Hi all,
I was wondering how frequently everyone is using their S-pen here and if they feel its actualyl helpful/gimmick, as I never had a note before and soon be getting the note 4.
Furthermore, how useful do you find fingerprint scanner note 4 compared to the iphone button one.
feedback will be appriciated!
I used to think it was gimmicky until I got my note 12.2 tablet where the s pen is invaluable.
Which tempted me to this phone and again I find myself using it all the time purely because it is so much more accurate than my finger.
Only thing is mine seems to be so sensitive that I can't type with it using googles keyboard without typing multiple letters at a time, minor annoyance.
Sent from my SM-N910F
love to use the S Pen . It's So accurate and easy to use. | likto write with it because in landscape I'm faster with writing then with typing
soulfrigger said:
love to use the S Pen . It's So accurate and easy to use. | likto write with it because in landscape I'm faster with writing then with typing
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During the day, I virtually never use it, especially if I'm in a rush, but at home I've found value in it.
0k while I'm driving I can't use it =D
Definitely a gimmick, but a really well made and presented gimmick at that.
I've found myself using s-note every time now to write lists and memos, pinning them to the homescreen, so the gimmick has come to life although previously I was happy with Google Keep (which is s-pen friendly) and will probably drift back to that for lists especially.
oursoul said:
Definitely a gimmick, but a really well made and presented gimmick at that.
I've found myself using s-note every time now to write lists and memos, pinning them to the homescreen, so the gimmick has come to life although previously I was happy with Google Keep (which is s-pen friendly) and will probably drift back to that for lists especially.
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Click to collapse
Not a gimmick. Use it a lot more than when I had the Note 2 3 and 8., I use it for business.
I use the pen for everything. Hardly ever use my fingers.
I couldn't live without it. I use it for making notes and I use it for sketching and painting.
For me it's essential. I've had Note 10.1 for years now and wrote hundrends on pages (notes at university and at work) on it. I bought Note 4 because of the stylus and I have already moved to it for taking notes. I recommend LectureNotes - it takes a bit of configuration to work great on such high resolution screen (you have to make the default pens much, much thicker) but then it is better than S Note (it has folders for example).
Never use the Pen... even on my Note Pro. You can't really write with it like a normal pen, and I can't think of a use outside of that.
The fingerprint scanner works if you register the same finger 3 times, and you're not in a hurry or haven't been swimming/shower.
If you're calm the success rate is 80%, as soon as you're in a hurry to unlock the phone success rate goes down to 40%.
Personally, I was quite surprised at how much it IS like a normal pen, particularly with the palm rejection on most Samsung apps. Plus putting a Spigen Crystal screen protector on gave it a little bit more drag and made it even better. In terms of writing quality, my handwriting is not as neat as on paper, but for scribbly notes that doesn't matter!
There are two reasons I bought the Note 4:
1. I just started Uni a month ago, and I didn't want to spend half of my living funds on paper. Plus its handy having literally all of your notes on you, all the time.
2. I am the kind of person that thinks of something that I need to do later, but rather than get a piece of paper and write it down, I just tell myself that I'll remember. Obviously my memory isn't that good so I always forget, but with a pen attached to your phone its really satisfying to add it to an S Note.
No regrets moving from a stock Nexus 5 to TouchWiz!
I use the Spen almost all the time, it is far more accurate than my fat fingers and using the handwriting recognition is getting better every day as I use it, it also gives me a way to work on my handwriting to make it legible as until recently even I couldn't read my own writing.
And the Fingerprint scanner works all the time unless I have something on my finger
I don't use it much, but I really like it when I need it. I mainly find myself using it on non mobile websites that have hover menu's. It's also good for the odd time I need to make a quick 'note' or maybe grab a picture from something.
For clarity I use the S Pen for UI and multi tasking but taking notes for hours I use the Wacom Bamboo Feel pen. Also if you don't know Microsoft OneNote works well on Samsang Galaxy Note devices for viewing as well as input.
---------- Post added at 09:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:38 AM ----------
See here for thread on stylus option http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2910462
rayone said:
Never use the Pen... even on my Note Pro. You can't really write with it like a normal pen, and I can't think of a use outside of that
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Actually you can. I wrote hundreds of pages on my Note 10.1. If you are finding it difficult to write make sure: 1) you use the rubber ending (default in newer Notes), 2) try using a larger pen (although they are pricy).
This is yet another very subjective question, with thousands of variables... for me, I use the S-Pen more every day. I don't work at a desk most of the day. I have lots of random thoughts and lots of small little notes that I take. IE, jotting down a quick note every time I see a small project I want to add to one of my staff's work list for that day (I find writing it down when I notice it, rather than trying to recall it when I am actually leaving my directions for the next shift to be a huge benefit). I also do a lot of jotting down of things to find in the stockroom. I used to write notes on my hands with item numbers, etc. Short little notes I might only need for a few seconds. The ability to jot them down and have them at the ready has saved me lots of time... (I also found that the writing notes on your hand, or on the back of another note, or even on a box, doesn't work when you don't have a pen in your pocket!)
So for me, it has value and would definitely be missed without it. Its a decision making feature for me that will keep me with the Note line so long as it exists.
Calibrated for right handed people. That's crap, if you're leftie, and no way to switch or recalibrate. Really messes with my writing and drawing
Sent from my SM-N910W8
I use s-pen all the time for navigation but not for handwriting though. It is sooooo nice to have s-pen sensitive back and menu buttons! Any tip on using s-pen for home or invoking dock/apps?
I never used the S-Pen before, but now, with the Note 4, I use it very frequently! It kinda acts like a mouse for Web browsing, which is fantastic!
Sent from my SM-N910F using XDA Free mobile app
Related
I'm a college student and have to take notes on a regular basis.
I was wondering if the S-pen on Galaxy Note is good enough to replace the traditional pen-paper way of taking notes?
The S Pen is good, but (obviously) not as fluid as real pen and paper.
I'd say it's possible, but might require some practise. That said, it managed to save me when I forgot to charge my laptop for a meeting, took 13 memo pages (half or quarter A4) of notes over about 40 minutes which is good enough in many respects. One feature I found handy was that you can audio record per page, so each note page is associated with a direct recording. If you keep up, it's wonderful as it's better than seeking across giant MP3 file to find what was precisely said.
jayshah said:
The S Pen is good, but (obviously) not as fluid as real pen and paper.
I'd say it's possible, but might require some practise. That said, it managed to save me when I forgot to charge my laptop for a meeting, took 13 memo pages (half or quarter A4) of notes over about 40 minutes which is good enough in many respects. One feature I found handy was that you can audio record per page, so each note page is associated with a direct recording. If you keep up, it's wonderful as it's better than seeking across giant MP3 file to find what was precisely said.
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Thanks a lot for the detailed response. Can you record audio and take notes at the same time?
I dont think you can do it at the same time.. Atleast not in samsungs note-taking app
The PRO said:
Thanks a lot for the detailed response. Can you record audio and take notes at the same time?
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Ade5 said:
I dont think you can do it at the same time.. Atleast not in samsungs note-taking app
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Click to collapse
Yes, you can, because I've done it. See attachment
jayshah said:
Yes, you can, because I've done it. See attachment
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Thank you very much, if you have time could you please post a screenshot with few lines of texts as well in the way you normally write? I just wanna see how much fits per line.
jayshah said:
Yes, you can, because I've done it. See attachment
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Cool.. didnt realize you could do it while notetaking..
hahahaha
Rubber woman, will not replace the real one
The PRO said:
Thank you very much, if you have time could you please post a screenshot with few lines of texts as well in the way you normally write? I just wanna see how much fits per line.
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Here you go I had to choose between programming and handwriting early in my career; I chose programming
Edit: you can probably squeeze more with a thinner ink stroke, but I prefer this level of thickness.
Edit 2: Added thinner ink example
Why is it so hard to find information like this on any of the review sites. It's as if they forget that the point of having a stylus is to take notes! Thanks for posting the examples and for the information.
sound quality
Hi,
I was forced to take memos that week because my laptop was not available.
The galaxy note did great.
However i am not satisfied with the sound quality - it is too low.
I wandered if it is possible to be recorded in higher quality.
I wrestle with the accuracy of the stylus. I don't even think it's possible to calibrate it. The issue is that there's a certain angle that the pen must be in relation to the phone in order for the tip of the stylus to match the cursor on the screen. As you begin to rotate either the stylus or the phone, they get further and further apart. As a lefty, my natural position for holding a pen is about as far from the "sweet spot" on the Note as is possible. I'm actually retraining my hand to hold the stylus the way the Note is forcing me so that I can draw on the phone. You can't just take the phone and turn it all around the way you would do with an actual notepad of paper. You have to carefully make sure that you stay in the sweet spot or when you make a mark, it maybe as far as 1/8th inch from where you touched the screen. For writing, this has the effect of text going higher and higher as you go across the screen. For drawing the result is that if you make a line and try to continue it, you never connect to the same line, you draw to the side of it each time. Unless you hold it just in the right position. Furthermore, you have to decide right from the start in the settings if you are a righty or lefty. If you get that wrong and stylus will be like a .25" off. Also, one time I it was so far off, I had to reboot the phone to get it back to what is normal for the phone. These are major issues specifically with the quality of the S pen, which is a main selling point for the phone. I bought it because I like to make notes about artistic things that catch my eye as I'm out and about. I may draw an image and make some notes and develop it further later. The Note would be a lot better if it were built with quality. Samsung couldn't possibly have released this thing without knowing that we would be wrestling with the issues inherent in the s pen accuracy.
Hi Guys,
I am about to buy Galaxy Note.But from reviews from my friends,Galaxy S2 is much better than Galaxy Note.
Please Help me to choose Galaxy Note or S2.I know this thread might be repeated,but all those reviews where when the Galaxy Note was Just launched.
Hope you would share your views on both.
Thank You!
SGS2 has a pathetic battery, if you can deal with that, then go for SGS2. If you like the big screen and SPEN then the note is for you.
Also SGS2 has a strange greenish hue in the camera pictures, while pictures from the note is perfect.
I have both. I am going to sell my S II though. In my opinion:
1. In terms of OS optimizations S II is better. But it is quite normal as Note has just arrived. And with every firmware update Note is getting better.
