Home » Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra Review

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra Review

Written By Jose Altoveros
Published • November 30th, 2024
Gadget ReviewsTablets
0

Short URL: https://www.yugatech.com/go/s1r3

When it comes to flagship tablets, there are only a handful of models that pop into peoples’ minds. One of those is none other than the Apple iPad, which has already made a solid name for itself. The other is its direct rival – the Samsung Galaxy Tab series.

Over the years, Samsung has constantly made improvements to the Galaxy Tab S series, and recently, we got our hands on the latest model – the Galaxy Tab S10. Specifically, we tried out the biggest and most powerful version – the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra.

With a massive 14.6-inch display, it is easily as big as most laptops today. You could even get it with a free keyboard and case depending on which spec you choose. However, given how big and expensive the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra has become, it makes me wonder – is it still something you should consider?

So, if you’re in the market or considering the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, I suggest you read on to find out.

Table of Contents

Design and Construction

In the styling department, Samsung didn’t really change much to the design of the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra as compared to its predecessor – the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra. The dimensions are nearly identical to before (326.4 x 208.6 x 5.4 mm) and feature the same all-aluminum body that looks great.

At the upper right corner (in landscape view), you’ll find the dual-rear camera, and beside it, you’ll find the provision for the Galaxy S Pen. In the upper left corner, you’ll find the Samsung logo. Just like before, there are trim pieces on the left and right sides of the back panel that should make it easier to hold without a case. Other than that, the rest of the back panel remains clean.

As for ports and buttons, you’ll find a USB-C port and two loudspeakers while across it are the other two loudspeakers. At the top, you’ll find the volume rocker, the power button, and the microSD card slot. At the bottom, you’ll find the connector to the keyboard.

The keyboard and trackpad that comes with the S10 Ultra feel great to type on. Given their size, it’s similar to what you’d find in a small laptop. The keys feel soft to the touch and are responsive too. However, you might find your fingers getting tired after a few hours of typing.

The trackpad is a bit small for my liking, but I assume Samsung designed it this way to make space for a larger keyboard, giving users more of a laptop-like experience. It is accurate and navigating websites was easy, but given how I had the S-Pen and the touchscreen display, I rarely used the trackpad.

Samsung Tab S10 Ultra 3

There’s no doubt the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra looks and feels good. More importantly, you have the premium design of Samsung’s flagship tablet. It’s also well-protected featuring an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. This means you can bring this to the bathtub to watch videos, and you won’t have any issues even if it gets wet.

The only problem with the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra in particular is the size; it’s just too big. When I just want to scroll on the couch or watch videos without the stand, it is quite a hassle. While you can use it with just one hand (provided your hands are big), you will eventually use two hands just to hold it properly.

The case with the stand does help a lot, but what if you don’t have a table to place the tablet on? Again, you’ll have a hard time just lounging around with it.

Display and Multimedia

There is one big upside to the size of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra – a larger screen. The Tab S10 Ultra features a massive 14.6-inch touchscreen display featuring a Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with 2960 x 1848 resolution. And yes, it does come with a 16:10 aspect ratio, making it identical to most modern-day laptops.

It is easily one of the biggest displays on a tablet to date, and given the beautiful panel, you can easily immerse yourself in it. There are very thin borders all around, but because of this design, Samsung had to add a notch for the dual front cameras, which is quite irritating at first glance.

The screen is smooth thanks to a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes playing games very enjoyable. It’s also very bright for a tablet, making it easy to use everywhere with 930 nits of peak brightness. What further helps when it comes to glare and reflections is the anti-reflection coat. It’s not that noticeable indoors, but when you’re outside you will notice it at work.

For artists, the screen is great for drawing. It works well with the Galaxy S-Pen, and it’s very accurate when you want pressure or not. Together with the large display, it’s so easy to sketch and draw stuff. However, I’m not the best artist so I just did a few doodles once in a while.

Instead, I enjoyed binge-watching the latest anime and series using the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra. As mentioned earlier, this tablet comes with four loudspeakers tuned by AKG. They’re not only loud, but they also have a good soundstage if you’re directly in front of the tablet. The bass is still lacking, but it’s much better than most tablets out there. But at least the mids are well-balanced with the treble.

As much as the ultra-thin bezels look great, there is a downside to it. If you’re holding the tablet, you do end up touching the screen most of the time. This applies whether you’re holding it in portrait or landscape mode.

Don’t get me wrong though, this screen is still gorgeous and I can say the same about the speakers. Once again the size does make it quite a hassle to use when you don’t have a table.

Cameras

You guys already know my opinion about people who buy tablets, and use the cameras to take photos instead of using their smartphones. But not surprisingly, the cameras on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra aren’t that bad.

At the rear, you have a dual camera setup highlighted by a 13MP main shooter paired with an 8MP ultrawide. As for the front, you have a dual 12MP setup for the wide and ultrawide camera located at the notch.

Unlike other tablet cameras, the images captured by the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra are quite decent. The images are sharp, and you do get nice colors. When using portrait mode, you even have a decent bokeh in the background. It’s more than adequate for taking quick snaps if you don’t have time to pull out your phone.

But what I liked most were the front cameras. The addition of a separate ultrawide is super useful when you’re taking selfies or if you’re on a video call with a group. The images taken by the front camera are nothing to write home about, but at least the cameras can record up to 4K@30FPS (for both the front and rear).

