Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite review: A better Android tablet for everyone

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Samsung’s 10.4-inch Android tablet isn’t really light-weight on characteristics. 


Josh Goldman/CNET

Just after paying out a handful of months applying the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, I’ve decided the tablet’s abilities exceed its identify. I signify, it is lighter on characteristics and general performance than the total-fledged Galaxy Tab S6, so in that sense it is a “lite” variation. But the identify does it a disservice, mainly because I in no way truly felt like I was lacking characteristics. Maybe it is really mainly because the S6 Lite isn’t really seeking to be an Android two-in-just one laptop and alternatively just does far more than I envisioned from a midrange Android tablet, and which is what can make it a standout. 

Like

  • Integrated S Pen is very good for take note-taking, sketching and far more
  • Substantial-quality display and audio
  • Far more than eleven hours of battery life

Never Like

  • Palm rejection desires improvement
  • Samsung’s Guide Include is pricy on its own

The Tab S6 Lite commences at $350 with 64GB of storage or $430 for 128GB. Both have microSD card slots to broaden storage up to 1TB and involve the total-sizing S Pen and 4 months of advert-totally free YouTube Quality company. It really is $70 for Samsung’s Guide Include, whilst you can very likely uncover it cheaper with a bundle. Costco, for case in point, sells the 128GB model with the cover for $450. You’ll possibly want the cover mainly because it not only protects the tablet, but stands it up — horizontally and vertically — and presents you a harmless put to shop the pen. The cover also presents you a put to grip the tablet without essentially touching the display. (There are cheaper possibilities, also.)

By comparison, the latest base model 10.2-inch iPad is $329 with 32GB of storage, but the 128GB variation is the very same as the Lite at $430. It does not involve Apple’s $ninety nine Pencil or a cover with ($a hundred and sixty) or without ($50) a keyboard. So, as is usually the situation, Samsung is giving you far more for your revenue from that iPad, in hardware, at least. Of class, if you will not care about crafting and drawing on a display screen or being extremely productive, you might be best off with Amazon’s $165 Hearth HD10. The Tab S6 Lite is far more than an amusement tablet even though. 

Efficiency in a distinctive light-weight

A person of the most important dissimilarities among the S6 and S6 Lite is that the latter won’t have Samsung’s DeX, which presents its Android tablets a “desktop OS” truly feel. For occasion, you can find assistance for a touchpad or mouse. Due to the fact of this, it might truly feel like the Lite isn’t really as very good for function and that might be the situation for some individuals, but was not for me. I just leaned into applying the S Pen far more. 

The pen is as at ease to keep as a standard pen. It really is responsive, with very little discernible lag in my knowledge. I am not much far more than a doodler when it arrives to illustration, but I loaded up Autodesk’s Sketchbook to test out the S Pen and was capable to draw straight traces without jitter, properly shade with various quantities of strain and create wide or slim strokes by angling the suggestion. My most important situation was that it did not reject my palm on the display screen amazingly perfectly, so I would unintentionally open menus or move my drawing on situation. 

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Josh Goldman/CNET

As a productivity device, the S Pen is terrific. You can produce notes on the display screen without unlocking the tablet or start the Notes application or other pen-enabled applications from the onscreen Air command shortcut that seems when you hover the pen above the display. 

I made use of the pen to produce a chunk of this evaluation in Google Docs applying the designed-in handwriting-to-textual content translation. Likewise, you can emphasize your crafting in the Notes application and have it turned into textual content. Your benefits will vary dependent on how sloppy your handwriting is, but it does function perfectly. Even though I was looking at a slide presentation just lately, I made use of the Clever Choose device to draw a box all-around a slide, which could then be made use of to extract textual content from the slide. With the Display screen Create alternative, I could take a screenshot of the presentation and then produce notes on the photo to involve far more details.

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Paired with a modest Bluetooth keyboard, the S6 Lite is fantastic for banging out emails or modifying Term docs. 


Josh Goldman/CNET

Like I said before, you can be productive with the S6 Lite without a keyboard and mouse, you just have to take edge of what the S Pen can do. If you do want to form, even though, Samsung does make a $ninety nine keyboard cover for the S6 Lite, but any Bluetooth keyboard will function. I paired it with this $20 Arteck keyboard which is approximately the very same sizing as the tablet, so it is really very good for vacation when you want a total keyboard. Essentially, what I am receiving at is you will not necessarily will need to invest far more for the better-end Tab S6 just to get a very good tablet for function. 

Pen-down engage in

Tablets are generally terrific for amusement and the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is no distinctive. When you happen to be prepared to put the S Pen down and relax, the 10.4-inch Liquid crystal display and the AKG-tuned speakers with Dolby Atmos assistance search and audio to start with-class for the revenue. The leading-notch Super AMOLED display and quad-speaker program on the better-end Tab S6 are far better, but the Lite will very likely be fantastic for most. 

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The S6 Lite’s Guide Include retains the display at two distinctive angles.


Josh Goldman/CNET

Furthermore, you can expect to possibly get a far more immersive gaming knowledge out of the S6, but that did not halt me from enjoying Contemporary Beat 5 and Asphalt nine for hours. I would’ve appreciated a bit far more display screen brightness, but among applying a Bluetooth controller and the Guide Cover’s two situation possibilities, I was capable to adjust the display angle to mitigate reflections.

Battery life is a different as well as for the tablet. In our streaming movie test, the S6 Lite ran for eleven hours, 17 minutes with the display brightness set to 50{fb741301fcc9e6a089210a2d6dd4da375f6d1577f4d7524c5633222b81dec1ca} and the audio played by way of earbuds with the volume set to 50{fb741301fcc9e6a089210a2d6dd4da375f6d1577f4d7524c5633222b81dec1ca}. 

In the end, with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite you happen to be receiving an all-all-around tablet which is very good for each amusement and productivity. It might not exchange a laptop like the Tab S6 tries to, but you can very easily use it for courses, commuting and far more — primarily if you happen to be prepared to decide up the pen.