2. Battery life on S II is not 'Pathetic'. With right setting and optimizations you can easily enjoy more than a day's service with a single full charging. However with similar usage you will get better battery life in Note.
3. Screen in note is wayyy better than S II (I bet you know that already!).
4. GPS on Note is better here in Bangladesh. I went India last month My note's GPS was very very good. SII was ok.
5. One hand operation in note is quite troublesome. But you can do things with this big screen which are impossible in S II.
6. Stock apps in Note and S II are pretty similar. However some apps have more features in Note.
7. In my experience camera in both devices are very similar. I did not have any problem with my SII camera.
Both are very good devices. You wont regret with any of these. If price is not a factor and if you feel comfortable with the size, go for the Note.
BTW, stick to Xda-Developer. Without the goodies you'll find in Xda no matter what android device you get, it is destined to suck.
Thank you.
Hackerboi sums it up quite well.
Mostly it is a matter of what you want your phone for:
1. Note: if you want to write/sketch, do business related work on a large screen, watch videos on large screen, read on a large screen
2. GSII: if you need a phone in your pocket with which to text, engage in social media, music, navigation and other general smartphone stuff.
Is Note not pocketable?
aalokraj said:
Is Note not pocketable?
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Quite pocketable. Not a problem for me at all. Check this video-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItUPm3xMUb4
Dude go for the note it's way better than anything in the current market in my opinion.
galaxy note is todays version of yesterdays galaxyS2...
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
I have both, the SII and the Note. I much prefer the Note. If you don't mind the size that is. It's not as optimized (OS wise) YET. and I really mean YET. My SGSII wasn't the greatest the first day either, it took a few updates. I haven't had any crashes or anything like that on my Note. Battery life is SUPERB. Last night (after a full day, mostly working, admitting I didn't use the screen a lot) I had 75% battery left when I went to bed. I woke up and still had 60% with wifi, 3g, bluetooth on, and actively syncing. So I know today, Saturday, I'll get through another day with the battery. I'm hydrating up now to go for a run (with the Note) and use Endomondo, which is a great app.
Screen is FANTASTIC on the Note. The screen is also good on the SII. They're both good devices, but they're also very different. GPS on the Note is REALLY good, SGSII is OK. It takes a little to get a lock. Screen size on the note is the best. S-pen helps me out a lot. I use it to jot down notes super fast. The screen size also helps with typing (a lot less guessing on behalf of the phone).
I'd go for the Note, but be warned, it's big and comfortable one handed use is out of the question. I can make a call, read emails and browse sites with one hand, but ANY form of real interaction is also out of the question.
zkyevolved said:
I have both, the SII and the Note. I much prefer the Note. If you don't mind the size that is. It's not as optimized (OS wise) YET. and I really mean YET. My SGSII wasn't the greatest the first day either, it took a few updates. I haven't had any crashes or anything like that on my Note. Battery life is SUPERB. Last night (after a full day, mostly working, admitting I didn't use the screen a lot) I had 75% battery left when I went to bed. I woke up and still had 60% with wifi, 3g, bluetooth on, and actively syncing. So I know today, Saturday, I'll get through another day with the battery. I'm hydrating up now to go for a run (with the Note) and use Endomondo, which is a great app.
Screen is FANTASTIC on the Note. The screen is also good on the SII. They're both good devices, but they're also very different. GPS on the Note is REALLY good, SGSII is OK. It takes a little to get a lock. Screen size on the note is the best. S-pen helps me out a lot. I use it to jot down notes super fast. The screen size also helps with typing (a lot less guessing on behalf of the phone).
I'd go for the Note, but be warned, it's big and comfortable one handed use is out of the question. I can make a call, read emails and browse sites with one hand, but ANY form of real interaction is also out of the question.
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Thank you.But is it comfortable while making a Call?Many have said it looks so WEIRD!
aalokraj said:
Thank you.But is it comfortable while making a Call?Many have said it looks so WEIRD!
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Yup, which is why i use those hidden stereo wearable Bluetooth headsets
aalokraj said:
Thank you.But is it comfortable while making a Call?Many have said it looks so WEIRD!
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Click to collapse
I don't see why it's uncomfortable. Well, since the phone is wider, you need to know where to place your ear, after a few phone calls you'll instinctively know where to put it. I guess it does look weird from the point of view of an iPhone user, or a Blackberry device. This phone is HUGE. Check out this link with some comparison pictures of other phones I have around the house.
Frankly, I'm comfortable with it. It doesn't bother me. The experience of the large screen is everything I could ever ask for in a mobile device:
Great battery life
Large Screen
Great camera
Easy typing experience with keyboards
I hope I've helped.
It can be a little awkward making a call using the note at first but trust me I had no issues at all in a couple of days. It seems like the perfect size for me now. Apart from the size factor the note beats the s2 in many ways. Go for it, you wont be disappointed.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
aalokraj said:
Thank you.But is it comfortable while making a Call?Many have said it looks so WEIRD!
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Click to collapse
The vast majority of people who say that haven't really used the phone for any signifigant period of time.
My guess would be, the 'getting used to it' hump is probably 1 week. After that, if you are still happy with the size of the phone, then the phone just gets better and better after that.
