggle to use it to read - perhaps holding it with one hand - and you will certainly have no problems in daily use.

Next to the evident affinities with Tab S4 and, above all, with Tab S5e we also find some differences. The most obvious is undoubtedly the rear camera module: Galaxy Tab S6 indeed comes with two different sensors, one of 13 and one of 5 megapixels.

The rear body also provides a "housing" for the new S Pen. However, do not imagine a solution similar to Galaxy Note 10, where the stylus is incorporated into the device. Here we have only a slightly concave and magnetic area to hook your pen. A solution that I am not particularly sorry but that has caused me a bit of anxiety: a stronger tug than usual or a slightly less precise positioning is enough to separate it from the device.

Finally, the presence on the right profile of the power button, the volume rocker and the trolley for the SIM should be noted; on the left instead we have only the connector dedicated to the keyboard, while the lower part houses the USB-C input for charging and two of the quattro speaker AKG. We find the other pair along the upper profile.

An undertone Super AMOLED

Over the last ten years, Samsung has accustomed us to AMOLED displays: beautiful, defined and bright. However, something doesn't seem to have worked with the Galaxy Tab S6 screen. The 10,5-inch panel, with a resolution of 1600 × 2560 pixels and 278 ppi, did not fully convince me.

Let me be clear, I'm not saying it's bad, but this Super AMOLED, it delivers excellent contrasts and a really convincing color rendering, it is not as bright as I expected. Nothing that really compromises day-to-day usage, but the difference between the tablet screen and that of my Galaxy S10 5G is pretty noticeable.

One last note on the display: the panel integrates a fingerprint reader which allows you to unlock the device quite quickly. However, do not expect the same results seen on the top of the Korean range: Samsung has in fact chosen to adopt an optical sensor rather than the ultrasonic one, which translates in less rapid and somewhat more imprecise readings.

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The S Pen makes the difference

The real plus of this Galaxy Tab S6 is undoubtedly the S Pen, included - unlike the iPad Pro - directly in the box.

This stylus, which recharges when you magnetically hook it to the back cover, is really comfortable, well balanced and an invitation to take notes and draw just as you would on paper.

The S Pen scrolls across the display in a fluid and surprisingly satisfying way, accompanied by a light sound that reproduces the contact between the pencil and a sheet. Obviously don't expect the performance of a Wacom tablet or that of Apple Pencil. Here there is a little less sensitivity and an almost imperceptible delay, elements that will lead you to do a little more pressure when the strokes are very short, but other than that I assure you that you will love it.

I liked it so much that I found myself drawing on the London - Milan flight, barely noticing the two hours spent in the air. I also rediscovered during my trip without a PC the pleasure of taking notes by hand and even writing entire articles using Samsung Notes. Transferring them to Wordpress is then child's play: the software of the Korean giant allows you to transcribe everything with a tap, after which you just have to copy and paste the text.

You also have the Air Actions, practically the same as the Galaxy Note 10. A plus to remotely control the tablet but I never used it spontaneously. In short, this won't make you love the S Pen.

A tireless tablet

Under the body we find a processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, 6 GB of RAM, 128 or 256 GB of internal memory and, above all, a battery from 7040 mAh. All this translates into not only hardware performing and suitable for any workload, but also in an absolutely satisfactory autonomy. In fact, with a rather intense use I managed to cover two days serenely, but you can even go up to a whole week if you plan to use it only a couple of hours a day.

Little to say about the software instead. In fact we have on board Android 9.0 with One UI by Samsung. Elegant, fluid and intuitive, the interface of the Asian company is now a guarantee. This obviously does not mean that there is no room for improvement: for the future I hope for some more differences between the One UI on smartphones and the one dedicated to tablets, a bit like what happens today with iOs and iPadOS.

Finally, two words also on the camera. The two sensors do a really satisfying job, ensuring you bright shots, extremely vivid colors and, when needed, wide-angle images. Of course, the opportunities to test the photographic behavior will not be many, but when necessary it can help you to take home more than discrete photographs, at least in good lighting conditions. Less exciting in fact are the shots in the dark where the Night Mode absolutely does not equal what is seen on the high-end smartphones of the Korean brand.

Obviously there is a front camera, in this case from 8 megapixels. The quality? More than enough for video calling.

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Does a tablet make sense in 2019?

At this point you will have understood: I liked Samsung Galaxy Tab S6, but I haven't answered the original question yet. In short, it works well but what exactly do I do with it?

From an entertainment point of view, you can really do anything: enjoy some music, watch a movie, catch up with your favorite TV series and read a good book. Space of course also for video games but remember to take into account the size of this tablet. For example, I tried Call of Duty Mobile and, I confess, the visual experience was much more satisfying than the one on a smartphone. The problem is that the controls that on a more compact terminal are comfortable and intuitive, here become a little less comfortable. My advice? If gaming is something you care a lot about, buy a Bluetooth controller.

Galaxy Tab S6 also manages well in the business world: Reading emails, surfing the Internet, managing appointments and filling out documents is child's play. Then you have the great plus of the S Pen which allows you not only to take notes in the old way but also to sign all kinds of documents directly from the tablet.

Can it replace a PC? It really depends a lot on what you usually do. For example, I missed my laptop. Yes, I wrote some articles, sent emails and spent time on the plane, but I couldn't use the Adobe programs that I normally rely on, I struggled to compress the photos to be able to upload them to Wordpress and multitasking, as much as possible, did not that's what Windows 10 has accustomed us to.

Part of the problems could be solved with the Book Cover Keyboard, which should arrive on the market in the coming weeks. An integration, however, not exactly cheap since the recommended retail price is 179,90 euro.

So, back to us, does a tablet make sense in 2019? The answer, in my opinion, is yes. But be careful to understand what your needs are before making the purchase because not all devices are the same and underestimating or overestimating your needs is easier than you think.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 review: buy it or not?

Now that we've established that yes, tablets continue to be a good investment, we need to define the audience of this Galaxy Tab S6.

Let's start with an important assumption: it's not for everyone. 829 euros for the 128 GB version are not few but they are undoubtedly justified by the quality of the product. But be careful not to take it just to watch a good movie. For that you can turn to the younger brother, Galaxy Tab S5e. Samsung Galaxy Tab S6, on the other hand, is more suitable for a student who uses it to study and take notes without having the clutter of a PC, but also for a worker who does not want to always carry around the notebook.

Remember then that the real advantage over the other models is the S Pen. If you write a lot, if you love drawing, if your work involves the continuous signing of documents, if you have to do sketches for a project, then surely Galaxy Tab S6 is for you.