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Nikhil Varma August 08, 2017 14:15 IST Updated: August 08, 2017 14:16 IST

Samsung GalaxyTab S3 | Photo Credit: Samsung
Nikhil Varma August 08, 2017 14:15 IST Updated: August 08, 2017 14:16 IST
The new Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is a powerful gadget that works well even as a primary device
When the iPad was launched a few years ago, the general opinion was that tablets were the future of computing. It seemed as if they were going to replace laptops as the primary computing device. Years later, that prophecy seems not to have come true, and the tablet is the device that faces an existential crisis. Large smartphones with powerful processors and big screens are elbowing the tablets out of the reckoning. The big boys, Samsung and Apple, have continued to bring out tablets with regular intensity, tweaking screen sizes, reducing bezels, adding keyboard slots and introducing more styluses. Samsung’s latest entrant in this space is the Galaxy Tab S3.The 9.7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 gets full marks in display and build quality. It has rounded corners, a good-looking metal and glass unibody design, and looks every bit a premium device. It is light to hold, and a perfect fit to catch movies or videos on the go. It also comes with a stylus that you can use for quickly taking down notes, occasionally typing emails and switching between apps. It is sturdy and comfortable to hold and use, and makes for a good accompaniment to the tab. However, we felt a side slot for the stylus would have been helpful. The display is picture perfect, with vibrant and vivid colours making viewing videos and movies a great experience.The Tab S3 comes with a decent 13MP rear camera. Its autofocus is quick and accurate. It also has a 5MP front camera. The power and volume buttons are located on the right-hand top side, with the USB Type C port and headphone jack placed at the bottom of the device, just below the fingerprint sensor.The tablet is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor, with 4G LTE connectivity. We faced no issues in toggling between multiple apps, catching the latest online series on YouTube and Netflix. Gaming is also comfortable and we did not face any major lags.The tablet uses Android 7.0 Nougat that offers a smooth user interface. Icons are grouped with each other, and you can search for any document on the device with a few swipes. The split screen multitasking works fine, especially if you are one who likes to work with multiple apps, though we did face the occasional lag with some social media sites.We were also quite happy with the 6000 mAh battery, with an adaptive fast charger that ensures that charging the device takes a little under two hours. The review device lasted for almost 12 hours of fairly heavy usage, including streaming videos and running multiple apps in the background.In an otherwise great machine, we were not very pleased with the audio performance. The tablet claims to offer a quad speaker experience, though we felt that the voice quality could have been much better. In the review device we got, the fingerprint sensor was not up to the mark.For a tablet, the Samsung S3 ticks all the boxes, offering great display, a good camera, and is great for catching the latest episode of Game of Thrones, following the latest sports scores and doing a quick work assignment, all without bothering the machine much, and can give larger smartphones and other computing devices a run for their money.