- Frank
Thinking of getting one of these. Glad to see the pocketability is good. Since I don;t buy cases this should not be an issue. I would imagine an Otterbox on this would put it it in "man purse" territory LOL
Just waiting for more optimization and lower used price points because I intend to keep the SGS II as a back up until I am sure the Note is better. Alos am concerned about losing my MediaNet UL data plan...Not sure I want to pay $220 more a year for 600MB of Carrier data I use over the 200MB plan.
tbong777 said:
I would imagine an Otterbox on this would put it it in "man purse" territory LOL
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hahahahah !! Man purse ... i once saw a guy yapping on a Galaxy Tab, it looked as if he was talking on a laptop.
Galaxy note still looks like a phone though
Where do you put the note when running?
What headset do u use?
P.s. One handed operation is somewhere between ****ty and impossible. But i can live with that. Get note, sgs2 cant compare if you need a mobile internet gadget. For calls and fast sms get s2
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
aalokraj said:
Thank you.But is it comfortable while making a Call?Many have said it looks so WEIRD!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it looks awesome The worst thing that people might think about you is that you are the geekiest geek in the place
Hey all,
I'm starting classes, and I'm taking the plunge from laptop to n7 as my main device for textbooks (now ebooks) and note taking.
I've got moon reader pro for my e-book form textbooks since I am familiar, and it seems to work well enough. I also have been using Papyrus beta and evernote for note taking and I am liking it, but considering switching to a swype like keyboard and a different standard app.
Does anyone else use the N7 for note taking/typing and have any app suggestions or tips?
Thanks all.
I've tried laptop, phone, tablet (N7), but nothing beats paper and pencil (not pen, a pencil) and eraser.
If you're handwriting with stylus, its slow, takes a while to process, not accurate, but at least you can draw all special characters, with laptop keyboard, special chars are a shift of alt away, on tablet, you need to press key for special chars, and again, to access even more of them, and then go back to keyboard...
Depends on what you're studying of course. In computers typing on a tablet is useless, copying code from blackboard to tablet takes the most time ever, paper is the fastest, then laptop, then nothing for a while then tablet.
If you still want to use N7 for notes, search for 'notepad' or 'notepad stylus' (not name of apps, just a guideline), and try various apps.
But still, nothing beats pencil and eraser. I'm going to uni with a notebook (paper and stuff, not a laptop) and pencil, I don't even have a binder, because I don't like it.
But when it comes to books, paper sucks, tablets are awesome (as long as you don't need to take notes in the book itself, but again, you can just mark a page and write your notes down on paper).
Have you tried Asus Supernote?
It's a handwriting app, but it might be worth checking out. http://db.tt/s1GOsCPL
I've been using my nexus 7 for two semesters now. I use the logitech bt keyboard. I use evernote for the notes and skitch for integrated graphs (econ major). So far it's easier than lugging around my laptop and helps that I can study easily anywhere.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
What you need is a mechanical keyboard, once you type on a mechanical keyboard you never going back to cheap crap
http://www.amazon.com/Storm-QuickFi...298516&sr=8-1&keywords=cooler+master+keyboard
http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=202
http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=249
Office suit pro and hackers keyboard for notes. Still enjoy my laptop more, but with one hour battery life and no promise of outlets in all my classes the battery of my nexus seven beats it.
Hackers keyboard is nice, even has special characters.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
I also use the logitech keyboard with my n7. I've made the switch from my ultra book to this method of lightweight note taking and it's just as (or more at times) effective as note taking on a laptop. The only downside is the lack of good word processors for tablet.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
issak42 said:
nothing beats paper and pencil (not pen, a pencil) and eraser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Plus, paper+pencil/pen never requires batteries and don't make click-click-click noises that irritate petulant instructors.
You can even omit the eraser - just use gobs of paper (lots of margins and spaces between every line), as that leaves opportunity for strikeouts and later annotation of notes during study. Have a look online at "Harvard Note Taking" guidelines.
Note that none of the respondents came back with "I use a stylus" for note taking. Annotating existing documents with very very brief notes (or highlighting) seems to be the only decent use of a stylus on the N7 for academic work, but I wouldn't do that in a lecture setting. Too slow.
The reason is that the basic registration accuracy of capacitve touch screens is so poor that you need to scrawl individual characters in huge strokes. Some apps (e.g. Lecture Notes) get around this by having you write in a "zoom box" that automatically scrolls and downsizes into the main document.
That's all well and good, but you are still forced to stylus-write with really huge strokes (on the N7 you can get maybe 3 or 4 words across the horizontal dimension of the screen in landscape mode) - it produces good-looking writing but it is excruciatingly sloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww compared to what you can do with a pencil.
If you want to share notes with others digitally - eh, take a picture of them. Let them annotate them at a snail's pace with a stylus.
good luck with school!
Atm I am using Evernote and Asus Supernote
Evernote is good just because it syncs, text editing is super basic and bullets (imo an essential feature in note taking apps), especially numbered ones, are broken (mostly)
Asus Supernote is great because of the hand writing feature, but I haven't discovered bullets yet
FWIW,
I just "wrote" the sentence
"The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog."
three times in succession - and timed the results for each of three transcription mechanisms:
- Touch typing on a large keyboard: 25 sec (meh, I'm lame - somewhere around 35 wpm)
- Writing it on to a piece of paper: 50 sec
- Scrawling it into Lecture Notes app: 93 sec. (I used an Adonit Jot Classic stylus)
Give it a try yourself to see what your results are (there is a trial version of the Lecture Notes app available). I was surprised that the stylus entry was less than two times slower than handwriting (but almost) - it just feels painfully slow.
For text only - assuming you are/will become a touch typist, typing is hands-down fastest. The problem comes when you encounter extemporaneous symbols or diagrams that are not part of the course handouts. Text-only note taking in a math / science /engineering class is a disaster, but it is probably fine for other lectures that are not diagram- or symbol- intensive.
A valuable skill - whether you are typing or writing - is to be able to do it without ever looking down at what you are doing. That lets you maintain focus on what the lecturer is saying.
Things have changed markedly since I went to school - the handout materials are much richer in complexity and more often than not electronic, which provides an incentive to take notes directly on top of (annotating) them. OTOH, the best lecturers tend to go off-script and expand on things that are NOT in the course notes. (The worst lecturer I ever had practically read from the textbook verbatim).
That puts a premium on speed, and keeping your attention focused on the lecturer - not your note taking mechanism.
If you go digital, use dropbox or something similar for backups religiously. Nobody wants to steal your paper notes, but the same is not true of your tablet.
cheers
Has anyone ever successfully used their Galaxy Tab S for note taking? For class or meeting?
Been searching for a solution for awhile now, and some say that C Pen is great and some not. Others say that an app is needed but it has always been vague. Maybe someone has found a good combination of both?
Sadly, being new to the tablet, i thought the Tab S had a similar features to Note except for the screen. Now I'm stuck with it but, I want to make the most of it since a Note 10.1 would still be too big and a Note 4 too small.
Best solution I've found is a Bluetooth keyboard and a word processing/note taking app. Bluetooth keyboards come pretty small but they work great.
The tab s has a great screen. But as of note taking the tab s is really thin and for me note taking with keyboard on screen (no keyboard) makes it kind of hard becuase of the thin edges which hurt for a while. But if typing on the table its great for typying. A goog thing about this tab is how thin it is to store it but can break really easy if dropped. Its great for reading notes as at 1/4 brightness at night it still is bright. Its really great for any light levels. Even in the sun you can still see it.
Xandmanxx said:
Has anyone ever successfully used their Galaxy Tab S for note taking? For class or meeting?
Been searching for a solution for awhile now, and some say that C Pen is great and some not. Others say that an app is needed but it has always been vague. Maybe someone has found a good combination of both?
Sadly, being new to the tablet, i thought the Tab S had a similar features to Note except for the screen. Now I'm stuck with it but, I want to make the most of it since a Note 10.1 would still be too big and a Note 4 too small.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the best device with those function are still note 8.0
even with c-pen i find it kind of hard for taking notes on tab s.
Note taking in general doesn't really work out. I am 2 times faster by swyping at first place. Then s-pen does not offer enough resistance. C-pen tracing on tab s is nearly as accurate, but more resistance (what I like) but palm rejection can be a problem. There's dozens of apps around, but I didn't find any that truly allows for efficient note taking. So I ended up only using the pen for drawings, otherwise I use swyping. There, a c-pen is advantageous because it offers certain give and more natural glide. For longer texts I use an Apple keyboard.
Dear XDA community I am very tempted to buy the tab s8 but i may need your help to understand whether this device is for me.
I bought a Tab S 8.4 waaaaay back in 2014 and I have been using it happily ever since. Before buying a tablet i thought that tablets were mostly productive devices rather than glorified phones with a bad camera. The tab s was an amazing device for what it was (especially at 350€) but i quickly found out that it couldn't do most things that I wanted it to do.
It couldn't be truly used to write documents due to the castrated mobile office apps
It couldn't be used for true multitasking (multi window worked only for selected special apps which most of the time where not the one I used)
External monitors could go only up to 1080p 30Hz and had way worse colors and i couldn't charge my device while displaying something on a TV
There is no concept of "running apps" infact every app except for the one i was using was just closed after a while, it has happened to me to actually loose edits on documents or comments.
Laggy alt tab and more in general laggy UI (yes even when it was new. In fact I'm quite sure it's more responsive now without all the Samsung bloats)
Instant throttling due to extremely poor thermal solution
Updated only twice and each update gave me worse and worse performance.
Now the reason why I didn't upgrade so far is because tablets just didn't inspire fun anymore. I tried iPads but they were not even capable of coping some files in background without errors. Windows tablets unfortunately have just eighter bad performance or impossible prices (really you could spend 3000+€ on a flimsy quad-core just to have as little as 16gb of ram, which truly i the minimum for windows). Chrome os tablets just don't exist, most have 4gb of ram and the ones with a decent build qualty like the HP x2 have massively under-powered internals. This is a shame because they are now supported for 8 years and i really value long term support. Then i took a look back at android and saw a graveyard of devices built to be trashed after one year and never updated.... except for one that suffered from chronic underfuned development: the tab S. Even that though was not as impressive as the original version. It had barely more ram, extremely inflated price, still no decent apps.
