The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 remains the best Android tablet you can buy, despite the launch of the newer Samsung Galaxy Tab S4.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 at Amazon for $449
It can do just about anything the iPad Pro 11 can, yet it costs far less. In fact, watching the dystopian alternate-history Amazon TV series The Man in the High Castle on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3’s HDR screen prompts an analogy: what if Apple’s iPad Pro ran Android?
That’s pretty much what we have here. It’s Android’s first worthy competitor to the iPad Pro 9.7 (and the rest of the Pro range, though that one especially as it has the same screen size), with strong specs to match, and it pairs well with the elegant-looking Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9 – also feature-packed and enveloped in glass.
The Galaxy Tab S3 is easily the best Android tablet you can buy right now thanks to its all-glass design upgrade, future-proofed HDR-ready display and included S Pen.
It's hardly a difficult call for us to make – other than the flawed Tab S4, the older Google Pixel C and the not-quite-as-premium Asus ZenPad 3S 10 are its only real challengers at a similar size.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 price and release date
Tablet with the S Pen launched at $599 (£599, about AU$780)
Can now be found for around $470 / £400 / AU$600
The keyboard is separate at $129 (£119)
Released on March 24, 2017 in the US, March 31, 2017 in the UK
As mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 launched for $599 (£599, about AU$780), however it can now be found for around $470 / £400 / AU$600.
That's more of a mid-range price than the high-end, iPad Pro-rivaling one it launched at, and is in line with the 128GB iPad 9.7 model, which costs $429 / £409 / AU$599 (though a cheaper 32GB version is also available).
The real value over Apple’s tablet comes from the S Pen, which is included with the Tab S3 – the Apple Pencil costs an extra $99 (£99, AU$145). You also don’t need to worry about recharging Samsung’s S Pen.
The Galaxy Tab S3 keyboard is a separate purchase, with Samsung charging $129 (£119), though as with the slate itself this can now be found for less if you shop around.
As for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 release date, it became available in US stores on March 24 2017, while the UK wasn't too far behind with a March 31 launch date. Both regions opened Tab S3 pre-orders on March 17.
Design
Elegantly designed glass and metal tablet design
More comfortable to hold than its plastic predecessor
Otherwise looks exactly like the Galaxy Tab S2
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 touts a small but likable design upgrade over the Galaxy Tab S2, even if it’s easy to mistake it for Samsung’s year-and-a-half-old tablet from the front.
The best changes happen round back, where the Tab S3 sports a new glass back panel in either black or silver. It looks and feels better than the rubberized plastic cover of the Tab S2, and the glass is more comfortable to hold; while you’re trading instantly collected sweat marks on the older model for fingerprints and smudges on the Gorilla Glass back, you’re ending up ahead.
Samsung can technically still claim that the Tab S3 is thinner and lighter than an iPad Pro, with dimensions of 237.3 x 169 x 6mm and a weight of 429g (the iPad Pro is 6.1mm thick and weighs 437g). But don’t be fooled; the variations are hardly noticeable. The Tab S2 is 5.6mm and 389g, and we felt barely any difference between the three slates.
The Tab S3 looks and feels like a blown-up Samsung Galaxy S7 phone, with a useful physical fingerprint sensor home button, and 'back' and 'recent' capacitive buttons aligned at the bottom. Without the keyboard attachment, it excels at being an entertainment device first and foremost.
The real difference is seen and heard in the HDR display, which pumps up the contrast ratio, and the four speakers, which pump out the volume better than a tablet with a mono speaker.
We previously got a taste of HDR on a mobile device with the short-lived Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and it came back to Samsung phones with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, as well as subsequent S and Note handsets.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 at Amazon for $449
It can do just about anything the iPad Pro 11 can, yet it costs far less. In fact, watching the dystopian alternate-history Amazon TV series The Man in the High Castle on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3’s HDR screen prompts an analogy: what if Apple’s iPad Pro ran Android?
That’s pretty much what we have here. It’s Android’s first worthy competitor to the iPad Pro 9.7 (and the rest of the Pro range, though that one especially as it has the same screen size), with strong specs to match, and it pairs well with the elegant-looking Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9 – also feature-packed and enveloped in glass.
The Galaxy Tab S3 is easily the best Android tablet you can buy right now thanks to its all-glass design upgrade, future-proofed HDR-ready display and included S Pen.
It's hardly a difficult call for us to make – other than the flawed Tab S4, the older Google Pixel C and the not-quite-as-premium Asus ZenPad 3S 10 are its only real challengers at a similar size.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 price and release date
Tablet with the S Pen launched at $599 (£599, about AU$780)
Can now be found for around $470 / £400 / AU$600
The keyboard is separate at $129 (£119)
Released on March 24, 2017 in the US, March 31, 2017 in the UK
As mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 launched for $599 (£599, about AU$780), however it can now be found for around $470 / £400 / AU$600.
That's more of a mid-range price than the high-end, iPad Pro-rivaling one it launched at, and is in line with the 128GB iPad 9.7 model, which costs $429 / £409 / AU$599 (though a cheaper 32GB version is also available).
The real value over Apple’s tablet comes from the S Pen, which is included with the Tab S3 – the Apple Pencil costs an extra $99 (£99, AU$145). You also don’t need to worry about recharging Samsung’s S Pen.
The Galaxy Tab S3 keyboard is a separate purchase, with Samsung charging $129 (£119), though as with the slate itself this can now be found for less if you shop around.
As for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 release date, it became available in US stores on March 24 2017, while the UK wasn't too far behind with a March 31 launch date. Both regions opened Tab S3 pre-orders on March 17.
Design
Elegantly designed glass and metal tablet design
More comfortable to hold than its plastic predecessor
Otherwise looks exactly like the Galaxy Tab S2
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 touts a small but likable design upgrade over the Galaxy Tab S2, even if it’s easy to mistake it for Samsung’s year-and-a-half-old tablet from the front.
The best changes happen round back, where the Tab S3 sports a new glass back panel in either black or silver. It looks and feels better than the rubberized plastic cover of the Tab S2, and the glass is more comfortable to hold; while you’re trading instantly collected sweat marks on the older model for fingerprints and smudges on the Gorilla Glass back, you’re ending up ahead.
Samsung can technically still claim that the Tab S3 is thinner and lighter than an iPad Pro, with dimensions of 237.3 x 169 x 6mm and a weight of 429g (the iPad Pro is 6.1mm thick and weighs 437g). But don’t be fooled; the variations are hardly noticeable. The Tab S2 is 5.6mm and 389g, and we felt barely any difference between the three slates.
The Tab S3 looks and feels like a blown-up Samsung Galaxy S7 phone, with a useful physical fingerprint sensor home button, and 'back' and 'recent' capacitive buttons aligned at the bottom. Without the keyboard attachment, it excels at being an entertainment device first and foremost.
The real difference is seen and heard in the HDR display, which pumps up the contrast ratio, and the four speakers, which pump out the volume better than a tablet with a mono speaker.
We previously got a taste of HDR on a mobile device with the short-lived Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and it came back to Samsung phones with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, as well as subsequent S and Note handsets.
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