You can check out the sample gallery below to see just how nice the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra takes photos.

While the photos and video are decent, I have to note that if you have the budget for this tablet, you are probably using a flagship smartphone with a better camera. So if you’re not in a rush, I would still recommend using your phone to take photos and videos. Not to mention this tablet is huge, making it difficult to use to aim the camera.

OS, Apps, and UI

Like all newer Samsung smartphones, the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra uses the latest OneUI 6.1.1 OS, based on Android 14. As a result, you get all of the nice Samsung features including Galaxy AI.

Perhaps my personal favorite is the Sketch to Image function. I was able to try it on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 earlier this year, but it’s a lot easier and better on the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra. I did have the S-Pen and the huge 14.6-inch display to play with after all.

The Sketch to Image function helps a lot, especially for those who are a bit more challenged when it comes to arts and drawing (just like me). I can try to draw a dragon, but of course, I can only do so much. With Sketch to Image, I drew a dragon (at least tried), added a bit of detail, and let the AI do the rest for me.

There are a lot more cool functions available with Galaxy AI that can help in terms of productivity too. There’s Note Assists and Circle to Search to name a few. In fact, we did a deep dive into the AI functions of the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, which you can watch in the video below.

Aside from the AI, the S-Pen does have neat tricks of its own too. There are air gestures and even Air Command to instantly open Galaxy AI. Then there’s Samsung Dex mode, which turns the tablet’s layout into something more like that of a laptop. Considering the size of this tablet, you may want to use a mouse already or even a separate keyboard.

Performance and Benchmarks

Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra runs a MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ chipset. Depending on the spec, you can get it with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of internal storage. If you find that storage lacking, there is even a microSD card slot that allows users to expand storage even further.

Interestingly, Samsung didn’t use the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 or even their own Exynos chipset for the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra. Whatever the reason for that, with the Dimensity 9300+ under the hood, it performs a lot better than before. The benchmark numbers show it too with over 1.9 million in Antutu. You can check the rest of the benchmark scores below.

In the real-world use, the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is fast. You can load up the most graphic-intensive titles, and it can handle it without any issue whatsoever. It is a bit difficult to play Genshin Impact using the touchscreen mode given the size, but the graphics were amazing.

With that in mind, you don’t have to worry about productivity too, whether it’s various Google sheets, sketching, or just writing documents. Even the AI functions worked really fast, provided you have an equally fast internet connection.

Battery and Connectivity

Powering the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is an 11,200 mAh Li-Po battery pack. It’s a big battery, and considering the size of this tablet, I’m not surprised. From my experience, tablets typically have a long battery life, and I expected the same from this one.

However, I was surprised to see that it wasn’t as long as I expected. Using PC Mark’s Work 3.0 Battery Test, the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra only lasted 11 hours and 40 minutes, which isn’t the longest. For reference, the test was done at 50 percent brightness, airplane mode, and zero volume.

I suspect the large display drains a lot of juice despite the larger battery. But then again, battery life is dependent on the end user. If you plan on playing games a lot on this tablet, then expect it to drop faster. But if you’re mainly going to use it for productivity purposes, then it should last a bit longer.

Unfortunately, the weakness of Samsung mobile devices persists with the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra – slow charging speeds. This tablet only has 45W fast wired charging, which is already decent compared to their other devices. But compared to tablets from other brands, it is still slow with others having around 60W charging rates or faster.

In terms of connectivity, it comes with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, and depending on the variant can come with 5G support.

Conclusion

There’s no doubt if you want a big tablet with powerful performance, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is one of the best choices out there. You have a nice design, capable cameras, and a powerful chipset under the hood. In addition, you have access to Samsung’s latest OS which includes Galaxy AI.

But all of that does come at a price. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra starts at PHP 92,990 for the 12+256GB variant, while the 12+512GB variant retails for PHP 99,990. Now, if you want the ultimate version, the 16GB+1TB variant, that will set you back PHP 116,990.

At that price, you’re already in the same market as capable gaming laptops. While you can get discounts with the Samsung Trade-In promo and more, it’s still a lot of money. So if you’re still on the fence about it, I suggest you think about it some more.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra isn’t for everyone. But if you’re someone who needs a big and powerful tablet, whether it’s for work or other purposes, then you can’t go wrong with this.

What we liked:
* Beautiful Display
* Decent Cameras
* Powerful chipset
* Nice design

What we didn’t like:
* Expensive
* Can be too big for some

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra specs:
14.6-inch QHD+ (2960 x 1848) Dynamic OLED 2X anti-reflection display
120Hz refresh rate
MediaTek Dimensity 9300+
12GB, 16GB RAM
256GB, 512GB, 1TB internal storage
microSD card support (up to 1.5TB)
13MP main camera
8MP ultra wide
12MP front camera
12MP ultra wide front camera
Quad-stereo speakers
Dual SIM (pSIM + eSIM)
5G
Wi-Fi 7
Bluetooth 5.3
Android 14
Fingerprint sensor (in-display)
USB Type-C
11,200mAh battery
45W fast charging support
IP68 rating for dust and water resistance
S Pen (BLE) in-box with IP68 rating
208.6 x 326.4 x 5.4mm (dimensions)
723 grams (weight)
Moonstone Gray, Platinum Silver (colors)