Now i wonder has all of this changed for the Tab S8?
I write less documents so may be able to withstand a crappy office suite.
8gb of ram finally a decent size although the phone i have in my pocket already has 8gb of ram and i bought it 6 years ago so i wonder if that little amount of ram will doom the tab S8 to be trashed in a couple of years.
External monitors seems to be decently handled by dex but I've read that it supports only 1440p60....... which seems strange because 4k monitors are very cheap..... like I litterally bought mine for 250€ to replace an old 1280x1024p75 and the difference is amazing. That alone if it is true is a reason to not buy the tab. I don't pretend to do video editing on it but device that costs as much as a semi decent laptop and cannot fulfill basic computer tasks like browsing on a big screen would be a no go. Also it is not clear whether dex supports window snapping, fast alt tab, and persistent applications that don't close without my permission.
Is the UI still bloated? I've read some reviews that when switching from one app to the other the animation can drop a lot of frames and the alt tab stutters. I was really hoping that after so many years that would not be even thought to be possible anymore.
Also about throttling: i've read that samsung gave up on not making it throttle so they under-clocked it to keep the thermals within a controlled range.
For what concerns the 4 years of support i wonder: does that mean true support and updates or i will receive updates 9-10 months later than google devices with a final bloated update that cripples the device?
NO HEADPHONE JACK? really? on a device that is supposed to be productive?
16/9 aspect ratio..... so they put a screen to watch cat videos on a 700-1200€ product....it makes me wonder why not a more normal 3/2 or 4/3.
Also it seems that if i want a screen that is not worse than the one i already have in my very old tablet I need to pay 200€ more and have a bigger device that is heavier and less confortable to hold. Also i've seen online that when you activate the night mode on the TFT display the colors become way worse.
One thing that really interests me is the S pen.
The idea of properly taking notes and drawing on a device like this puts me in a position where I am very willing to try and see how the experience of using it is.
Are there some decent drawing apps? Paid ones as well as long as it is a one time payment and not a lifelong rental.
Do you know if there are some programs that recognize hand writing to transform it to computer words?
Guys sorry if I am criticizing a bit. I really don't want to offend anyone. I was just looking for some help to select a decent device. Thank you, i hope you understand.
Hello! use S8 ultra.Everybody think is the best tablet.
Well s8 ultra is really good, I own one and I can even run desktop mode of dex straight onto my s8 ultra. Without needing tv or so.
Also screen is biggest one ever as a OLED one. Next I like is that it's smooth and hardly lags for me at all.
I use the Tab S8+ as an upgrade over my Tab S4 from a few years ago and I'm just saying that I'm never looking back. The bigger screen is amazing for media consumption, drawing, editing (whether it's photo or video), multitasking, etc. I don't output to a monitor or TV very often, but if I do, the experience is pretty good. Dex has come a long way over the past couple of generations and device revisions and is almost good enough to be a laptop replacement (for some, not for all though). I'd only recommend the Ultra if you SERIOUSLY need double the ram, a bigger screen ( 2.2" bigger than the S8+, 3.6" bigger than the S8), and the second forward-facing camera. The performance is practically the same for all three Tab S8s, the only difference being the size, cameras, and ram. 8GB is enough for most people, but if you genuinely need more, then I'd spring for the S8U, but if not, then either the S8 or S8+ is perfectly fine. I chose the S8+ for the bigger, more vibrant, super AMOLED screen. After daily driving a device with an OLED screen, I can't go back to LCD, but I've heard the TFT LCD on the S8 is pretty good for being an LCD. You do miss those deeper blacks and some color fidelity though.
Edit: I thought I should answer a few of your questions and address some of your concerns.
- The UI is still pretty bloated (especially if you have an S8 with 5G capabilities like Verizon), but it's a lot more manageable than before. You can disable a lot of apps that you don't plan on using, as well as uninstalling their updates, not allowing them to change system permission or have any permissions at that, or even straight-up hide them from the app drawer if you're using the OneUI Home launcher. You can even remove them via ADB commands if you hook your tablet to a PC as long as you input the right commands.
- The aspect ratio of all Tab S8s is 16:10, not 16:9. The tablets are a little wider to account for that. As a result, it's not going to cover the entire screen when outputting to an external display, and yes, it'll only be at 60hz.
- The Tab S8 line will continue to receive software updates for the next five years (until 2027), so we will probably get the next two or maybe three next versions of Android, as well as semi-frequent security updates and patches. We'll be up to date for quite a while, at least until the next Tab line comes out.
- Not having a headphone jack is one of the main reasons why I didn't spring for the Tab S6 line back in 2020, but times have changed and now I've found pretty reliable alternatives to continue using wired headphones, use the mic attached to those headphones for calls and audio recordings, and to charge at the same time. I'll use the ANKER USB-C Hub mainly for displaying to an external display, but I did use it for simultaneous wired headphones and charging until I got the Stouchi USB-C 3.5mm Headphone and Charging Adapter. This dongle has served me well for some months now and while it can give me some occasional charging issues (mainly due to my poor positioning), it's a quite durable and serviceable dongle. Not to mention that if you ever have issues with it, customer support responds via email very quickly, and has a quite friendly staff team that'll help you out.
