Samsung's New Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra vs. iPad Pro

[ssledoux]

It was worded a bit strange, but if you check the video again the complain wasn’t about the notch itself but rather the cameras in the notch which aren’t as good as the ones on the iPad for face recognition in low light situations etc.

I think also a notch on a tablet is different (although let me clarify that I can’t stand the notches anywhere). People are never gonna use a MacBook in anything other than landscape mode, so that notch is never gonna be in the middle of the side of the screen.

 

[Hopefully Smarter]

Does it run iPadOS?

If not, I
don't
care.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Does it run iPadOS?

If not, I
don't
care.

The fact you took the time to write a (useless) post says otherwise.

 

[120FPS]

I think it shows how good Apple‘s iPad Magic Keyboard is. If Samsung could make a keyboard that can carry the weight of their tablet on one side of a very strong magnetised hinge, like a laptop with a removable screen, they would have much better solution than now (but sadly it would be heavier, maybe put a battery and a port or two in the bottom part so it has a purpose to be heavier). Also shows how good FaceID is, it really should be in the Mac lineup.

I just wish Apple would do something similar in regard to a windowed drag and drop experience but I have a feeling they may only do it with a larger device. They could also put a Micro SD card tray in the space of the SIM tray (since it’s all eSIM now) if they wanted to but Apple being Apple decide that you don’t need it, but I do actually, it would be great to use it for media consumption while on a plane.

 

[anthogag]

Quite interesting! I fail big time at typing with the pencil… scrolling and pointing is amazing, and the continuity when working on the Mac desktop/laptop for screenshots markup annotations, affinity photo with sidecar, etc 🤌. Amazing.
But the best I manage to do is scratch type wise is to delete and separate words… I’m very bad at that pen typing thing.

Now, what did you mean by swipe keyboard? I definitely don’t tend to have an onscreen keyboard appearing for the most part… it’s hidden behind some pen specific widgets.


Agreed.
Tip: I have gone ahead and sacrificed the caps lock key to do esc instead, that config possibility there on the keyboard settings.

It’s horrible… and that’s a mistake because they were already promoting swift playgrounds before these keyboards started appearing, ESC brings auto-completion/intellisense for god’s sake.
(Side remark: Swift Playgrounds I have found it to be amazing… you can totally learn Swift and SwiftUI there, started doing the 100 days of SwiftUI free course and a lot of the doodling, exercises, tests, etc can be done there. Best part, it also opens as is on your Mac standalone Playgrounds. More advanced projects, like some that use CoreML definitely not there yet.)

Sometimes I get out of my way and connect a short Magic Keyboard that I have laying around.

Yes, you have to "show keyboard" when using Pencil. The small keyboard that pops-up is also a swiping keyboard (like iPhone). Slide the Pencil tip across the keyboard.

Writing with Pencil is not the same across the board. Some apps and websites are lousy for Pencil writing (e.g. MacRumors website). That's when I use the large keyboard. But, the large keyboard is not easy to invoke when the Pencil is used. The default keyboard when using Pencil is the small keyboard.

 

[jlc1978]

That’s not one word…

microSD

If you need a keyboard and mouse for extended typing on the iPad use continuity.

Not if you want to use it separate from your Mac. I have a 12.9 / Magic Keyboard combo that has traveled the globe with me.

When I use my Mac, Luna Display lets me use it as a second monitor. I have used Sidecar and Duet but prefer Luna Display.

The keyboard lets me use the iPad when I don't want to drag my Mac along; I find the on screen keyboard harder to type on. If I just need to jot down a few things Scribble and the pencil work fine.

It's all about use case; and we each find what works for us. Not better, not worse, just different.

 

[mmm...really]

Procreate?

 

[anthogag]

microSD



Not if you want to use it separate from your Mac. I have a 12.9 / Magic Keyboard combo that has traveled the globe with me.

When I use my Mac, Luna Display lets me use it as a second monitor. I have used Sidecar and Duet but prefer Luna Display.

The keyboard lets me use the iPad when I don't want to drag my Mac along; I find the on screen keyboard harder to type on. If I just need to jot down a few things Scribble and the pencil work fine.

It's all about use case; and we each find what works for us. Not better, not worse, just different.

