Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite

BOTTOM LINE

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is a cheap creative and note-taking tablet computer for users that prefer to remain on the Android side of things.Creativity comes handy with the 349.99 Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, the best way to get an active stylus tablet at a comparatively low price.

The S6 Lite's included S Pen stylus gives you a pencil experience for $80 less than the base iPad and Apple Pencil, which makes this pill a good choice for people doing note-taking or art on a budget. The base iPad stays our Editor's Choice because there is much more creative software available for that stage, though.

The Android tablet world is somewhat odd. There's a vibrant selection of sub-$200 media tablets like the Amazon Fire line and Walmart's Onn. Tablets, but above that, the industry is so dominated by different iPads that Android tablets get relatively small air.

Samsung remains out there swinging, however, with its low-midrange Tab A line, its high-end Tab S6, and now the 64GB S6 Lite, that competes with the 32GB base version iPad ($329).

The pill doesn't feel low-end. It's made of a refined, matte gray cloth, measuring 9.6 from 6.1 by 0.27 inches (HWD) and weighing 16.4 ounces. There is a mid-sized, even bezel around the screen, which means no home button or fingerprint detector, which means you'll have to get used to Samsung's somewhat risky face unlock or typing in a passcode.

A USB-C port sits on the bottom, using a standard 3.5mm headphone jack on top. That last is particularly welcome.

The S6 Lite has dual speakers around the sides, which provide amazingly great stereo separation. You can really tell the channels when you are listening to music or watching videos.

It is nice, but if you are utilized to AMOLED screens, then the LCD will look a bit washed out. Similarly, if you are used to higher-pixel-density screens like 2,560-by-1,600 displays, you'll notice some jaggedness and pixelation in text.

The base-model iPad includes a 264ppi screen, which isn't much different; less costly tablets are generally 1,280-by-800, which is significantly worse compared to the Tab S6 Lite.

The S6 Lite's celebrity feature is its S Pen stylus, included in the box. The S Pen clips into the side of the pill magnetically; it will not fall off when you're carrying it around.

The pencil is grey, with one flat side, and can be equally pressure- and tilt-sensitive. The display is smooth glass, and the S Pen doesn't have an extremely grippy feel; it slides a bit.

Writing and drawing together with the S Pen are excellent. The stylus isn't ever laggy or misaligned, and the pressure sensitivity works easily in a vast assortment of applications. Samsung has been perfecting pen input for years, and it shows.

The stylus does not include any replacement nibs, and some user reviews have complained about nibs fraying after a few weeks; it works with Galaxy Tab S6 nibs, however, and you can find a 5-pack of those on Amazon for $6.

Focused on Creativity

The Tab S6 Lite employs a Samsung Exynos 9611 chip with four 2.31GHz cores and four 1.74GHz cores. In benchmarks, that means quite fair performance. We have a mere 5,502 at the PCMark Work standard, 284/1,136 in Geekbench, and 198.36 in Basemark Internet.

In PCMark Function, that put the Tab S6 Lite on par with less expensive tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.4 and LG G Pad 5, even though the S6 Lite did substantially better in the internet browsing benchmark.

Samsung has updated its earlier Galaxy Tab S4 and S5e so far as Android 10, but not immediately, so you should anticipate upgrades to arrive ...eventually. Parental controls here are the normal Android 10 controls dependent on the Google Family Link app, which lets you monitor utilization block and time certain apps.

Employing the tabletcomputer, I'd get the sense that it is very considerably optimized for S Pen applications. Samsung's built-in Notes app has surprisingly excellent handwriting recognition.

Like all Android tablets, the Tab S6 Lite functions with Bluetooth keyboards and mice. There is no counterpart into the iPad Air's hardware port for a committed magnetic computer keyboard instance, therefore by and large you want to decide on universal Bluetooth keyboard cases like the Logitech Universal Folio ($59.99) should you would like to utilize this as a primary computing device.

The S6 Lite does not work with DeX, which gives some Samsung merchandise a desktop-like port, and it does not join up to PCs using Samsung Flow, which will let you see notifications and easily handle files between your tablet computer and your PC.

The pill isn't great for gambling,either. The Exynos 9611 delivers 9.6fps from the GFXBench Car Chase onscreen test and 26 fps in the T-Rex onscreen test, similar scores to the low-end Amazon Fire HD 8 and well beneath the LG G Pad 5. In actual gaming, this resulted in poor performance. Fortnite was essentially unplayable, with enormous jumps between frames.

I had difficulties using Asphalt 8 and Asphalt 9 as well; they didn't really stutter, but very low frame rates resulted in a less satisfying play experience compared to smoother devices. While the tablet computer is good for games that don't rely on high frame rates--such as kids' dress-up games, card games, and Mini Metro--you just can't play anything so complicated with this chip.

I'm rarely impressed with tablet computer cameras, with iPad cameras being the exceptions that are endless, along with the Tab S6 Lite's 8MP primary camera along with 5MP front-facing camera are no different. Both cameras catch 1080p video, and have HDR capability.

If you are using the front-facing camera for video discussion in good light, you'll be fine; outside, I found that the camera to possess rich colour. Indoors, however, especially with lower light, it didn't measure up. Indoor shots were pale and noisy, with hefty JPEG artifacting.

The main camera takes decent outdoor shots, though it had a little bit of trouble with all the highlights of a white blossom. Once more, problems appear in low light: The color drains out of pictures along with artifacting appears.

I wouldn't make too much of this matter, as tablets are seldom good, but it is still another place where the iPad (which generally uses marginally older iPhone cameras) will emerge ahead.

The foundation model has 64GB of storage, with 52.2GB accessible, and also a MicroSD card slot for extra storage. Battery life has been better than the base iPad, at 7 hours, 16 minutes of video playback with the screen at full brightness.

The U.S. version of the S6 Lite is Wi-Fi only, connecting via 802.11ac on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

Compared to some Snapdragon 865-based, high-end phone, I got slightly lower Wi-Fi speeds from the tabletcomputer, using an average of around 52Mbps down versus around 60Mbps with the telephone. The pill had greater array from an Eero Wi-Fi entry stage, grabbing signal over 100 feet away.

Why Not an iPad?

At $349.99, the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is clearly positioned as the Android alternative to the base iPad. And considering the price includes the S Pen (Apple's Pencil is a 99 add-on), this becomes a much better buy for individuals whose chief use is drawing or note-taking and who do not have other Apple equipment. The issue is software.

Android tablet programs form a comparatively silent eddy of the software world, and while Samsung has done a fantastic job making sure that Android software is generally S Pen compatible, it is safe to presume the iPad will last to have a wider collection of professional creative apps. It is the default stage.

Android is easier to utilize in some ways, for example with its own file system; it is much easier to download arbitrary files and work on them in Android's open filesystem than in Apple's sandboxed one. But in my own mind ultimately that does not balance out the fact that if you are in the trades that are creative, the word"tablet" likely means"iPad."

There aren't many midrange Android tablets for this to compete with. Most Android slates today tend to concentrate on the non invasive, media-consumption sector. Samsung's own Galaxy Tab S5e has a livelier, higher-resolution display.

Huawei's Mediapad M5 Lite is also an adequate tabletcomputer, but it has an older version of Android and the pen is not as well supported. The full-scale Galaxy Tab S6, meanwhile, is more strong but pricey.

That leaves the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite as the right tablet for a very specific niche: people who want a stylus but for some reason don't need to have an iPad.

As a reading, sketching, and note-taking program using a flexible, open file system, the S6 Lite hits the spot.

PROS

Rich stereo speakers
Good build quality

CONS

Not an OLED screen
No hardware keyboard attachment