- The tablets really aren't as large and unwieldy as many people try and make them out to be. Maybe it's just because I have big hands or have no problem carrying reasonably heavy things, but it's genuinely not that bad. With the specs that are in these newer tablets, I'm surprised that they're not heavier. The S8+ is 1.25 lbs (around 0.6 kg) and is quite thin and quite lighter than it should be given what's inside and how well they perform. Adding the cover case included with the official keyboard for these tablets (not the slim one, as those are one piece as opposed to being made of a magnetic back cover with an S-Pen cover and a keyboard attachment) does add a bit of weight to it, but not enough to cause any sort of strain.
- I use Sketchbook for drawing, but I've been recommended Medibang quite a few times since it has a lot more creative tools that you can use. Both are free as far as I know.
- Samsung Notes has a feature where it can turn words you've written down with the S-Pen into regular text. I believe there's also an S-Pen related app that you can use in its little sub-menu (when you press the button on the S-Pen close to the screen), but if there is, I don't use it very often. I just stick to Samsung Notes since it seems like a dedicated app for exactly this purpose. You can even backup notes you've made to the cloud if you log in to your Samsung account. Quite the handy application if I do say so myself.
It may be a lot to read, but I hope I helped you in your decision a little bit. These are some pretty great (if a little pricy) devices, and any of them would be a great upgrade over your previous (or I suppose current) Samsung tablet.
Also another thing I want to add is that s8 ultra is durable. Since jerryrigeverything did a durability test and even he failed to snap the s8 ultra in half. Like he could with first Ipad pro gen 1 when it was first biggest tablet on the marked.
The Ipad pro broke in half like paper, but when he tried to do same with s8 ultra 14.6 inch he couldn't bend it at all, even if he took all his strength. Yet it wouldn't bend and he was impressed on samsung on managing to build a 14.6 inch tablet that is impossible to bend. He was expecting some bend or breaks on first tablet that big.
Ops double posted my bad.
Was trying to edit post above and for some reason it went double post.
SavXL said:
I'll use the ANKER USB-C Hub mainly for displaying to an external display, but I did use it for simultaneous wired headphones and charging until I got the Stouchi USB-C 3.5mm Headphone and Charging Adapter.
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FYI, I think both your links are borked somehow. Thanks for all the info, though!
Massive thanks to all of you for your replies, especially to @SavXL for the detailed reply.
In the end I decided to give it a try and see what happens.
I choose the 10.4'' size because it is definetly a bump in dimensions and weight compared to the 8.4 i was using. The main bummer is that the screen is a literal downgrade from the one i was using before. Still as you said for an LCD is not bad at all and the colors are decent. It is however true what it was told online in a couple of other places: "turning on the blue light filter totally destroys the screen"... such thing would not happen with an oled.
I went with more storage and with the keyboard cover because there was a 50% discount on both the upgrade and the keyboard. What can I say, the device feels solid however I was worried to scratch the lens without the cover as it is literally rubbing on every surface without a cover. The keyboard is surprisingly nice to type on for what it is, keep in mind that still if used as a desktop attached to a monitor it makes sense to have a 20€ membrane or 60€ mechanical keyboard at least. The difference with the official tablet keyboard is massive. The track-pad is just trash. unfortunately there is no better way to put it. A thinkpad or dell from 2007 will have a better track-pad. With a bluetooth mouse and the touchscreen thankfully the trackpad can be ignored. The software keyboard improved a lot to the point where for now I'm not replacing it with my normal "Swiftkey".
The pen is surprisingly natural to use and surprisingly.... small. It is strange to say because it seems massive from the pictures. But I've noticed it slips while writing a bit more than a normal pen. Maybe i find a "case" for it that increases the diameter and grip but still fits in the space dedicated in the cover. Pen gestures in the air are just a meme so I will not talk about them. Still it is a joy to use.
I didn't try dex in a real way so maybe I write an additional message in the next weeks after I thoroughly try it. For that I will source an adapter and try it on a 4k monitor, I really hope the tab S8 has improved resolution handling..... being limited to HDMI1.4 bandwith in 2022 will not be funny. For what concerns the multi window the limit went from 4 of the original tab S to 3 of the S8 ...... now I get that we have a small screen and it may be stupid to use more than a couple of applications in parallel... but I would like to be the one deciding that on my device. One major annoyance with the split screen support is that when resizing windows the content blurs... hopefully I can find a way to disable that crap because it truly slows down the interaction with the device. In general the multi window behaviour improved a lot, but the way i interact with windows is still strange as if we were still in the windows 3.1 days where we hadn't figured out a way to properly grab windows, resize them, move them, snap them. This awkwardness is a lot reduced by enabling the multiwindow line even on full screeen windows. That helps to feel the environment less forced.
Speaking of slowdowns: I was shocked that after 8 freaking years Samsung didn't manage to have a fluent interface. Don't get me wrong it is mostly fluent but full of small hiccups that I may accept on a cheap underpowered device but not at this price range. There is a lot of preinstalled bloarware, most of it can be removed or disabled so for now I'm accepting it.... after I get more confident with the device I will definetly debloat it.
Alt tab between the last 2 applications takes ages. It takes literally seconds. By disabling all the animations in the developer options the situation becomes a lot better but still the point is that the alt tab works correctly when you want to alt tab between several applications but not when you want to alternate between the last 2. Try on your normal computer. You shouldn't see the list of applications when quickly alt tabbing. If you see that, it then becomes distracting and slows the workflow because then you need a couple seconds more to focus on what you were doing in that app. Continuing with the alt tab I have to find a way to make the recents smaller and/or vertical and/or fit all in the screen. I have no use for big previews that show the content of the app. I opened that app, I am already aware of what I am doing with it. Another problem with the alt tab is that there is no text. If i have 2 documents that look very similar to one another you can bet that they have a different name so I'd rather be able to identify them at a glance rather than squeeze my eyes and play "spot the differences".
The sidebar to quickly open applications in split or floating mode is very handy. I have to use it more to get used to it but for now i can say that i wished the icons were smaller, that there was more compact content, and less "pages". If it takes me more than a couple of seconds to scroll through the pages then I might just as well go to the home screen and do there what I wanted to do. Maybe there is a way to customize it more than what I noticed so far. This seems very much a phone app ported to a tablet rather than a proper tablet app.
I was almost forgetting the fingerpint. It's fast. I'm glad I chose the smaller device for that as well. Under-screen sensors in the past have been slow, though I don't know how much they improved in the past couple of years.
Video calls are great. The front facing camera has a decent contrast and dynamic range, obviously better than windows devices that cost twice as much. It is also positioned as close to my eyelevel as it can be on a small device. I have yet to try the microphone in a proper way but considering I didn't have to raise my voice too much to be heard on the other side it seems good.
On the software side I'm happy. I had a couple of issues with skype where i cannot move the automatic floating window that appears when I go home during a call, dropbox decided to limit me to 3 devices all of a sudden so I will just use google drive from now on. I've downloaded a bunch of drawing apps including the ones suggested by SavXL. so far so good.
In conclusions: Is this device worth it? Yes if you use the pen. Everything else on this device is excellent but not unique. Otherwise If you have a decent phone you could just grab a cheap lapdock or tabdock and you will have an amazing experience. If you want more proper windows or a more proper browsing experience you can grab a chromebook. It will still have the same hikkups in the interface but at least is because you saved some money. What makes this tablet unique is the pen, which is amazing.
Just as a comparison: A modern wacom pen on the left vs the S-Pen on the right. I can assure you that the diameter difference makes it slip more.
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knosso said:
Just as a comparison: A modern wacom pen on the left vs the S-Pen on the right. I can assure you that the diameter difference makes it slip more.
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It's ironic since I only had one S-Pen before - from the Note 10+, so when I bought the Tab S8 Ultra as my first Samsung tablet, I was surprised it was that big, but what you say definitely makes sense. I would be afraid that putting anything around it semi-permanently would interfere with either the magnetic sticking to the back of the Tab and/or the wireless charging of the S-Pen.
Also with at least the Ultra's Keyboard Cover, it might not allow fully closing the top-hinged portion of the back cover where the S-Pen is.
Of course, an easily removable solution would beat these concerns.
knosso said:
In conclusions: Is this device worth it? Yes if you use the pen.
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I've been meaning to ask this question: What do people use the pen for? No real guidance in the manual. All I've done with it is keep it charged.
lloydsw said:
I've been meaning to ask this question: What do people use the pen for? No real guidance in the manual. All I've done with it is keep it charged.
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I haven't fooled with the Tab S8 Ultra's S-Pen much yet, just experimented with both Samsung's and Google's implementation of handwriting to text conversion. On my Note 10+ which got rid of, I would occasionally sketch out rough ideas for building things or rearranging furniture, etc. I rarely play games but with some games, the S-Pen came in handy as well.
My wife plans on using handwriting to text conversion.
Edit: I'd like to add that from research I've done in the past, Samsung owns patents on several aspects of their styluses which prevent other styluses from being quite as good.
lloydsw said:
I've been meaning to ask this question: What do people use the pen for? No real guidance in the manual. All I've done with it is keep it charged.
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Personally I think that literally any function other than the pen can be done by another device better than an android tablet (chromebooks have a real browser, phones are always in your pocket and have good cameras, computers have real applications to do real work) but if you want to paint, sketch, and take notes you don't really have any other option aside from the tab S line and the iPads.
The Remakable is wonderful to take notes but you cannot paint on it. Wacom tablets are amazing to paint but are to do creative work at home with a computer, it would be cumbersome to use them in a park.
If you are in classes or in a meeting and want to take notes but then also be able to sketch something on your free time in a park or cafè then a tablet is a must have.
Personally im not an artist but I'm having tons of fun with medibang paint, ibis paint, sketchbook, and other apps. When i become a bit better at drawing I will invest in Clip Studio Paint.
I wish there was something like premiere rush but for davinci resolve available for our tab s8. Starting my video editing on the tablet with dex to then finish it on a real computer would be amazing. I would hands down pay for that app instead if being forced to rent the adobe suite. If it existed I would be forced to use my pc 10 times less.