For a while now, the tablet industry has been rather boring. That’s not due to the lack of compelling devices, but because of lopsided competition. Apple’s iPads have reigned supreme, and with the arrival of iPadOS, Apple made it clear that it was serious at playing the tablet game.
Spend your dollars where there’s value Let’s start with the cart value equation first. The Galaxy Tab S8 starts at $549, but offers double the storage for the price compared to the $449 you shell out for the 64GB iPad. The value gulf quickly becomes apparent as you go for extra storage. The 10th-gen iPad’s Magic Keyboard is an exclusive trinket. The dimensions of Apple’s tablet are off only by a hair from the iPad Air, and yet, you can’t pair the new keyboard with the latter. Conversely, you can’t use the magnetically levitating Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro — which is again barely off by millimeters alongside the edges — with the 10th-gen iPad.
Comparatively, the Apple Pencil situation for the vanilla iPad is frustratingly embarrassing. Apple wants you to pay $99 for it, all while lacking the convenience of a customizable double-tap gesture that you get on the second-gen Apple stylus. Plus, it also doesn’t charge magnetically. On the Apple Store, your final bill for the tablet + keyboard + stylus bundle comes to $947. When you factor in Samsung’s credit you get with the Galaxy Tab S8, you’re essentially spending hundreds of dollars less than what Apple will rob from your wallet.
You get an app dock at the bottom of the screen on both devices. Samsung, however, lets you keep a minimized row of your dock apps always in your sight, instead of automatically hiding it, as is the case with iPadOS 16. A long press alongside the bottom edge will show, or hide, the dock on the Galaxy Tab S8 if you so desire. This functional versatility offers a more desktop-like experience comparable to iPadOS 16.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The gestures for launching apps in split-screen mode, pop-up mode, or even a floating window format are simply miles ahead of iPadOS 16. Here’s a brief overview of what I am talking about: