Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra in test: The best Android tablet in the world

This is an article from our content partner "Nextpit". Here you can find the original article by Carsten Drees.

Pro

• Great AMOLED display
• Very high-quality workmanship
• Extremely strong performance without overheating
• S Pen included
• Strong sound

Con

• Too unwieldy
• Potential is only exploited with keyboard
• S Pen not integrated into the device
• Quick charging not really "quick
• Sparse scope of delivery (no charger)
• High price

Short summary

The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, introduced together with the Galaxy S22 series in February 2022, is huge - both figuratively and literally, as its display measures 14.6 inches. Samsung's tablet is packed with top technology from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 to the high-resolution AMOLED display and the S Pen.

OneUI 4.1 based on Android 12 runs fabulously fast on the tablet, and working with the S Pen is a real delight. With up to 16 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of expandable storage, the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is also top in this aspect. In addition, there are two cameras at the back and two at the front as well as four speakers with rich sound.

Does that make me happy? No, not quite. Again, I miss the charger and the keyboard to really get everything out of the Ultra. But still: The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is nothing more and nothing less than the best Android tablet in the world. However, you will have to dig deep into your pocket for it: The "smallest" model with 8 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, and Wi-Fi will cost you 1,149 Euros (~$599). The most expensive model costs almost 1,600 Euros.

Design & display: It (almost) doesn't get any better than that.

The Galaxy Tab S8 comes with a screen diagonal of 14.6 inches and has a very high-quality build and is incredibly thin. The AMOLED display is also great - but not perfect!

Likes:

• classy design
• High-quality workmanship
• Very fluid, high-contrast 120 Hz display

Dislikes:

• too big (matter of taste)
• no slot for the S Pen
• Low pixel density

After the four bulky movers heaved the test device into my apartment, I first thought about moving my TV aside and replacing it with this 14.6-inch behemoth (okay, I'll spare myself and you further gags about the tablet's size).

However, the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is indeed huge. It measures 208.6 x 326.4 mm, but is razor-thin at 5.5 mm. However, it looks surprisingly robust for being so thin. With 726 grams, it weighs almost exactly as much as two Big Tasty Bacon from McDonald's. That's a lot for such a device. That's a lot, but it's actually quite light for such a bulky device. So, now I'm hungry too!

There is a single color - Graphite - which gives the tablet a classy touch. On the back of the aluminum case, we see the Samsung lettering on the upper left, and the dual-cam on the upper right. Next to the camera, you will find a magnetic surface where you can park the S Pen when you do not need it and/or have to charge it. By the way, I also like this magnetic strip as a design element.

On top we find the volume rocker and the power button, also on top is the slot for the microSD card and possibly for the SIM card. There are two speakers on the left and right sides, and the USB Type-C port is on the right. We do not see anything on the bottom, apart from the contacts for accessories like the keyboard cover.

The entire front is of course taken up by the Super AMOLED panel, which has a resolution of 2,960 x 1,848 pixels. Sounds like a lot at first, but this only corresponds to a paltry pixel density of 240 ppi for this display size. Images are repeated at up to 120 hertz. That is great, but unfortunately the refresh rate is not adaptive, so you have to choose between the 120 hertz and 60 hertz.

Other than that, there's nothing at all to gripe about the display. It is bright enough (although nowhere near as bright as the Galaxy S22 Ultra), offers deep blacks and great contrasts. Viewing photos or videos on the tablet is a pure pleasure. The Samsung-typical colors were a bit too crisp for me, so I switched to the natural display in the settings.

The screen is surrounded by very slim edges including rounded corners. The notch with the two front cameras is noticeable at the upper edge. The smaller brothers, the Galaxy Tab S8 and Galaxy Tab S8+, have the selfie cam in the wider edge instead.

All in all, we get absolute top class in terms of design, build quality, and display. In terms of quality, even an iPad Pro has to stretch to keep up - and just fails.

S Pen: Yes, where is it?

It is impossible to imagine Samsung's tablets without the S Pen. Writing and drawing now feels really natural with it. It also helps with the tablet's operation.

Likes:

• Included in the scope of delivery
• Low latency
• Natural writing feel
• Automatically charges on the tablet

Dislikes:

• No holder or slot

I still have faint memories of the very first Galaxy Note and how well I liked the S Pen. Since then, the pen has developed greatly and gained in features. Take a look at our article, which gives you ten tips and tricks for the S Pen.

