Samsung Galaxy TabPro S review: One of the most well-rounded productivity tablets on the market

The Samsung Galaxy has expanded. And that expansion has led it to one of the most well-rounded productivity tablets on the market.

Meet the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S. It's Samsung's first foray into the Windows tablet market, a market that for the last several years has been all about the Microsoft Surface. While the rest of the Windows-based mobile market has shifted toward the hybrid laptop, the Surface has managed to skillfully straddle the line between laptop and tablet, delivering a quality blend of productivity and leisure.

Samsung, having successfully conquered and mastered Android, arrives in this world with the TabPro S, and it's a device that's instantly ready to compete with the Surface and Apple's iPad Pro. Samsung delivers the best blend of value and features you'll find in a work-world tablet, even if there are some strange and bothersome missteps.

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This is one of the first Samsung devices to debut so impressively. Samsung has continually released unique and innovative pieces, from the Galaxy Note a few years back to the Samsung Gear line of smartwatches to last year's underrated Galaxy View. But it's often taken the company a while to get that magic formula, to build those devices in the nexus of innovation and user-friendliness. With the TabPro S, though, Samsung gets things right from the start.

The strength of the TabPro S is its price. For $899, you get the 12-inch tablet, as well as the snap-on keyboard case. Both Microsoft and Apple force you to buy keyboard attachments separately, running up ever-higher bills. Samsung's decision to pair the keyboard case with the TabPro S is the latest example of the company's willingness to listen to the consumer, and it's one of a host of smart features built into a user-friendly device.

The keyboard case snaps onto the TabPro S easily, and you're ready for action. It's a sleek, professional package, maybe around two pounds with that case. Sans the keyboard case, it's just 1.53 pounds, but that's more talking point than anything; you'll have the case on more often than not.

The keyboard case is functional, if occasionally clunky. Much like many of these tablet keyboards, it's an acquired taste, different from your average laptop or desktop keyboard. The keys themselves are set against each other, so typos will abound early on. But once I gained comfort with the form, the spacing was just fine; I've typed several full stories on tight deadline on the TabPro S with no problem.

More cumbersome is setting up the TabPro S to get down to work. The Surface has that excellent kickstand, and Apple's standard iPad keyboard cases move with great fluidity. The TabPro S case clicks into place, but at times, it can feel too stiff and rigid. The trackpad is surprisingly smooth, too, although you'll get plenty of mileage out of the touchscreen naturally. The setup is durable, for sure, although but not all will enjoy the effort required to get the TabPro S set up. In the big picture, though, this is nitpicking; the keyboard is plenty functional, and it's part of an attractive overall package.

The tablet itself is a potent device for work productivity, with the upside to do more than that, too. The AMOLED screen, with its 2,160-by-1,440 resolution, is as stunning as ever. Samsung has been using this tech in its phones, and it looks terrific on a larger display as well. It's only subtly better than the iPad Pro and Surface, really, but it outperforms both devices outdoors, thanks to its superior contrast ratios. Movies look terrific on the TabPro S, yes, this is the device you want to tote along on a lengthy flight.

Samsung offers one standard configuration, with a 128 GB solid state drive, 4 GB of RAM and an Intel Core M3 processor. The Core M3 has its upsides and downsides, though. The Surface line offers i5 configurations that deliver more power, and at times, you may want more power in the TabPro S. It's such a tantalizing device that you can't help but try a few games on it. With a more powerful CPU, you can't help wondering if the TabPro S might have gaming chops.

Then again, the Core M3 also allows for the fully fanless (and thus ultraslim) design of the TabPro S. It also helps fuel a device that gets terrific battery life. Samsung claims you can get 10.5 hours out of a single charge, and I generally very easily got a day out of the TabPro S. A quick-charge adapter will help at airports, too, getting you more than two hours of life from a half-hour charge.

The Core M3 proves more than capable for basic tasks, such as web browsing and movie viewing. Even light gaming is passable on the TabPro S, with older titles such as Elder Scrolls: Skyrim being playable if you don't expect a graphical feast.

Smart software features round out the package, letting you do such things as borrow network access from your Samsung smartphone and stream Xbox One games to your TabPro S. None of these features are essential — and most can be accomplished with a little tech knowledge — but Samsung makes them easy, pushing the accessibility of their device.

Still, things are missing, and these will annoy advanced users. There's a stylus for the TabPro S, but that hasn't been made available yet. And the device is also one of the first from Samsung to rely on the upcoming USB-C standard — that means all your old accessories will only work if you purchase a USB-C converter, or you purchase all-new accessories. (Then again, everyone will have to deal with this in the coming months, anyway).

Overall, though, the TabPro S is an impressive first entry by Samsung into the Windows tablet and the productivity tablet spaces, that rare first-generation device that's easy to recommend.

Samsung's Galaxy just keeps on growing.

Tags: technology
Source: Samsung Galaxy TabPro S review: One of the most well-rounded productivity tablets on the market