Samsung Galaxy Book hands-on, first impressions

Samsung is set to release the Galaxy Book series in the Philippines next month and, as a 2-in-1 Windows tablet, is positioned to compete against the iPad Pro.

The Galaxy Book comes in 2 sizes — the bigger 12-inch display and a smaller 10.6-inch display which is our review unit here.

The Samsung Galaxy Book is supposed to be the successor to the Galaxy Tab Pro S which was released last year (read our review here).

Just like its predecessor, the Galaxy Book follows the same simple and compact design with an all-glass front panel wrapped in a metal chassis. It’s got a slim profile at only 8.9mm and a bit hefty at 640 grams (1.4lbs) compared to an equivalent iPad Pro 10.5 (477 grams /1.03lbs and 6.1mm).

The tablet’s normal position is in landscape with the entire front panel covered in glass, a bit generous on the bezels with the front-facing camera up top and Samsung logo at the bottom.

The power button and volume controls are up top while the 3.5mm audio port is on the right side along with the USB Type-C port and the SIM card slot which is also where the microSD card tray is housed. The speaker grills are found on both left and right side of the device to give better audio output.

The Galaxy Book has a single USB Type-C port which is used for charging the device or connecting to an external device like a portable HDD, printer, digital camera, and others. If you’re a heavy user, this might force you to get one of those multi-port adapters for USB Type-A, HDMI, and SD card reader.

Powering the Galaxy Book is a low-power Intel Core m3 with a base clock speed of 1.0GHz (2 cores, 4 threads) that can go up to 2.6GHz with Turbo Boost. This is paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of base storage (27.4GB free space).

The tablet comes with a keyboard docking stand and a pen stylus for navigation or sketching. The keyboard dock attaches to the tablet via a magnetic strip in the center with pin connectors which activate the keyboard as an input device.

The chiclet-type keys are rather small but are spaced well apart. Typing comfort is average and accuracy is decent but could improve with time and familiarity. Took us quite a while to get the hang of it. The trackpad is wide yet narrow which isn’t ideal but still usable.

There’s an NFC embedded on the right side of the trackpad that opens up Samsung Flow which allows you to pair the tablet with your Samsung phone (more features of Samsung Flow here).

The Galaxy Book has a 4,000 Li-Ion battery which Samsung claims can last up to 9 hours on a single full charge (we’ll test this in our full review).

The 10.6-inch display uses a regular LCD with a 1920 x 1280 pixel resolution at 3:2 aspect ratio. The screen is clear and crisp but is not as bright or clear when viewed at an angle.

One of the unique selling points of the Galaxy Book is the ability to accept stylus input which is best for handwriting and drawing or sketching. We’ll tackle more about this in our full review.

Samsung Galaxy Book specs:
10.6-inch LCD Display @ 1920×1280 pixels
Intel Core M3-7Y30 1.0GHz dual-core, 4 threads (Kaby Lake)
Turbo Boost 2.6GHz
Intel HD Graphics 615
4GB DDR3 RAM
128GB internal storage
Up to 256GB via microSD
4G/LTE
WiFi 802.11b/g/n/ac
Intel WiDi
Bluetooth 4.1
5MP webcam
USB 3.0 Type-C
Windows 10 Home
4,000 Li-Ion battery

The Samsung Galaxy Book 10.6″ will have a suggested retail price of Php44,990USD 767INR 64,993EUR 730CNY 5,583 (128GB). Watch out for our full review next week.