Even with my somewhat sausage-like fingers, the S Pen feels very good in the hand. And when you write or draw with it, you actually get a very natural writing feeling. We owe this to the low latency, which Samsung says has been reduced from 9 ms to 2.8 ms. The realistic writing experience is also fueled by the fact that Samsung offers us a "doodle" sound.

Both the quick menu of the S Pen and the Air Gestures can make your life and the tablet's operation much easier. But honestly, while I believe that, it doesn't really fit for me. By the time I grabbed the stylus from the back and pressed the button, I would have realized the desired function long ago even without the S Pen.

That is not a point against the pen, but just my personal preference. However, I find it objectively unfortunate: While the stylus finds room in the Galaxy S22 Ultra, we have to make do with a magnetic solution here, in which the S Pen is temporarily attached to the back.

The magnetic holder looks like a compromise at best. I reached for the pen several times and it fell down first. Likewise, the pen is easily lost when you stow the tablet in a bag. It's just not a natural, intuitive solution, if you ask me. But that's probably the price you pay when the pen is thicker than the tablet.

You can help yourself by getting a cover. Depending on the version of the cover, you will find a clamping device or even a slot - definitely the more convenient solution.

Personally, I do not need the S Pen as an operating tool, although it makes life easier in Dex mode. However, it is a real added value for sketching, taking notes or a quick signature.

Software: Are you overwhelmed, Android 12?

Of course, the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra offers the latest Android 12 including One UI 4.1. You thus get a very feature-rich overlay on the cutting edge - but also an Android 12 that sometimes feels too much like a compromise on tablets.

Likes:

• Long updates
• Feature-rich One UI

Dislikes:

• Android 12 implementation on the large screen
• Full potential is only exploited with keyboard

Attention, again a matter of taste: I am personally not a very big One UI fan. It's too much colorful for me, I prefer it simple and straightforward. Nevertheless, Samsung's Android interface is one of the most popular in the Android world.

If you want to know what to expect with the latest One UI, be sure to check out our in-depth review of One UI 4.0. What I really like on the tablet is the automatic display of some applications in two windows. For example, in Gmail, you have the mail overview on the left, while the selected mail is displayed on the right. Similarly with YouTube: Video on the left, recommendations or video description on the right.

However, I often have the feeling - similar to my esteemed colleague Zois in his review of the Galaxy Tab S8+ - that we are often just dealing with apps that have been blown up to tablet size. And believe me: An app that is meant for a smartphone display can already look very dubious when you roll it out to 14.6 inches.

The Dex mode, which you can access either via a button on the optional keyboard or from the tablet's advanced settings, is supposed to help you work more productively and professionally. In fact, your tablet becomes a decent notebook replacement thanks to keyboard and mouse support. However, we are limited by the available software or rather by possibly needed professional software that we cannot use on Android.

I had to manage without a keyboard cover for my test, so I only benefited from the Dex mode to a limited extent. Visually, it is not insignificantly reminiscent of Windows, and you can also open several apps next to and on top of each other in windows, similar to Windows. On the one hand, this is very practical, but on the other hand, the controls are sometimes difficult to hit with my big fingers. If only there was something delicate like an S Pen to - oh, there it is.

Another particularly strong feature of this Samsung device is the software support! The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra also gets four major Android updates and security updates for five years. Speaking of updates: Samsung fans are also eagerly awaiting Android 12L - some problems with the app display could be a thing of the past. Let's wait and see!

Performance: The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is a machine

Like many other mobile flagships, the Galaxy Tab S8 Utra relies on the power of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. A feeling of happiness that is almost unknown, at least for us Europeans.

Likes:

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 completely convinces
• hardly any heating up
• Expandable memory

Disliked:

• -

Of all things, Samsung often catches criticism for the heart of its flagships. Currently, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which is equipped with the much-criticized Exynos 2200 instead of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in Europe. Not so with the tablet counterpart of the Ultra model. Like the other two tablets in the lineup, we also find Qualcomm's currently strongest SoC here.

This is obviously good for the tablet! Even though the SoC in the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra does not quite reach the best performance of other smartphones, the performance is beyond doubt. Personally, I am not really interested in how a device performs in the benchmarks, even though it is of course an indication of what you can expect. What I find more exciting is whether a device hits the sweet spot between performance, energy efficiency and heat development.

That's where I see the strength in this device, because you get a performance that is beyond reproach and yet I hardly noticed any noticeable temperature increases. When gaming, the processor doesn't break down even on high graphics settings, and I didn't experience any thermal throttling issues.

