Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S10+: is this the best tablet on the market?

Samsung has launched three Galaxy Tabs previously, but this year they’ve reduced the lineup to just two models, the Plus and Ultra. The Tab S10+ is a smaller and slightly more affordable model that packs a 12.4-inch display. That said, its hardware specs and features are similar to those of its larger sibling.

Measuring 185.4 x 285.5 x 5.6 mm (HWD), the Tab S10+ is a good size: small enough for easy stowage in a laptop bag but large enough to be usable, its portability is further helped by its minuscule 566.9g weight.

In terms of build and design, the S10+ is hewn from quality materials. Its chamfered edges and rounded corners make it comfortable to hold for extended use. Being a tablet, the front is a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 slab with a front-facing camera. Handily, its alloy back also sports a magnetic charging slot for the bundled S Pen (more on this wee gem later), while the power volume buttons are on its top left side. Also on the left are slots for a SIM card, a microSD card and speaker grilles. On the right-hand side, there are speaker grilles and a USB-C port. The bottom edge sports Pogo-pin connectors for connecting accessories. While its design might not be all that surprising, it works well. Everything is just where you need it. I was also pleased to note that it also sports an under-screen fingerprint sensor on the right side of its screen, which means you’re not limited to using your dabs to sign in. It also supports Face Unlock via its front camera.

The durability of the Tab S10+ isn’t merely marketing waffling. Unlike many other tablets, the Galaxy Tab S10+ is IP68 rated, so it’s dust and waterproof. Add a decent protective case into the mix, and you’ve got the makings of a rugged device that can handle the jandal.

The included S Pen stylus is comfy, like a traditional scribble stick when drawing on the screen. A handy side button can also fire up specific functions, which vary depending on the app you’re using. Supplying the S Pen with the Tab S10+ earns Samsung some major brownie points. Apple doesn’t include one with their iPad, nor does Microsoft with their Surface products. Here’s hoping Samsung’s move forces both of these guys to be a little less stingy in the future.

As you’d expect from a Sammy device, the 12.4-inch display is detailed and vibrant. It’s a 16:10 2,800 by 1,752 AMOLED panel with an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz for silky smooth scrolling and can crank out 650 nits, making it usable outdoors under the sun.

Under the hood, the Tab S10+ is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ CPU and accompanied by 12GB of RAM, which comes in two storage flavours: 256 GB and 512 GB. Handily, Samsung still supports microSD storage, which can add an extra 1.5TB of goodness.

While time constraints meant I could not benchmark the Galaxy S10+, its gaming chops impressed me. Genshin Impact, which often brings lesser-specced devices to their knees, played perfectly with the settings maxed out. Equally nice was the cooling: the Galaxy S10+ didn’t overheat, and its back stayed cool. For email and browsing the web it was bomb-proof.

The tablet-sized form factor also means the Galaxy Tab S10+ has a sizeable 10,090mAh battery. Running a looped HD video test, I managed to squeeze out 8 hours and 11 minutes of run time, which is the longest I’ve seen in a tablet to date. This makes the Tab S10+ ideal as a long-haul travel companion.

Hooking it up to a 90W GAN power adaptor saw the battery go from 0 to 100% charge in just over an hour and a half. Unfortunately, Samsung doesn’t bundle a charger with the Tab S10+, so you’ll need to have one available or add one to your purchase budget.

On the connectivity front, the Tab S10+ supports super-quick Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. Oddly, NFC was MIA. Transferring files from the Tab S10+ via my Wi-Fi 6E network was super quick.

Its speakers were a pleasant surprise. I don’t have high expectations for tablet/laptop speakers, but the Tab S10+ was loud and delivered a tiny amount of depth to its audio output. That said, Bluetooth cans will be your go-to if you want some boom and a decent sound field.

The Tab S10+ packs two rear shooters and a front snapper. These comprise a 13MP f/2.0 main shooter and an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide shooter. Around the front is a 12MP f/2.0 ultra-wide snapper. The Front and rear cameras can also record 4 K 30fps video. In use, I found photos were sometimes a tad over-sharpened and slightly oversaturated. That said, the low-light performance was pretty good.

Android 14 and Samsung’s One UI 6.1.1 skin run the show, and I quickly grew to like the thoughtful features that helped the Tab S10+ shine. These include a hideable Edge Panel taskbar, the ability to plug the tablet into an external display to deliver a desktop PC-like experience via DeX, and split window multi-tasking. Samsung includes four OS updates and seven years of security upgrades, all adding to solid future-proofing.

One key point of difference takes the form of Galaxy AI. Circle to Search allows you to draw a circle around anything onscreen and have Google search for it. Summarising long-winded documents or websites is effortless, thanks to Browser Assist/Notes. The AI photo tools are also a ton of fun, allowing you to use the bundled S Pen to sketch objects onto an existing photo, with the AI rendering them into realistic objects that appear as seamless parts of the image.

The Tab S10+ is probably the best Android tablet currently on the market. Add in a bundled S Pen, solid battery life, and useful AI goodness, and there’s lots to like.

https://www.samsung.com/nz/tablets/galaxy-tab-s/galaxy-tab-s10-plus-gray-256gb-sm-x820nzaaxnz/