Hands on with the Galaxy TabPro S. Galaxy tab pro s

Hands on with the Galaxy TabPro S

The 2-in-1 market has been heating up tremendously over the last few years with contenders such as Microsoft, HP, Asus, Lenovo and many, many more all turning out impressive devices that challenge the traditional laptop-tablet divide. Although ceasing production of laptops, Samsung’s tablet offerings have gone from strength to strength, arguably being ahead of the game for a number of years.

Although not the first Windows tablet Samsung has released, the converged market offered a perfect opportunity for them to bridge the divide by bundling a keyboard with their latest offering. With it they’ve secured a nice corner of the market for themselves with what I’d consider to be one of the thinnest and lightest 2-in1’s I’ve ever used.

Over the New Year the price of the TabPro S was significantly reduced (no doubt to clear stock for the yet unannounced TabPro S2) from a whopping £849 down to a far more reasonable £500. After giving up on the Linx 12V64 I jumped at the chance to try one out. Now over a month later, here are my thoughts.

Hardware

Like many Samsung tablets, the TabPro S is a mixture of metal and plastic; while the outer rim of the device feels exceptionally premium with its aluminium frame, the back is the typical, slightly flexible plastic. Admittedly it’s almost never seen with the keyboard in place but at the price Samsung launched the TabPro for I’d have liked to see an all-metal finish akin to the Surface. Unlike the Surface however, the TabPro does come with a keyboard as standard (but no pen, that’s sold separately for a hefty £45 at the time of writing. I have one on the way.).

Across the top of the device are the power and volume buttons. Down the left is the physical start button (which is still a thing) and on the bottom sit the pogo pins for the keyboard. The physical buttons on the TabPro are satisfyingly clicky and responsive.

As far as physical dimensions go, it boasts 290 x 198 x 6.3mm and 693g – it is unfathomably thin and light, largely thanks to the 2.2GHz dual-core Core-M under the hood requiring passive cooling rather than needing to run a fan, even under load (though it does get rather warm to the touch occasionally). The keyboard case adds very little bulk when connected also, resulting in a tablet that always feels like I’m carrying almost nothing around when travelling.

In terms of ports, there’s really nothing to list. It has 1 USB type C port and a headphone jack.

Being somewhat vocal about Apple’s decision to limit the ports on the new MacBooks obviously this is even worse; with only one port I have to decide between charging the tablet or doing basically anything else. Naturally there are dongles, but I haven’t gotten around to picking a decent all-in-one dock just yet. On the plus side, the port supports quick-charging, offering a full charge of the 5,200mAh battery in a couple of hours.

I found the camera situation to be rather pleasing. In my last review I wrote:

I often feel with tablets this is the wrong way around; I, like many, won’t take photos on a tablet for a few reasons and therefore don’t make use of the better rear sensor, while video conferencing with family and colleagues tends to suffer by comparison.

The TabPro S boasts a 5MP camera on both sides. They’re as good as each other! This means whether you are indeed taking a photo at the zoo or conferencing a team remotely you can guarantee the exact same picture quality and resolution. Thank you, Samsung!

Battery life performance

On a full charge I generally see a full day of mixed use (and often more since I have another laptop for work during the 9-5). Under more intense usage I can watch the battery slowly draining away significantly faster, though this isn’t a recurring scenario and still offers me better battery life than most of my other devices.

On the inside, as mentioned above, the TabPro S uses a 64bit dual-core Core-M processor with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage. Under normal usage (writing, browsing, image editing, etc) it’s more than capable, however I do occasionally notice Chrome tabs reloading in an effort to manage with the limited memory available. In an ideal world and certainly for the price I’d have hoped to see 8GB RAM; it’s not a costly upgrade for a manufacturer and makes all the difference in the world to the experience for consumers. Alas, I’m not prepared to pay out the extra required for the Gold edition (which also boasts a larger SSD), so 4GB will have to be enough.

Over all I haven’t noticed any considerable slow-down, stutter or otherwise poor performance in daily usage. It’s worth mentioning the usage I’m referring to is almost identical to that of which the Linx 12V64 was subject to, and that did suffer pretty considerable performance issues. I’ve been very pleased with the TabPro by comparison.

Screen

The 12″ FHD (2,160 x 1,400) sAMOLED screen is easily the best looking display I’ve used on a Laptop/2-in-1 device to date. Colours are vivid (if a little oversaturated), bright and offer excellent viewing angles. At this resolution images are crisp and clean. It’s a stunning display to work with.