You can get the device with up to 16 GB of RAM, our test version offers 12 GB. The more RAM you have, the better the performance in Dex mode or multitasking.

There is also nothing to complain about in terms of connectivity. You can opt for a 5G version for a surcharge of 150 Euros, Wi-Fi 6E is supported, as well as Bluetooth 5.2.

Perhaps the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra cannot quite keep up with the performance of the iPad Pro - but you will simply not find a stronger tablet in the Android universe at the moment.

Camera and sound

Samsung installs four cameras in its high-end tablet. At least two of them are located in a notch at the front. Two more are on the back. To be honest, I am more convinced by the quad speakers on the sides.

Likes:

• Dual selfie cam
• Loud, rich sound of the speakers

Disliked:

• Ultra-wide-angle rear with 6 MP is nonsense
• At best "okay" photos

Two cameras on the back of a garage door-sized tablet? Honestly? Even a fold-out bottle opener or a bicycle bell would have been a more sensible feature. You can already tell that I'm not a big fan of cameras on the back of tablets. Unfortunately, the 13 MP main camera and the ultra-wide-angle sensor with 6 megapixels do not change that. Sure, a decent snapshot can be taken in a pinch, but the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra will probably collapse when looking at the skills of the S22 Ultra, for example.

That's okay, though, because I don't assume that even one person on this planet buys a 14.6-inch, 1200-stone tablet because they want to take pictures with it. Therefore, these two photos should suffice, one taken with the main camera and one with the ultra-wide-angle cam.

More exciting is the front, where Samsung gives us a second selfie camera. Both cameras offer 12 megapixels, and the second shooter is also an ultra-wide-angle camera. Thanks to the 120-degree field of view, you can also capture the entire group in front of the camera in the video call.

Feel free to let us know in the comments below if you think we should go into more detail about the cameras on tablets as well. In the meantime, I'll draw your attention inconspicuously to the speakers. Samsung again uses a system with quad stereo speakers. You will find two speakers on each side, held horizontally. There is an astonishing amount of output when you turn them up to full power, and nothing distorts even at this volume.

In combination with the great display, you get a real multimedia heavyweight for long nights of watching TV shows. The camera on the other hand is at best a useful tool for video meetings and should rather be seen as a nice accessory.

Battery: Average at best

Big device, big battery, right? Samsung installs a fat 11,200 mAh battery, but the battery life is still rather average.

Likes:

• Large battery
• Fast charging with 45 watts

Disliked:

• Charger is not included

It is slowly becoming a fundamental question: How fast is "fast"? Personally, the 45 watts Samsung offers me for the 11,200 mAh battery are enough. The tablet is fully charged in just over 80 minutes. At least that's what I read. I could not test it myself because our sustainability champions do not pack a charger in the box anymore.

If you use an older 15-watt charger, it takes more than two and a half hours until the "100 percent" mark flashes again. Converted into net time, I get almost exactly seven hours with PCMark's battery test. That is considerably less than many other tablets, but really sufficient.

The crux of this device is its sheer size. Not only does the greedy Snapdragon need to be powered, but you also have to keep a 14.6-inch display running at up to 120 Hertz. That's where every battery reaches its limits.

Conclusion

Is the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra the best Android tablet on the market? Yes, definitely! Does that make it perfect or better than the iPad Pro with M1 from 2021? Nope, rather not.

You get a lot for a lot of money, and yes: Samsung does a lot right! As a Netflix machine, the device is a real hit because the display and the good speakers are simply fun to watch movies on. The performance is top-notch and the S Pen offers a whole cornucopia of possibilities. However, I am still annoyed that Samsung did not include a slot for the pen.

I do not blame Samsung for the average cameras and battery life. That is just the compromise that you have to find somehow in every device. I see the bigger problem in something that Samsung can only do to a limited extent: "Thanks" to Android, a tablet is only a limited productivity machine for me personally. It may be that this will get better with Android 12L or Android 13, but we're not quite there yet.

Furthermore, I think that this indisputably outstanding tablet can only show its full capabilities if you invest another 350 Euros and use it together with the keyboard cover. For the largest version of the tablet with keyboard and charger, I put 2,000 euros on the table. Wouldn't that be money you would rather invest directly in a notebook?

Apart from the fact that it is expensive, anyone who asks for the best Android tablet on the planet will undoubtedly get their hands on the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra.