can tablets replace notebooks?

no. imho most tablets are just “big mobile phones” (no matter ipad or android based) or very slow downsized notebooks (windows 10 based), but having a full speed of AMD or Intel CPUs at 16GB of RAM and a keyboard will still be the more productive machine. (if it was mine it was LineageOS flashed already X-D)

so why do tablets exist then?

someone wanted “a bigger screen to view fotos”, so it’s several months now, that Galaxy Tab S7 is “in da house” and thought give some feedback:

“Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 11.0″ LTE – Tablet 128GB, 6GB RAM, Black”

first pitfall: there are LTE and non-LTE versions! (mobile data connection with sim card) imho if the user plans to use it to make calls (it is basically just a mobile phone with a large screen), than the +100€ bucks is probably wells spend on the LTE version.

neat: phone companies such as Drillisch / SimDiscount offer “dual sim” so both devices ring, if the number is called.

the protection case (first one was crap) is from “‎Fintie” and for a device in this price range, would definately get as much protection as possible.

the specs:

Display Type TFT, 120Hz, HDR10+
Size 11.0 inches, 350.9 cm2 (~83.6% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1600 x 2560 pixels, 16:10 ratio (~274 ppi density)
Platform OS Android 10, upgradable to Android 12, One UI 4
Chipset Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865 5G+ (7 nm+)
CPU Octa-core (1×3.09 GHz Kryo 585 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 585
GPU Adreno 650
Memory Card slot microSDXC (dedicated slot)
Internal 128GB 6GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 512GB 8GB RAM
UFS 3.0
Main Camera Dual 13 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide), 1/3.4″, 1.0µm, AF
5 MP, f/2.2, 12mm (ultrawide), 1.12µm
Features HDR, panorama
Video 4K@30fps
Selfie camera Single 8 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide), 1/4″, 1.12µm
Video 1080p@30fps
Sound Loudspeaker Yes, with stereo speakers (4 speakers)
3.5mm jack No
Tuned by AKG
Comms WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE
GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
NFC No
Radio No
USB USB Type-C 3.2, magnetic connector

creditz: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_tab_s7-10337.php

the good:

the bad:

are mainly software related

  • the 13MP main camera will make “okayish” pictures (colors nice) but it is not comparable to a S21 camera, so it is okay for occasional snapshots, but not for decent photography
  • also a Samsung “usual” too much crap is pre installed
  • now the software related “problems”

    • no open source calendar sync? (Samsung A5 HAD IT!???)

      • older Samsung deviecs had calendar apps (such as Samsung A5) that had very good build-in support for webdav-caldav, why was that removed? Google Lobbyism?
      • neither the samsung calendar app nor the google calender app support “out of the box” webdav-webcal, the open source standard for syncing
      • THE USER WILL NEED EXPENSIVE ADDITIONAL 3rd PARTY APPS! (just as with Windows + Backups X-D) WHICH SUCKS!
    • imap mail accounts from open source mail servers sync flawlessly (it does not pre load all the folders? just the one the user opened? (wtf?) making searching mails …. tidious)
    • screenshots are NOT (WHY CHANGE A WORKING STANDARD?) done as with other android devices: hold power + volume up or down, no, some “genius” came up with “swipe with side of the hand across the whole display”. you seriously must be kidding? how well does that work u can see here:
    • OF COURSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SWIPE THE WHOLE HAND ACCROSS THE DISPLAY, WITHOUT MOVING STUFF! X-D resulting in blury almost useless screenshots X-D (STUPID STUPID STUPID IDEA!) SAMSUNG PLEASE! STICK TO THE STANDARD: POWER BUTTON + VOLUME UP/DOWN, WTF?
    • IT IS NOT EVEN POSSIBLE TO CHANGE THIS BEHAVIOUR IN THE SETTINGS! WHICH SIMPLY SUCKS!

OpenGL browser based “fish benchmark”:

it is not a very representative benchmark, because the amount of computational power needed, also depends on the resolution (more resolution = more computational powers needed)

so the S7 can display 5000 fish at 15 fps okay

overall:

it is a overall nice device for the occassional show friends something online quick “browse, browse, look here are the statistics that proof it”

but except from that, would not pay 800 bucks for a ipad nor any other tablet for that occasional usecase and rather stick to the (as open as possible) hard+software (LineageOS flashed smartphone) + lenovo notebooks with decent GNU Linux support 🙂

(2020: finally rooted, but still no official LineageOS support?)

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