Android tablet lovers rejoice!
Samsung Electronics has today announced the Galaxy Tab S6, the firm’s latest flagship Android tablet to rival Apple’s iPad Pro, and will land in August/September.
Succeeding last year’s Galaxy Tab S4, it follows in the mid-range Galaxy Tab S5e’s footsteps with a thin all-round aluminium body, 420 gram weight, and minimal bezels on its 10.5-inch WQXGA Super AMOLED display.
Powered by the hero Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, the Tab S6 is headlined by an improved S Pen with Bluetooth to enable gestural Air actions to control the navigation of compatible applications — such as changing the slide on PowerPoint with a flick to the right.
Additionally, the included S Pen does the usual handwriting and drawing as well with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, and can be stowed and charged wirelessly by magnetically attaching to a neat indent at the rear of the device.
It sits just under the dual-camera system — a first for a tablet — with a 13MP camera and a 5MP 123 degree ultra-wide lens, along with an 8MP front facing camera for video conferencing and the alike.
AKG tuned quad speakers with Dolby Atmos support returns with a single USB-C port (yes, no headphone jack here) for connecting peripherals and monitor’s, and an optical under-the-display fingerprint scanner instead of a traditional capacitive one.
Running on Android 9 Pie with the Korean giant’s One UI design on top, DeX mode is also here, offering a way to transform the Android tablet’s user interface into a more desktop-like configuration with compatible applications being able to opened, resized and moved as windows, just like its computer operating system counterparts.
For more productivity, Samsung offers the Book Cover Keyboard which is now a two-piece setup with a dynamic stand for angle adjustments, and a magnetically-attaching POGO pin keyboard with function keys, a dedicated DeX shortcut, and trackpad for easy mouse navigation.
Along with the Book Cover case, both accessories allow the attached S Pen to be protected with a small lip covering the stylus, which can be grabbed to use by opening a magnetic flap.
A POGO Charging Dock is also offered to highlight the Tab S6’s ‘Daily Board’ feature to show the time, weather and gallery slideshow — just like a Google Home Hub or photo frame.
Configurations vary internationally with Mountain Gray, Cloud Blue and Rose Blush colours; either 6GB RAM and 128GB storage or 8GB RAM and 256GB storage with a microSD card expansion slot up to 1TB available for both; and available 4G/LTE connectivity.
Furthermore, the tablet lives off a 7040mAh battery with 15W fast charging.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 launches in late August for selected markets.
In Australia, pre-orders open on August 27 with an offer for a free RAM and storage upgrade to 8GB and 256GB respectively (worth $200), and arrives September 13 only in Mountain Gray and Cloud Blue hues with the former excluded for 8GB/256GB versions.
Pricing starts from $1099 (6GB/128GB), $1299 (8GB/256GB) and 4G guises cost $1299 (6GB/128GB) and $1499 (8GB/256GB).
Accessory pricing is not confirmed as of publication.
The Connected by Henry Man 