You can BlueTooth connect a normal Apple keyboard and mouse to an iPad, right. Lay the iPad on the table and use the normal keyboard and mouse.

Putting the iPad in a keyboard case makes Pencil use infrequent.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Android on a tablet... 🤣

Depends on what you want to use the tablet for. I use my iPad to watch videos, browse the web, read the news, social media, shopping and light gaming. I’m sure an android tablet could do those things.

 

[Shanghaichica]

No. Can't have anything but my confirmation bias confirmed. Anything outside my narrow parameters does not count.

An adult conversation about what makes the S9 ultra sound appealing to some seems to be impossible without tribal wars. It is so ridiculous and redundant that it is ridiculous how redundant the tribal war camps are.

People use multiple platforms at the same time in the same house. We are past picking sides and just pick what works within our budget.

There is nothing inherently superior about either Android or iOS and if I wanted a tablet that was the most useful in all situations then it would be a surface Pro with Windows.

I am all in the Apple ecosystem but I can still appreciate other hardware, even if I would not buy it.

 

[Macalway]

Astronomically behind (or beneath) iPadOS. Fantastic hardware, great company. I think Android is ok with a phone (can't be sure). SnapDragon 2 is very cool. S-pen? The BEST.

As you can tell I don't like Android on a tablet LOL, and that Samsung Desktop mode hack (forget the name) is horrible also.

The best thing about this tablet? Makes me appreciate my iPad a lot more. Thanks!

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Astronomically behind (or beneath) iPadOS. Fantastic hardware, great company. I think Android is ok with a phone (can't be sure). SnapDragon 2 is very cool. S-pen? The BEST.

As you can tell I don't like Android on a tablet LOL, and that Samsung Desktop mode hack (forget the name) is horrible also.

The best thing about this tablet? Makes me appreciate my iPad a lot more. Thanks!

I would agree and I have said it before that it's pretty dumb having a comparison between an iPad vs Samsung review. Good gosh, they are two separate platforms. It's just a clickbait review. If I want an Android device, i'll surely buy a Samsung tablet, nice hardware and they perform well and I own two Samsung tablets. I also have NO problems with Android. However if I were to drop money on a tablet, I would rather do it on a new iPad, perferably a new iPad Pro.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Does it run iPadOS?

If not, I
don't
care.

And that's the point which is why I ask, why does MR bother posting these silly tablet comparison reviews? Clickbait perhaps? Samsung is running Android and the iPad is running iPadOS. Those are two vastly different operating systems and I much prefer iPadOS. You can only compare performance if they are both running the same OS, pretty silly to see these reviews popup.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Android on a tablet... 🤣

Android Tablet (at least for the Galaxy Tabs) has actually improved tremendously. Hell the Galaxy Tabs are the only worthy iPad alternative.

You know what Android Tablet has that iPadOS doesn't? A tablet Instagram app. A desktop mode that isn't garbage. Oh, AND A CALCULATOR APP

 

[falainber]

Astronomically behind (or beneath) iPadOS. Fantastic hardware, great company. I think Android is ok with a phone (can't be sure). SnapDragon 2 is very cool. S-pen? The BEST.

As you can tell I don't like Android on a tablet LOL, and that Samsung Desktop mode hack (forget the name) is horrible also.

The best thing about this tablet? Makes me appreciate my iPad a lot more. Thanks!

That Samsung desktop hack (Dex) is light years ahead of iPadOS for productivity.

 

[ajf.350d]

Decided to go for one last week. Fancied a switch again so we’ll see how it goes!
Out of the box, yes, it is more limited than iPadOS due to fewer fully tablet compatible apps.
The tablet comes alive in DEX mode though. 99% of the apps I tried will work in DEX as smaller windowed apps, and most importantly, portrait only ones are resized to worked in windowed landscape.
one app I had problems with accessing some dialog boxes until set to full screen to accept prompts then resized down again.
I would argue DEX is better than iPadOS overall. It is much easier to move and resize multiple windows, and can also be done easily with the S Pen - something I’ve never been successful with the Apple Pencil.
If Samsung could push more developers to get more tablet dedicated apps then this would be a serious challenge to the iPad Pros.

mine also came with the free basic keyboard case which does the job nicely. Certainly the larger size is great, especially for videos, but do find this is probably the limit of size if you want to use it as a sit down and hold tablet. It does get close to unwieldy sometimes.

ironically this post was done on my iPad still…

 

[thefourthpope]

The most significant complaint I have using the Pencil+iPad is it should be much easier to switch between small and full size keyboard. If I touch the screen with my finger it should open the large keyboard. If I touch the screen with the Pencil the small keyboard opens.

Oh my yes! This is one of my most consistent (seemingly easily fixable) complaints about iPadOS. Sometimes I can easily change the keyboard by pinching from the little tab at the bottom, but it’s not consistent. Really obnoxious when taking notes in an app via slide over.

 

[jlc1978]

You can BlueTooth connect a normal Apple keyboard and mouse to an iPad, right. Lay the iPad on the table and use the normal keyboard and mouse.

And you can write with your finger or a normal stylus as well on the iPad. Being able to do something and having it be useful are not the same thing.

For example, your case required carrying a mouse and keyboard as well as a stand to keep the iPad upright. The Magic Keyboard does the same thing and having used both ways thr MK is a lot more convenient

Putting the iPad in a keyboard case makes Pencil use infrequent.

So? It’s not like the pencil is a must use tool for me.

 

[r4man]

So I just went to the Samsung site to check out the ultra. I noticed it didn’t have a version with cellular connectivity. I wonder if I am missing something or if not why that would be. If true, it would be a deal breaker for me if I was actually interested in getting one.
The reason I think I might be missing something is I didn’t see that mentioned here.

 

[120FPS]

Decided to go for one last week. Fancied a switch again so we’ll see how it goes!
Out of the box, yes, it is more limited than iPadOS due to fewer fully tablet compatible apps.
The tablet comes alive in DEX mode though. 99% of the apps I tried will work in DEX as smaller windowed apps, and most importantly, portrait only ones are resized to worked in windowed landscape.
one app I had problems with accessing some dialog boxes until set to full screen to accept prompts then resized down again.
I would argue DEX is better than iPadOS overall. It is much easier to move and resize multiple windows, and can also be done easily with the S Pen - something I’ve never been successful with the Apple Pencil.
If Samsung could push more developers to get more tablet dedicated apps then this would be a serious challenge to the iPad Pros.

mine also came with the free basic keyboard case which does the job nicely. Certainly the larger size is great, especially for videos, but do find this is probably the limit of size if you want to use it as a sit down and hold tablet. It does get close to unwieldy sometimes.

ironically this post was done on my iPad still…

I think Google needs to get serious about Android tablets. The thing is they dip their feet into something, then give up so everyone now just waits for them to give up. You would think a company with the resources that Google has would make a lasting commitment to hardware along with their software. No one can make a purchasing decision if they know the support isn’t going to be there or if the product line will only last a generation.

 

[DarthDon]

Android Tablet (at least for the Galaxy Tabs) has actually improved tremendously. Hell the Galaxy Tabs are the only worthy iPad alternative.

You know what Android Tablet has that iPadOS doesn't? A tablet Instagram app. A desktop mode that isn't garbage. Oh, AND A CALCULATOR APP

All that does not make me buy that. Especially safety isn't a big deal @ android. So - even if the tec inside those devices is more or less similar - i chose apple. Bec it's safe and it works for many years.

 

[anthogag]

And you can write with your finger or a normal stylus as well on the iPad. Being able to do something and having it be useful are not the same thing.

For example, your case required carrying a mouse and keyboard as well as a stand to keep the iPad upright. The Magic Keyboard does the same thing and having used both ways thr MK is a lot more convenient



So? It’s not like the pencil is a must use tool for me.

Writing with the Pencil is in a different league compared to finger or stylus.

Putting an iPad Pro in a keyboard case is very lame and boring.

 

[rippley5150]

You can emulate old school video games on Samsung tablets.

 

[jlc1978]

Writing with the Pencil is in a different league compared to finger or stylus.

And so is using an integrated keyboard vs dragging around a bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

Putting an iPad Pro in a keyboard case is very lame and boring.

And much more efficient.

 

[Muzzakus]

M iPads are more than capable of running MacOS. When will apple allow desktop/tablet switching. Probably never to protect their line.