Unless you want a Wacom drawing tablet, the options for a premium tablet are limited to either an Apple iPad, or a Samsung Galaxy Tab. Luckily for Android enjoyers, the latest Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ is excellent and actually comes with the stylus (unlike the iPad Pro, where the stylus is a very expensive add-on).
As tablets become more of an essential part of our lives, particularly in education, it’s great that Samsung has focussed on improving durability and power this year. However, there is also a major focus on AI, which might discourage any serious creatives.
Table of contents
- First impressions
- Specs and price
- Design
- Benchmarks
- Screen and speaker quality
- S Pen performance
- Who is it for?
First impressions
This is a sleek tablet. Sharp lines, nicely machined aluminium, minimalist camera bump on the back. Coming with the S Pen in the box is a really nice inclusion, and will encourage more people to try drawing and handwriting on it, fully taking advantage of what it has to offer.
As expected, the setup process is a breeze, making for a good time overall.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ specs and price
| Processor | MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ CPU Speed: 3.4GHz, 2.8GHz, 2GHz CPu Type: Octa-Core |
| Display | 12.4 inches (315.0mm) 2800 x 1752 resolution Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120Hz refresh rate |
| Camera | Rear camera resolution: 13.0 MP + 8.0 MP Front camera resolution: 12.0 MP |
| Memory | 12GB |
| Storage | 256GB 512GB |
| Connectivity | USB 3.2 Gen 1 Earjack: USB Type-C Wi-Fi Bluetooth v5.3 |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, RGB Light Sensor |
| Battery | 10,090mAh capacity Internet usage time: Up to 11 hours Video playback time: Up to 16 hours |
| Durability rating | IP68 |
| Weight | 723 grams |
| Price (RRP) | $1,799 (256GB) $1,999 (512GB) |
| Warranty | Two years |
| Official website | Samsung Australia |
There’s nothing really revolutionary here. There’s plenty of power and a decent battery to boot. The rear cameras could be better, but who is using their tablet as their main camera (aside from grandmas at concerts, bless their hearts)?
I like the IP68 rating, which means you can use it to read or draw in the bath, and really that’s what life is all about.
Design
At 12.4 inches, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ is the smaller of the two sizes this year, but it is by no means small. It’s probably the ideal size for an everyday tablet, and the light weight of 723 grams means it’s easy to take to school or work.
It doesn’t look as premium as I would expect from the price tag; the matte aluminium back collects fingerprints like Pokemon (gotta catch them all), and there’s something about the shape that looks a bit budget. Then again, it makes sense given this is the new entry point to Samsung tablets aside from the FE series, the big price tag aside.
The body is beautifully thin, which does look premium, and the screen is absolutely gorgeous, which I’ll get to soon.
Benchmarks
Going by the results on the Geekbench browser, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ crushes the speed of the Tab S9, making it a worthy upgrade if you find your old tablet lagging. But the M4 iPad Pro is twice as fast and absolutely destroys in the GPU department.
| Device | Multi-Core | Single-Core | GPU |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPad Pro 11-inch M4 | 13,377 | 3,646 | 53,780 |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ | 6,969 | 2,156 | 12,758 |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 | 5,423 | 2,028 | N/A |
It’s much the same story for the graphics. This is a very decent tablet for games and work, but it still can’t hold a candle to the iPad. Then again, the iPad and Android tablets are two very different devices. Yes, they’re both tablets, but they’re for different kinds of users. It’s just something to keep in mind.
| Device | Overall score | Frame rate (fps) |
|---|---|---|
| iPad Pro M4 | 8,402 | 50.3 |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ | 5,130 | 30.72 |
Screen and speaker quality
This screen is absolutely stunning. When playing Fortnite, the 55fps it hits is pretty close to other tablets twice its price, making it a good choice for gamers.
It’s also really responsive with the S Pen, and the colours are really vibrant and beautiful. The AMOLED panel is stunning.
The speakers are, well, tablet speakers. I have heard better tablet speakers, but these are also better than about 80% of the other options on the market, and that’s not nothing.
S Pen Performance
Including the S Pen in the box means more people are going to get to give it a try, whereas iPad users might be put off by the extra $219 premium. That’s a shame, because those iPad users will miss out on the pure joy of using an S Pen (or equivalent) on their tablet, which really brings the whole experience together. Without a stylus like the S Pen, tablets can often feel like a laptop that forgot to bring its keyboard. With the S Pen, a whole new way to be creative opens up.
I really loved playing around with the Samsung PENUP app, which comes preloaded on the device. It’s an app in which you can draw, with a deep, easy-to-use toolset. There are also colouring pages if you’re after some mindfulness or want to hand the tablet to a child. And there are also people showing off their art and live drawing videos so you can learn how to improve. The app is the opposite of AI, a community of human creators trying to be better.
Of course, for those not willing to take the time to be bad at a skill before they become good at it, it’s also possible to use the S Pen to make a rough drawing and have AI turn it into a kind of okay finished product.
Every time I used the AI feature, it gave me something unexpected. I’d draw the outline of a duck and expect AI to turn it into a mallard, whereas I ended up getting a kind of flamingo hybrid. This perhaps shows that both AI and I need to spend more time being bad at art before we can expect to be good at it.
The handwriting recognition in the Notes app is not terrible, unlike my handwriting. I used my medium-est penmanship skills to write “OK, how does this go recognising my handwriting” which the tablet interpreted as “OK how des his go recognising ME alluiny”. That’s far from perfect, but also better than I could have reasonably hoped for, given I have the handwriting of a doctor without the requisite medical skills.
All up, the S Pen is a great inclusion and is what really sells the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ for me.
Who is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ for?
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ is for people who want an Android tablet that fits in with the rest of their Samsung ecosystem, need more than the somewhat slower Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ FE has to offer, but can’t justify getting the fully Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra.
I’ve really loved using the Tab S10+, it’s hands down the best Android tablet under $2,000.
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