The sAMOLED panel is unique in this market otherwise filled with IPS and TN displays, but it comes at a cost; Samsung’s power management defaults to dimming the display after 30 seconds of inactivity by default, a rather irritating “feature” when watching a video or reading a long-form article. This is done to lengthen the life of the panel, one that is otherwise susceptible to screen burn-in if not properly taken care of. Thankfully Samsung allow this to be extended to up to 10 minutes which is more than enough for me generally, though those doing presentations or watching longer videos will still suffer. It’s not possible to disable it entirely.

For me, it’s a trade-off I can live with; for the benefits of sAMOLED I’m prepared to more actively care for the panel.

Keyboard

Unlike other 2-in-1’s the TabPro S comes with a keyboard out of the box. No additional cost. When considering the Surface Pro keyboard is around the £100 mark on top of the already expensive tablet itself, it’s satisfying to have one included in the price with the TabPro.

It’s a little more than a keyboard too as it acts as a folio case, protecting both the front and the back while propping the tablet up in 2 distinctive angles for easy viewing. It attaches to the tab with reasonably strong magnets and stays put quite well.

Admittedly it took me a couple of hours to get used to the compact layout, the Surface keyboard benefits from spacing between keys however this is not the case with the Samsung. All the same once I was used to it there was absolutely no issue. I do find the angles to be slightly too extreme in many circumstances; sitting it upright for example is a little too upright on anything but a flat desk, and laying it on the lower angle I’ve found is only really super useful for typing in bed, on a lap or anywhere else I’m not necessarily sat up straight.

There’s also the issue of balance. As the tab is only held up by magnets any decent knock has the potential to push it out of place, causing the tablet to topple over; it could definitely benefit from a little more work here as a couple of times I’ve moved the tablet about on a desk or chair with a little too much haste and had to catch it mid-fall.

The keyboard itself has minimal flex, ample key travel and is very responsive. I thoroughly enjoy typing on it.

Conclusion

At the original list price of ~£849 I considered it far beyond my humble budget, instead looking at more conventional laptops with far better spec for the same price. Even now at between £649 – £700 on Amazon it feels quite costly.

On the other hand it’s cheaper (currently) than a similarly spec’d Surface Pro, particularly as it comes with a keyboard folio case out of the box, and is possibly one of the thinnest and lightest 2-in-1’s I’ve ever laid my hands on.

The hardware under the hood will by no means blow anyone away, though for what it is and what it’s designed to do it excels. If I had the choice between the TabPro S and the Gold Edition with additional RAM before purchasing I would have naturally opted for the better spec, but the tab doesn’t feel as though it’s struggling and therefore isn’t a cause for concern to me.

Since purchasing the TabPro S I’ve put my other laptops up for sale, they’re now surplus to requirements as the TabPro S does literally everything I want in a portable device and is so easy to carry around I rarely feel the need to opt for anything else.

Do you have a TabPro S? How are you getting on with it? Let me know in the Комментарии и мнения владельцев, @jasonbayton on or @bayton.org on

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How to Unlock Samsung Galaxy TabPro S If You Forgot Password

If you get locked out of a Samsung Galaxy tablet shipped with Android operating system, you generally have to restore the tablet to its factory settings to unlock the tablet. However, the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S is the first Samsung Galaxy tablet shipped with Windows 10. For this, you have some options to unlock it without losing any data, rather than having to perform factory reset.

How to unlock a Samsung Galaxy TabPro S tablet depends on whether you use a Microsoft account or a local account to sign in to the Windows 10? This will be described in this page.

How to unlock Samsung Galaxy TabPro S if you forgot your Microsoft account password

Use another device such as your phone, a PC, or a tablet to reset your Microsoft account password online. After the password is reset, use the new password to sign in to the Windows 10 and unlock your Samsung Galaxy TabPro S tablet.

Tips: If for some reason, this does not work for you, try to unlock your Samsung Galaxy TabPro S tablet with a USB drive.

How to unlock Samsung Galaxy TabPro S if you forgot your local account password

Try to remember your password by the password hint, which will show up under the “Password” text field after you type a wrong password, click the right arrow key, and then click OK under the “The password is incorrect. Try again.” message on the sign-in screen.

If password hint doesn’t show on your screen, or if you still can’t remember your password by the password hint, try to unlock your Samsung Galaxy TabPro S tablet with a USB flash drive.

How to unlock your Samsung Galaxy TabPro S tablet with a USB flash drive

Step 1: Create a password reset disk on a USB flash drive.

1) Use another Windows computer to download the “Windows Password Refixer” software. Install and then launch the software on the computer.

