Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 review

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 is priced about $730.00
• It comes with a bundled S-Pen
• The tablet has a great display and loud speakers

Even with slumping Android tablet sales and customers losing interest, Samsung has been one of the few OEMs to consistently upgrade its mid-range and premium tablet lineup. The South Korean manufacturer unveiled its latest flagship model, the Galaxy Tab S4, in India last month, as a competitor to Apple’s iPad Pro.

The Galaxy Tab S4 comes bundled with a redesigned S-Pen that has a proprietary tip. A departure from the previous-gen Galaxy Tab S3’s design, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 sports an even sleeker look with smaller bezels, and comes packed with premium internals. However, it costs as much as some professional laptops, so there are a lot of aspects to factor in before deciding whether this is the right gadget for you.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 design

With a larger 10.5-inch Super AMOLED panel, the Galaxy Tab S4 is just slightly thicker than last year’s Galaxy Tab S3, at 7.1mm. It sports the same glass back design that is now seen on Samsung’s entire flagship smartphone lineup. Despite its tablet-sized proportions, the glass back is not slippery at all and the Galaxy Tab S4 can be easily held in one hand. The tablet is not thick enough for a silo for the stylus, so you will have to carry it around separately unless you buy the keyboard folio case or another accessory that can hold it.

While still not on par with the Infinity Display design of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9, the tablet does have smaller borders compared to the Galaxy Tab S3 (Review). Expectedly, Samsung has had to make borders thick enough for users to hold onto them without triggering any unwanted responses on the touchscreen with their thumbs.

Thanks to these smaller borders, the capacitive Android navigation buttons make way for onscreen ones. With the Home button and its integrated fingerprint sensor gone, the Galaxy Tab S4 now relies on software-based face recognition, Iris scanning, and a combination of both (Intelligent Scan) for biometrics. With the Samsung logo also gone from the top, the borders appear symmetrical from all sides and less distracting, which is a good thing.

A metal frame is sandwiched between the glass front and rear panels of this tablet. It has the same four-speaker setup, with two on the top and two on the bottom. The stereo sound and Super AMOLED panel make this an interesting device for watching videos. On the right are the lock/ power button and the volume buttons, along with a tray that houses one Nano SIM slot and one MicroSD card slot. On the bottom are a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone socket, placed very close to one another.

Much like its predecessor, the Galaxy Tab S4 has an almost bare glass back, albeit with a single rear camera and an accompanying LED flash. There is a silver Samsung logo and “Tuned by AKG” branding on the back, keeping the look minimal.

Build quality is great and the weight is distributed equally. At about 482g, the tablet is easy to hold and effortless to carry around in a bag. With a symmetrical approach to its design, content on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 looks fine in portrait as well as in landscape mode.

The S-Pen has received a redesign too this time around. It is glossier, more rounded, and feels much more natural to hold in the hand compared to the one bundled with the Galaxy Tab S3. A neat little addition is a metal ring with a slight protrusion around the middle of the S-Pen that prevents it from rolling on a slippery surface.

In the box, Samsung includes the tablet itself, the redesigned S-Pen, a USB Type-C cable, a fast charger, a nib removal tool, and the usual five extra stylus nibs. The tablet is available in India in Black and Grey colour options, but as of now only the 64GB storage configuration with LTE has made its way into the Indian market.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 specifications

Targeted as a flagship tablet in 2018, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4’s internals don’t quite match up to that promise. It uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, which is almost two years old now. Add to that, the tablet still has just 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage which is frankly quite disappointing. It is especially surprising to see outdated specifications in this tablet given that it originally launchedalongside the Galaxy Note 9, which has better hardware. Only the LTE model has been launched in India, and you can use any 4G Nano-SIM to make calls and browse the Internet.

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