Samsung Tab S6: A Great Work Companion For Travelling
Updated: Aug 19, 2021
Written by Cheryl Tan
Lightweight and compact design makes it an easy product to travel with
Keyboard is nice and clicky, with a satisfying typing experience
Display is sufficiently bright with expected colours from Super AMOLED
S Pen now has Air Gestures and is interchangeable with Note 10’s S Pen
I hate bringing my laptop for work trips because it’s big, bulky and heavy. But on the other hand, there’s no way I can afford to not bring a laptop because there’s always things I need to handle at work, and working on a phone is quite impossible for what I have to do. That’s where the Samsung Tab S6 comes into play.
Weighing just 420 grams, it’s lightweight enough that I can chuck it into my bag and not feel the load after a long day out walking. So I decided to take this along with me on my trip to Shanghai. A word of caution – this is still a tablet running on Android, so remember to download all the productivity apps you need before you travel, such as Docs and Sheets, otherwise you might have to contend with slow internet speeds while trying to download.
The display is a 10.5″ Super AMOLED with a resolution of 2560 x 1600, and colours are well represented, as expected of a Samsung display. Watching shows on the tablet is pretty enjoyable, and you can definitely expect crisp and legible text when working.
I feel that the external keyboard cover that can be purchased separately is a must-have for anybody who wants to work on the go. Having a physical keyboard makes typing easier, and the keyboard’s keys are clicky and enjoyable to type on.
The S Pen that comes with the tablet now has the new Air Gestures feature that was introduced in the Note 10’s S Pen. Fun fact: You can interchangeably use either device’s S Pen on each other, so if you have both the Note 10 and the Tab S6 but forgot to bring the Tab S6’s pen out, you’ll be able to use the Note 10’s S Pen on the tablet!
I felt that the pen was a nice feature to have, but I didn’t find myself reaching for it all that often. This might be a bigger selling point for users who like to draw or use the pen to take notes, instead of someone like myself who prefers typing.
The pen magnetically attaches to the back of the tablet for charging and storage, which is a huge plus in my book. The back even has a small indent to hold onto the pen, so you can rest assured that the pen won’t just drop off in your bag or while you’re holding it.
An issue I found was that the battery didn’t seem to last all that long. Samsung claims up to 9 hours of battery life on LTE and Wi-Fi usage, with 15 hours of video playback time. While using the tablet, the battery drain seemed normal. But after locking the tablet at 100% battery and placing it into my bag, I took it out after 1.5 days to find that the battery was dead.
The only app I had open was Google Chrome with 2 tabs open, so it was a bit of a surprise when I noticed that the battery drained so quickly when I wasn’t connected to Wi-Fi. But this is a pre-production unit so perhaps the actual units going out to consumers will have better standby time.
Using the tablet in DeX mode was great, however, with the Snapdragon 855 processor handling videos and all my web browsing needs perfectly. There’s 6GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage, which is pretty standard for a tablet at this price. You can add an SD card up to 1TB for additional storage if needed.
For power users, maybe the Tab S6 isn’t the right choice. But for consumers who just need a device to work on documents, powerpoints and the occasional content viewing while they’re travelling or on the go, the Samsung Tab S6 performs all of those admirably while keeping the weight to the absolute minimum.
More information and purchase options for the Samsung Tab S6 (starting from S$1,098) can be found on Samsung’s website.