2) Follow the software’s screen to burn it into a USB flash drive, so that you can get a password reset drive.

Step 2: Boot locked Samsung Galaxy TabPro S from the USB drive.

1) Insert the USB drive into the tablet’s USB port.

2) Start or restart the tablet. Access its UEFI BIOS menu, disable the secure boot, and set the USB device as the first boot order so that the tablet will boot from the USB drive.

Step 3: Reset Windows 10 account password and unlock Samsung Galaxy TabPro S tablet

1) On the “Windows Password Refixer” screen, select the Windows 10 running on the tablet, select the user account whose password you forgot, and then click the “Reset Password” button.

2) When asked if you want to reset the password, click “Yes” to reset it. If your selected account is a Microsoft account, the password will be reset to “iSumsoft@2014”. If your selected account is local account, the password will be removed.

3) After password is reset, click the “Reboot” button. When asked if you want to reboot, click “Yes” and quickly disconnect the USB drive from the tablet. So, the tablet will restart and you can use the new password to sign in to Windows 10 and your Samsung Galaxy TabPro S tablet is unlocked.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro S review: An overpriced first crack at the 2-in-1 crown

With Microsoft and Intel by its side, Samsung has entered the two-in-one market with a creditable stab at the laptop-tablet hybrid.

The Samsung Galaxy TabPro S marks the first Galaxy to run an operating system other than Android, and is in many ways unique in the product category, due to its Super AMOLED screen, slight size and included keyboard. But how does it stack up against what most regard as the reigning champ of two-in-ones, the Surface Pro 4? And can this device truly hope for mainstream success? I spent a week with the TabPro S to attempt to find out.

Specs

• Display: 12-inch Super AMOLED 2160 x 1440 touch screen
• Width:.69 kg (1.5 pounds)
• Thickness: 6.3mm (.25 inches)
• Internal storage: 128 GB
• RAM: 4GB
• Processor: Intel dual-core 1.51GHz M3-6Y30 SoC
• Graphics: Intel HD 515 Graphics
• OS: Windows 10
• Camera: 5-megapixel front and rear-facing cameras

Classy exterior, flashy display

The TabPro S makes a great first impression. The device’s included faux leather keyboard case makes it look like a classy folio. It’s more demurely professional than the Surface Pro 4’s fabric keyboard covers and may in fact even challenge the 12.9-inch iPad Pro in sleekness.

It’s also only 6.3mm thin and.69 kg (1.52 pounds), making it noticeably thinner and lighter than the Surface Pro 4, which clocks in at 8.4mm and.76 kg (1.69 pounds). It outdoes the iPad Pro too, which is 6.9mm thick and.71 kg (1.57 pounds) for the Wi-Fi-only version. The keyboard case adds another 4.9mm of width, but still leaves it feeling slim and light.

The thing that really wowed me upon my first interaction, however, was the display. The TabPro S’ display features Super AMOLED technology, leading to crisp blacks and brilliant contrast. Just like on Samsung’s smartphones, the beautiful display almost blinded me to certain legitimate issues.

For instance, to facilitate its svelte physique, the TabPro S only offers a single USB-C port and 3.5mm audio jack. While USB-C may be the way of the future, for now it makes the TabPro S a lot less accessible, all but necessitating the added purchase of an adapter hub. In comparison, the Surface Pro 4 has a USB 3.0 port, MicroSDXC card slot, Mini DisplayPort and charging port.

Awkward and rigid, like me in middle school

On the left, the TabPro S keyboard. Bottom right, the Surface Pro 4 type cover. Top right, Surface Pro 3 type cover.

A crucial element of any two-in-one device is its keyboard. It defines whether or not the device can endure serious usage as a laptop. Skimp on the keyboard and the entire device suffers. Unfortunately, Samsung skimped on the keyboard.

It’s just not in the same league as the Surface Pro 4. The Surface’s keyboard has island-style keys, meaning they’re spaced apart from each other like on most modern laptops, as well as a smooth-scrolling trackpad.

The keys on the TabPro S are squished together and the track pad is significantly stickier and more unpredictable. Cutting and pasting links, for instance, often resulted in a chaotic jumble of tabs opening and closing, while the scrolling was somewhat stuttering.

Its case also has an exceedingly rigid form factor. While the Surface Pro 4 has a kickstand built in that can rotate to any angle, the magnetic case of the TabPro S has exactly two angles: upright, for desk work, and reclined, for lap use. Neither are optimal.

One good thing about the case, however, is that it’s included in the box, which is not so with the Surface Pro 4.

Light but sufficient processing power

The TabPro S is equipped with an Intel Core M3 processor, the same SoC that the Surface Pro 4 packs in its 128 GB version. It’s more than enough to perform day-to-day work tasks, like web-browsing and document editing, but if you’re computing needs are more heavy-duty – say video editing – this device isn’t ideal for you.

The TabPro S isn’t meant to be turbo charged, however – it’s lack of an internal fan makes that a necessity. On that front, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did not notably overheat at any point during use.

Owning a Galaxy smartphone opens up cool additional features. Since the TabPro S is NFC-enabled, anyone with a recent Galaxy device can tap the keyboard case, then scan their fingerprint on their phone to unlock the device. Users can also can check and reply to phone notifications.

Enough juice for a working day

Just like the processor performance, the battery life of the TabPro S was satisfactory. With my moderate work use – browsing, Word, Slack – the device lasted 13 hours before shutting off, much over a full work day. It promises 10.5 for heavier use. It also states that it should take two and a half hours to charge the 5,200mAh battery, which I found to be accurate.

Windows 10 features

The TabPro S runs Windows 10, the first of its Galaxy ilk to do so. I quite liked the user experience, which brings professional gravitas to the two-in-one. In particular, I enjoyed having access to features such as Microsoft’s voice assistant Cortana, Snap Assist, and the ability to stream Xbox One content.

Snap Assist, which allows you to pin different Windows in set positions on your screen and use them simultaneously, is useful but undoubtedly works better with the Universal Windows Apps than third-party apps, which sometimes have to be resized or take too long to snap in place. Similarly, Edge, the Internet Explorer reboot, works a lot more smoothly than Chrome.

The special Canadian price

One of the most important aspects of any device is the price, but it’s perhaps especially important for the TabPro S as it stakes out its place in the market. To my mind, its best bet would be positioning itself as an attractive prospect for the mid-range buyer.

But while the price in the U.S. might back up that idea, here in Canada it does not.

In the U.S. the TabPro S is 899, keeping the device behind the 1,000 mental barrier. In Canada the TabPro S is 1,299 before tax. One could buy a MacBook Air (which has an Intel Core i5 processor) for about 200 less.

But even if I allow for the idea that Samsung’s plan is not to take a slice of the laptop demographic, but to tap in to the existing two-in-one market, the business case doesn’t make much sense. It’s offering a cut-budget version of the Surface Pro 4, for almost the same price.

The Surface Pro 4’s regular Canadian price for the 128GB model is 1,179, but it’s important to keep in mind that it doesn’t ship with a keyboard. That costs an extra 199.99. Taking the keyboard in to account, the Surface Pro 4 is then 1,378.99.

That’s 80 more expensive than the TabPro S, which, honestly, is worth it merely in consideration of the better keyboard.

Meanwhile, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is 1,249 for the 128GB version sans keyboard.

One last thing to keep in mind: for regular use, most people would require a USB-C hub. Samsung’s model comes with HDMI and USB-A plug-ins and retails for approximately 100. The accompanying S Pen is also not included in the box, and is expected to begin shipping later this quarter.

Can it beat the Surface Pro 4?

On the left, the TabPro S. On the right, the Surface Pro 4.

Artist Review: Samsung TabPro S With Galaxy C Pen

After a week with TabPro S my verdict tends towards no. Its rigid form factor makes the TabPro S fall short of two-in-one excellence. My addendum, however, is that it is an impressive first try, and with a retooled keyboard and a lower price point, could certainly give other devices a run for their money as a quality budget option.

As for the future of two-in-ones, it remains difficult for me to see a convincing argument for their value. The current argument is: you get a tablet and a laptop for the price of one. The reality is, because the keyboard is in the protective case, you end up rarely detaching the tablet for solo use, and so end up with a small, subpar laptop for the price of a real laptop.

But that analysis only relates to things as they stand now. Perhaps the entire laptop computing industry will tip towards two-in-ones, ramping up the specs until they become the new normal. If the two-in-one becomes the master of all, I’ll be the first to line up for mine, but the TabPro S certainly brings us no closer to that future. Despite its beautiful screen and decent performance, I’d still have to call it a master of none.

Cons

• Hefty Canadian price tag
• Awkward design
• Small keyboard and sticky touchpad
• Only has a USB-C port

Patrick O’Rourke contributed photography to this review.

Samsung Galaxy TabPro S Review

Samsung was the first major brand to announce a 12-inch HiDPI ultralight notebook running with Windows 10 and an Intel core m3 processor. The announcement sent shock-waves through the PC OEMs who were impressed behind closed doors. At 1.53 lbs (694g), the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S is impressively light and portable, especially when the lightest clamshell PCs often start at 11” and 2.3 Lbs.

An extreme design like this will, of course, have strengths and weaknesses. In this article, we aim at showing you what they are, so you can see the beat use cases and be able to map our experience to your needs.

Configuration as tested

The Samsung Galaxy TabPro S varies only in storage capacity (128/256 GB), so none of the variants would affect CPU/GPU performance. The SSD size could theoretically influence performance depending on the controller, but we only had access to one unit.

• Intel Core m3-6Y30 (0.9-1.51 GHz)
• 4GB RAM
• 128GB SDD [256 GB Max.]

• 108GB formatted

Industrial design

The industrial design of the Galaxy TabPro S is very neat. At first glance, It is a metal and glass design, which look like a high-end 12-inch tablet. Interestingly enough the backside isn’t made of metal. Instead, it seems like a sheet of hard plastic, possibly to accommodate the optional wireless broadband LTE modem. The back seems to have been designed with the idea that most users will have the keyboard/cover on the laptop.

Ports

The number of connectors is extremely limited: one USB-C and one 3.5mm audio ports. At the bottom of the TabPro S, there’s a proprietary connector for the keyboard, which is nice because a wired connection avoids lag, pairing and having to include a keyboard battery. This is always the preferred option from a user standpoint.

At the top of the tablet, you will find the Power and Volume control. There are also two small holes which appear to be microphones. On the left side, there’s an additional button, which is the equivalent of the Windows “Start” button. The Stereo speakers are set on either sides when in portrait mode.

The speakers output a quality sound, and you can most definitely enjoy listening music with them. From that, you can conclude that movie soundtracks and voices will come out nicely as well. Even at 100% volume there isn’t much distortion: it looks like Samsung tweaked things well.

Keyboard (free / included in the box)

The Galaxy TabPro S comes with the keyboard directly in the box, which explains why it is a little more expensive than the closest competitor, the Huawei Matebook Pro, which sells its keyboard/cover option for 129.

I typically consider that the keyboard is a must-have feature, so most people should consider adding its price comparing with the Huawei Matebook. If you do not want to have the keyboard for some reason, then having it as an option may be a good thing.

“REMINDS ME OF THE SURFACE PRO 3 KEYBOARD” The Galaxy TabPro S keyboard is fairly compact and reminds me of the Surface Pro 3 keyboard. Since then, Microsoft has gone with a better chiclet keyboard with a longer key travel. That said, the TabPro S keyboard is pretty decent and gets the job done, although it could certainly use some design improvements later.

The trackpad integrated into the keyboard is relatively small but I found it to be sufficient, and it didn’t get in the way. Obviously, larger trackpads are more comfortable to use, but I don’t think that Samsung had a lot of options since the design is very compact and takes a minimal footprint on the table.

Galaxy phone fingerprint unlock

The Galaxy TabPro S doesn’t have a built-in fingerprint reader by default (unlike the Huawei Matebook), but Samsung added an interesting option to log-in via your (Samsung) phone’s fingerprint reader via Samsung Flow. It’s an interesting option which uses the phone as a proximity safety, but it adds just enough friction that I find myself not using it. If you have a long password, you could go through the effort, but I can type my relatively long password faster than login with the phone.

Your mileage can vary, and it’s nice to have the option — but in the end, it’s just better to have it integrated into the computer. Samsung Flow has other benefits, but I don’t think that it is a sway factor at the moment.

Display (very good)

The Galaxy TabPro S has a 12-inch, 2160×1440, Super-AMOLED, which means that it’s an AMOLED screen with an integrated touch sensor. Note that Super-AMOLED or sAMOLED is not a technology, but a Brand which is owned and used by Samsung.

“THE SAMOLED DISPLAY IS SUPERIOR TO Huawei’S LCD IPS DISPLAY” With a pixel density of 216 PPI, thinks to very sharp (for a PC), and Windows 10 comes out nice and clear. We measured the maximum brightness at 206 NITs, which isn’t very much as many laptops can hit 300 NITs. Concretely, it means that working in a sunny/bright environment may become challenging, especially since the screen has a glossy finish.

That said, the closest competitor, the Huawei Matebook’s brightness is about the same (216 NITs), so that’s about the best will you get with this kind of form-factor, since I consider the Surface 4 Pro a serious machine, but not quite in the same category of size and price.

Webcam Main camera (very good, for a PC)

The Galaxy TabPro S has two cameras: a main camera at the rear, and a front camera (webcam) for video calls, and possibly selfies. Although both cameras are a far cry from what you can find on a Galaxy S7 phone, they are better than what’s in pretty much all the laptops I’ve played with recently, and it becomes the notebook to beat in terms of imaging and low-light selfies.

