I tried a big new iPad rival from Samsung with | Tech News

If you need a really premium pill with a supersized screen, you most likely aren’t going to search out a lot better than the newest Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. This gargantuan system even makes Apple’s largest 13-inch iPad Pro look decidedly small when positioned aspect by aspect. That’s due to Samsung cramming a whopping 14.6-inch show inside the S11 Ultra’s hanging slimline design. It’s not the one distinction between what Apple affords with the Tab additionally getting an anti-reflective screen and digital pen as customary (you don’t must pay further) – Samsung can also be presently operating a deal that provides a free keyboard case as nicely.

But can a pill merely be too large, and is it higher to buy one thing much less cumbersome? Having put the Tab S11 Ultra by means of its paces at home, on planes and on trains, the reply to that query is easy.

Yes, it’s far too huge for many, however I’ve beloved each minute of utilizing it. The screen is so big and pixel-packed, it nearly looks like you may have a top-end TV in your backpack.

Watching blockbuster films, searching the web, taking part in video games, and multitasking are all a pleasure on this Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel. Colours pop, blacks are wealthy, films look crisp, and, due to its 120Hz technology, every part feels silky clean and stutter-free. It even has an anti-glare coating as customary (that’s one thing Apple fees £100 further for), so your boxset binges aren’t ruined by annoying reflections.

Along with its beautiful show, the Tab S11 Ultra additionally feels premium in your arms. It will get a matt-finish steel design that measures in at simply 5.1mm thick.

My solely gripe with its styling is that, because of its measurement, it’s not that simple to carry for long durations, so a case with a kickstand is certainly one thing to contemplate including to your buying basket.

Head beneath the physique, and it’s powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ processor. That chip makes this machine extremely succesful, and I actually doubt you’ll discover something it could’t cope with.

High-intensity duties, together with gaming, photograph retouching and video modifying, can all be carried out with ease, and it additionally helps present a slick expertise when utilizing Samsung’s DeX.

For these not within the know, DeX permits you to use your Samsung smartphone or pill like a desktop laptop. By connecting it to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, you get a PC-style interface the place you possibly can run Android apps, multitask in home windows, and increase productiveness on a bigger screen.

With DeX enabled on the Tab S11 Ultra’s enormous show, you possibly can simply create a desktop with up to 4 workspaces.

It’s actually helpful if you wish to work and play on the giant screen, and it additionally lets you mirror your pill onto bigger shows, reminiscent of a TV.

Of course, like all of Samsung’s most up-to-date devices, the Tab S11 Ultra comes packed with AI.

That means it’ll edit your paperwork by way of Galaxy AI’s Writing Assist, improve your doodles utilizing Drawing Assist and make issues simpler to search out on the web due to Google’s Circle to Search technology.

Gemini can also be baked in, which suggests you possibly can chat to this system prefer it’s a actual personal assistant.

I’m not a large fan of an excessive amount of AI, however these options undoubtedly make more sense on a pill than a smartphone, and also you would possibly truly discover some of this intelligence is helpful when producing paperwork or getting artistic. To help enhance productiveness additional, the Tab S11 Ultra additionally comes with a new digital S Pen within the box – take word, Apple!

It works nicely for writing notes and doodling, plus it options a new hexagon design, which makes it really feel far more like a actual pencil. Samsung has eliminated Bluetooth connectivity this 12 months, so you possibly can’t use the new pen as a distant control, for instance, however different than that, it’s a respectable stylus.

Sadly, not like the Galaxy S25 Ultra cellphone, the S11’s pen doesn’t tuck inside the pill, so I guarantee you’ll lose it on the backside of your rucksack a minimum of as soon as.

Other options price a point out embrace some fairly epic battery life – I’ve managed to watch a three-hour Marvel film and solely misplaced 10 p.c of the ability.

There’s additionally a dual-lens digital camera, a speedy fingerprint scanner beneath the show and superb audio system with Dolby Atmos.

It’s fairly arduous to fault the S11 Ultra, but it surely’s not good.

That 14.6-inch show actually is a bit too big for many people, and you need to severely contemplate whether or not you need one thing so enormous.

With costs beginning from £1,199 it’s additionally ludicrously costly, and that leads me onto my subsequent challenge.

To make issues really feel a bit more inexpensive, there may be a free keyboard case – price £199 – out there till the top of October by way of a deal on Samsung’s web site

This accent does make the system really feel a little more like a laptop computer, however that is nonetheless very a lot a pill.

And that’s nonetheless a downside I have with all tablets, as, regardless of larger screens and more energy, they nonetheless can’t match what most of us do on our moveable PCs.

In my trustworthy opinion, rapidly modifying paperwork, saving recordsdata, sending attachments and dealing for hours on finish is just more environment friendly on a correct PC.

That means this might finish up being a very costly solution to watch Netflix and play the occasional recreation of Candy Crush.

If you need a giant screen Android pill however don’t need the ability of the Tab S11 Ultra, it’s price contemplating the OnePlus Pad 3. It has a 13.2-inch show and prices £599 – precisely half the price of the Galaxy.

Have I loved the Tab S11 Ultra? one hundred pc yes, and that is an superb system that appears great and affords one of the best visible experiences on the market.

Would I rush to splash practically £1,200 on the Tab S11 Ultra? Probably not, because it’s too big and much too costly.

If you merely need an Android system for a boxset binge, writing some emails and searching the web, the good Galaxy Tab S10 FE is much less than half the price and nonetheless affords a fairly beautiful expertise. There can also be a smaller model of the Tab S11 which begins from £799 as can also be price a look.

Also, don’t overlook that Apple has simply introduced a big iPad Pro refresh with these premium tablets all getting a new M5 processor, Wi-Fi 7 and improved 5G connectivity.