Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 first impressions: A capable tablet that could rival the iPad Pro

Samsung Mobile has **just launched** the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, its latest tablet in the S Tab series. This new update comes almost two years after **the Tab S2 was launched** in India. So the Tab S3 is a much-needed update for users who would want a good, recently updated Android-powered tablet. The tablet is probably one of the most compelling offerings running Android in the Indian market.  Priced at Rs 47,990 for the Indian market, the Galaxy Tab S3 will be available online and offline at retailers starting 20 June. The launch of Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is a much-needed refresh to the Galaxy Tab S line-up and was first announced at Mobile World Congress 2017 earlier this year in Barcelona. We got to use the device for some time at the launch event in Bengaluru. Here is how the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 fares in 2017. Build and Design Galaxy Tab S3 is a sleek device with a metal housing and glass back with a 6 mm thickness. It feels premium in the hand with no squeaky parts. This reaffirms that Samsung has used high-quality materials to manufacture the tablet. It is lightweight at 434 grams so your hands are not taxed by carrying the 9.7-inch tablet around.  You will find the home button with an embedded fingerprint sensor and the standard multi-task and back buttons below the screen on the front. The top portion only includes the proximity sensor along with the front camera. You will find the SIM and microSD card tray along with the volume rocker and the power button on the right side of the tablet.  The left side of the Tab S3 includes the connector pins so that you can connect the tablet to the keyboard that Samsung is selling separately. The company has not removed the 3.5-mm headphone jack which you can find along with the USB 3.1 Type-C port at the bottom side of the device.  One interesting thing to note about the Tab S3 is the presence of the quad-speaker setup with two on the top corner and two on the bottom corners of the top and bottom side of the device along with the antenna bands. The company teamed up with AKG to tune up the speakers and you will find ‘tuned by AKG’ branding on the back of the device.  One thing to note here is that the USB 3.1 Type-C Port is not aligned at the middle of the tablet on the bottom portion of the tablet, which did trigger the mild OCD that I suffer from in things about design. Last but not the least, you will find the primary camera along with the LED flash at the middle in the upper area on the back of the device. Features The Galaxy Tab S3 does not come with bleeding edge technology like the latest processor or an edge-to-edge display. But, the device packs decent specifications for people who want to focus on mobile productivity. It packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 clocked at 2.15 GHz along with Adreno 530. The device also sports a 9.7-inch HDR Super AMOLED panel.    The company has added 32 GB internal storage with 4 GB RAM to the device along with a dedicated microSD card slot to expand the storage with the help of a 256 GB card. Tab S3 will run Android Nougat 7.0 out of the box. The device comes with a 13 MP rear camera with f/1.9 aperture and a LED flash along with a 5 MP camera module with f/2.2 on the front for selfies. Connectivity options include a 4G-enabled Nano-SIM slot along with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Hotspot, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS, and USB 3.1 Type-C port. The Tab S3 also features a fingerprint sensor along with an accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass to improve its functionality. The device is powered by a non-removable 6,000 mAh battery to ensure that users can get a long battery life out of the device. Display The device also sports a 9.7-inch HDR Super AMOLED panel with an effective resolution of 1536 x 2048 with 264 PPI pixel density. It has good viewing angles with vibrant colours and the company claims that it is HDR-ready for the upcoming HDR content. Tab S3 does not have any edge-to-edge screen because these bezels are needed to hold the device in your hand.  One thing that could irritate users is the tendency for the device to attract fingerprints. In the short time of using the device, I constantly found myself wiping the fingerprints off the display. Chipset, RAM, and storage Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 clocked at 2.15 GHz along with Adreno 530 to power extended gaming sessions. The processor may not be the absolute bleeding edge but it is more than enough to take on and complete the task given to it.  The company has added 32 GB internal storage with 4 GB RAM to the device along with a dedicated microSD card slot to expand the storage with the help of a 256 GB card. The Tab S3 performed admirably in the limited testing of the device. But we will have to wait for the full review before passing any verdict on the performance of the device. OS and Software Tab S3 will run Android Nougat 7.0 out of the box with Samsung TouchWiz Grace UI. Samsung has greatly improved its Skin for Android with the Grace UI. The company has also added March security patch along with the system. We hope that it rolls out a new update adding the latest Android security patch level.  The key highlight of the Tab 3 is the ‘Samsung Notes’ app that you can launch using the S Pen to scribble notes, type notes or even draw things. I started drawing using the S Pen and fell in love with the responsiveness of the pen along with the pressure sensitivity. We will cover the S Pen in detail in out complete review. One important thing that I wanted to highlight is the inclusion of system-wide clipboard in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 which will help users multi-task more efficiently.  The overall experience was good with the software with no glaring issues. The device comes preloaded with Microsoft apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, and Skype. Camera The device comes with a 13 MP rear camera with f/1.9 aperture and a LED flash along with a 5 MP camera module with f/2.2 on the front for selfies. It is capable of shooting 4K video at 30 frames per second from the back camera along with 1080p videos using the front camera.  The back camera was snappy while taking a burst of photos without any lag and the image quality of the images taken in a short time were good. But, we will run the camera through our tests to push it to its limits before passing any comment on the capabilities of the camera sensor. Connectivity and Battery Samsung has included a non-removable 6,000 mAh battery to ensure that users can get a long battery life out of the device. The size of the battery is sufficient to give a respectable battery backup while powering the large display. The company pointed out that the Tab S3 will come with fast charging technology to ensure that it does not take hours to charge the large battery. Conclusion Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 looks like a promising tablet device aimed at users who don’t mind paying for devices with a large screen and can compromise on the latest specifications. We still need to run a battery of tests to formulate a verdict about the Tab S3. But, the device is impressive in terms of build quality, its inking capabilities with the help of S Pen and the overall sleek software performance.  The price tag of Rs. 47,990 could be a little expensive for users but the package along with the inclusion of S Pen looks like it can justify the price. The interesting thing to note here is that not many decent Android-powered tablets are currently in the Indian market. The tablets still on sale have three or even four-year-old hardware in some cases along with the fact that the software versions of these tablets have not moved beyond Android Marshmallow 6.0 in best case scenarios.  We still have to test the tablet thoroughly of course and we’ll give you a proper verdict when we’ve finished putting the tablet through its paces. For now, the first impressions for the package that Samsung is offering are quite favourable.