That’s nice because, with the increasing quality of displays, it’s fair to say that the PC industry has been cheaping out on decent camera module. It’s nice to see Samsung put some pressure here, and the difference is worth mentioning as we would like to encourage higher quality notebook camera hardware.

System performance

In general, the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S has performance that is comparable to other computers running with the same processor. And because the Intel core m processor also integrated the GPU, the graphics performance is also very close from one computer to the other.

The TabPro S does not have a core m5 option, so there’s no way to pay extra to gain a little CPU performance. Huawei’s Matebook does have an m5 processor and 8GB RAM option, which is a big deal for multitasking.

The TabPro S now has a 8GB option (TabPro S Gold Edition), and although the lower memory amount won’t show up in benchmarks, it can affect performance if the system runs out of memory and starts swapping data (memory-intensive tasks like Photoshop/video editing). You may think that you’re “just browsing the web”, but leaving a bunch of browser tabs open can be incredibly taxing on the system too.

With a score of 4868, the Galaxy TabPro S has an excellent mobile storage system, which is even faster than the Surface Pro 4 (4662 points, core i7), but Huawei’s Matebook benchmark scores are even a little bit higher 4921. In reality, those differences are not perceptible, but your takeaway is that storage is excellent.

Speed in relation to price and weight

In general, the TabPro S performs decently regarding its price and weight, but in most benchmarks, the Huawei Matebook has slightly higher performance which puts it just a little ahead. The difference in performance isn’t really perceptible, but this shows how competitive this space is, and how cutting-edge both companies are.

It also shows that specialized designs can bring significant value to users who target ultra-light designs. Our charts clearly show that those small computers can pack a lot of punch in relation to their weight and that increasing the weight does certainly not increase performance linearly.

But in absolute terms, you will have to make some sacrifices in terms of performance because these Intel m3 based computer designs flirt with the edge of a “good enough” user experience. From time to time, things can start feeling slow if you are not mindful of your resource usage.

Battery

With a 39.5 Wh battery capacity, the Galaxy TabPro S come ahead of the Huawei Matebook that has 33.7 Wh. That’s even more than the Surface Pro 4 which has 38.2 Wh while being 35% bigger in volume.

While Samsung claims 630mm (10.5hrs of battery life), it’s not immediately clear in what conditions those numbers were obtained. Usually, this is done by watching a local video with the screen setup to be not overly bright.

In my personal use case where I write and do some photo/video editing in the context of Ubergizmo, I wouldn’t expect more than 4 to 4.5 hours of battery if I’m mindful of power consumption. Keep in mind that things like web browsers can be deceptively power-taxing when many tabs are left open.

The Galaxy TabPro S easily brings the most battery capacity for the price, and for the weight. At this specific size/weight point, that’s the most battery you will get.

Samsung says that you can go from 0% to 100% battery in 150mn, which is a believable claim since battery charging measurement can be done very accurately. There’s also a “fast-charging” mechanism according to Samsung, but without further data, I can’t lend more or less credence to it.

To date, the most effective fast-charging that we have seen comes from Lenovo, which can charge from 0%-80% in 30mn laptops such as the Carbon X1 (2014) or the Yoga X1 (2016) – this is a hot feature that every PC OEM should include, but yet, very few do.

I’ll see if I can establish a baseline later. 0%-100% in 150mn isn’t super-fast when compared to what we’ve seen with Lenovo. Also, charging tends to slow down considerably after 80%, so Samsung should really communicate about 0-80%… just a piece of advice.

OEMs should realize that fast-charging is one of the key features that this ultra-light category of laptops needs. There’s no way to put much more battery capacity in there, but it’s possible to replenish the energy storage faster.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy TabPro S introduced an impressive world-class design that still leads the pack today. It competes with the Huawei Matebook which also has an excellent industrial design. A complete comparison between the two would deserve its own article, but the bottom line is this: The Galaxy TabPro S works better because it has a better keyboard design. There’s also a wireless broadband LTE version as well, which we have not tested.

If you are shopping for a tablet-only Win10 device and don’t plan to use the Keyboard, the Huawei is arguably better in some ways, so it’s worth considering for that scenario. On Windows, I expect the large majority of users to want a keyboard. As you can see from the list below, both Huawei and Samsung have similar pricing once the keyboard is bundled.

“AN IMPRESSIVE WORLD-CLASS DESIGN” Also, the Surface Pro 4 is never far from mind when talking about these tablet/notebooks. It’s important to understand that despite some design and pricing similarities, the “feel” of using and carrying a Surface Pro 4 is quite different. That is because it has a ~35% larger volume than the Samsung TabPro S. It’s fair to assume that if you’re reading this, size matters to you. If not, just get a Surface Pro 4 — if in doubt, try to hold them at a retail location. Microsoft has stores in many places and good show rooms.

Performance-wise, the Core m platform is getting better. A couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have considered one for my use (trade shows…), but now it’s getting “good enough” for my needs. Keep in mind that these are still ultra-light computers who do have performance trade-offs, so avoid heavy multitasking and heavy workloads.

Samsung’s TabPro S brings OLED to the Windows party, but who invited this keyboard?

Samsung would badly like to be a player in the PC world. That’s evident from its continued PC roll-out in North America, and now the Korean brand is taking a jab at the Windows tablet market – including Microsoft’s Surface Pro — with the Galaxy TabPro S.

The slim tablet is powered by an efficient Intel Core M processor, paired up with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid state drive (SSD), at least in our review unit. The screen is a Samsung favorite, a 12-inch 2,160 x 1,440 Super AMOLED panel. That should mean low power usage across the board, a trademark of modern 2-in-1s.

Despite how it looks on paper, Samsung is hard up for a win. Its past laptops have struggled to capture interest in the same way as its hugely successful Galaxy smartphone line. Can the TabPro S – which is technically a Galaxy product, after all – change that? Or is it another half-hearted entry into the crowded 2-in-1 market?

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro S. Even Better Tablet than the Surface Pro?

Making the Surface Pro 4 look fat

The TabPro S borrows more from tablet and smartphone design language than from other 2-in-1s or Windows machines. That means rounded edges, multiple buttons, and an incredibly slim waistline. Once detached from the included keyboard, the quarter-inch thick Samsung is more in line with the iPad Air 2 and Pro than any other Windows 2-in-1 we’ve tested.

It’s even slightly lighter than the iOS-powered 12-inch iPad Pro, at just one and half pounds without the keyboard. That’s no small feat considering Apple’s svelte device design. The TabPro S is also about a quarter of a pound lighter than the Surface Pro 4. Despite that, Samsung’s 2-in-1 doesn’t feel flimsy or cheap. Its metallic body is so stiff it feels like it could be one solid sheet of aluminum.

There are two ways to look at these results. When compared to the Asus Zenbook UX305CA, which has the same processor in its default configuration, the TabPro S looks good. It generally wins, despite the fact it’s a smaller device. On the other hand, the TabPro S is behind the Dell Latitude 12 7000 Series 2-in-1, and way behind the Surface Pro 4 when equipped with a Core i5 processor (to be fair, the base Surface Pro 4 has hardware almost identical to the TabPro S).

It’s clear the TabPro S is no powerhouse. However, the low scores don’t mean the device feels slow in everyday use. This 2-in-1 is quick enough to handle the tasks most people will throw at it, such as web browsing and document editing. Just don’t expect it to edit video or batch edit a thousand photos with ease.

Hard drive

We’re used to seeing slow eSATA drives in thin systems, but the Samsung’s 128GB drive is a huge compromise.

Part of the problem is that despite the fact that Samsung manufactures some of the best SSDs on the market right now, it hasn’t used one in its own system. We’ve seen the same trend in other Samsung notebooks, and it directly affects the performance of the TabPro S.

As with the processor, the performance of the TabPro S’ solid-state drive is not a determinant to casual use. But you will notice it if you need to transfer a large number of files across the drive, or to another, high-speed external drive. We remained confused by Samsung’s refusal to use its award-winning SSDs in its own computers.

Graphics

The Core m3-6Y30 comes equipped with Intel HD Graphics 515, an anemic versions of the already mediocre HD 520 component found in the typical 6 th.generation Core mobile processor. As you’d expect, that means nothing good for gaming performance.

In our synthetic 3DMark benchmarks, the TabPro S is almost in line with the Dell Latitude 12 7000. That system is powered by a Core M7, but it doesn’t seem like that jump matters on much on the iGPU side. The Surface Pro 4 takes a huge leap forward over both devices, thanks to the Core i5 and HD 520 found in Microsoft’s mid-tier offering. That’s a more expensive system, but you get a decent bump in performance, screen clarity, and design for the price.

Overall, the TabPro S is competitive, but it’s also not sufficient for even the most basic gaming needs. Gamers will have to stick to basic, two-dimensional titles that don’t make significant use of advanced lighting techniques or other effects that might strain a GPU.

Portability

Though small, the TabPro S manages to equip a battery that offers 39 watt-hours of juice. That’s not much less than most laptops and, put alongside the power-sipping processor, it results in a decent endurance. The TabPro S lasted six hours, 31 minutes in our web browsing loop.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but it does exceed the Toshiba Satellite Radus 12 and Razer Blade Stealth. We think most users will find the TabPro S lasts long enough, though heavy users will run it dry well before their workday is over.

While the battery lasts, we ran into an odd problem while testing it. The display backlight has a mind of its own, dimming aggressively during inactivity even when that feature is, according to every power control, turned off.

The tablet does an decent job of knowing when dimming is inappropriate; it usually doesn’t dim while watching video, for example. But it will dim if you’re reading a document or running an HTML5 benchmark like Peacekeeper. We talked to Samsung to make sure this was normal behavior. The company confirmed it is, and that it can’t be turned off.

Noise and heat

The fanless TabPro S is mercifully quiet, but that’s not out of the ordinary for these low-power chips. The downside is that, under heavy load, the backside of the tablet gets pretty warm. It doesn’t break the low 90s, and it’s concentrated at the back of the tablet near the top. That means in laptop mode, it’s fine, but the heat sits right under your hand when used as a tablet.

Warranty

The Samsung offers an industry standard one year limited warranty with the Galaxy TabPro S. That’s all we expect from all but the most expensive 2-in-1s and notebooks.

Conclusion

The issue with the TabPro S is one that’s easily boiled down to a simple point. Samsung designed a mobile device, and then installed Windows on it. From the hard drive performance, to the peripheral attachments, to the awkward display, the Galaxy would feel much more at home with Android than it does with Windows 10.

That doesn’t mean the TabPro S is a swing and a miss. Its processor performance is commendable for the category, and the slim design is sure to appeal to the lightweight travelers and Android tablet converts. The AMOLED display, though nothing new for the mobile space, is a big upgrade in the laptop arena, boasting gamut and contrast far in excess of what we normally see – even if it does suffer color issues when viewed mildly off-angle.

Value is also on the Samsung’s side. The 900 price tag equals a Surface Pro 4 without keyboard cover, and undercuts other comparable 2-in-1s, as well. The company likely could’ve tried a higher price given the equipment provided, so we’re happy to see Samsung exercised restraint.

Still, spending even a few hours with the Galaxy TabPro S makes it clear Samsung doesn’t get what Windows users want. This device is a better tablet than any other Windows 2-in-1 we’ve used – but few use Windows that way because the operating system still isn’t a good tablet OS. A great PC 2-in-1 needs to work as a laptop first, and happen to convert to an acceptable tablet. The TabPro S has the formula reversed.

Editors’ Recommendations

Brad Bourque is a native Portlander, devout nerd, and craft beer enthusiast. He studied creative writing at Willamette…

Samsung has begun rolling out its latest security update, and it’s crucial for those with phones using Exynos modems — like last year’s Galaxy S22 flagship — which were at high risk of major security breaches. The new update fixes these security concerns (and more) and is now rolling out to the Galaxy S23 lineup in Europe and South Korea.

In mid March, a Project Zero report from Google’s internal security research team revealed that security issues found on devices using Exynos modems could have given remote users the ability to very easily compromise a phone at the baseband level. Samsung said at that time that it released security patches for five of those vulnerabilities in March, with an update to follow in April to address the remaining issues.

Samsung’s existing slate of Android tablets is one of the finest hardware of its kind, and it appears that the company doesn’t want to stray from the winning formula any time soon. Leaker @OnLeaks has shared renders of the Galaxy S9 Plus, and they bear a striking similarity to its Galaxy Tab S8 series predecessor.

The sleek metallic build with sharp edges is here to stay, and so is the contrasting magnetic strip at the back. The bezel size also remains familiar, while the horizontally positioned selfie camera is once again positioned at the same spot.

The best kind of marketing is the one that happens in the hands of an interested person who just might be your next customer. Samsung certainly thinks that way and is trying its best, not just because it’s a sound strategy, but also owing to the fact that arch-rival Apple has mastered the art with its meticulously imagined store experience.

Samsung’s latest ploy is a web app designed for iPhones that will give you a taste of its One UI 5.1 software that runs on its Galaxy S23 series phones. Actually, scratch that. The company is welcoming you to “the other side” by letting you experience its heavily customized take on Android and find out for yourself if it can surpass iOS for you. The solution is called Try Galaxy. Try Galaxy makes your iPhone a Samsung phone

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