Samsung: You see, what we did was we took the Galaxy Tab S6, right? Then we slapped some 5G on it Samsung has lifted the lid on the Galaxy Tab S6 5G – a revamp of last year's model with a built-in 5G radio. Although this is a fairly modest upgrade, it is the world's first 5G tablet. In terms of specs, almost nothing has changed from the original model, which came in Wi-Fi and LTE versions. The sole point of differentiation …
e-paper is just so much better for reading in all lighting conditions
This. I use my e-reader (A Kobo) a lot and I'd be really, really loath to swap it for a standard tablet. Even though the 'reading hours' stat that the e-reader manufacturers quote is pretty much bunkum (I have to charge mine every 3-4 days - during which I'll get through 4-8 ebooks) it's still a magnitude better than any of the tablets I have.
Is going to be Chromebook in tablet form. Google have screwed this up spectacularly, already, with the Slate, but others are slowly starting to come up with compelling devices. This posh new Samsung? It's still stuck with all the issues of an Android tablet. My ancient iPad 2 still gets updates. Good look with that on a Samsung.
You think Chromebooks get updates forever? Think again!
My ancient iPad 2 still gets updates
App updates maybe (depending on which app you are using). iOS updates - no chance in hell. We also have an iPad 2 and it's stuck at iOS 7 or 8. And is as slow as treacle in a Siberean winter.
I use a Galaxy Tab S2 every day for personal stuff like emails, Facebook, web browsing, and occasional other tasks. I hate using phones for any of that as even the stupidly huge 7" phablets are still too small to clearly see details on the screen and too big to hold for even my massive hands. I even find my 5½" Honor 9 to be a little too big to hold comfortably for long and I wear 5XL gloves.
Once you move to a tablet, you are unlikely to be holding it anyway, so 10"+ is great. If the tablet manufacturers want to increase sales, then start producing 12", 14", 16" tablets at a decent price point. I know I'd consider replacing my 9.7" S2 if I could get a 16" tablet with a decent capacity battery at around £400-500 as with my ageing eyesight it would make life easier. We don't need 80 core CPUs and 4K graphics and 16GB RAM, just a mid-range tablet with 4GB RAM, 4-core CPU, a bigger screen and adequate cameras.
The young want to do everything on their phone and good luck to them. I wish I still had the eyesight to do that.
Us oldies want a phone to do what is necessary when we are out and about, but when we are sat on our sofa, we want a decent sized tablet to do the stuff that we do at home.
7" by you is "stupidly huge"? I find my Galaxy Note's 6" screen just barely large enough to be more or less usable. If a 9.5"-10" tablet existed today that I could use as a phone on its own, WITHOUT having to carry a separate phone as well to "bond" it to, I would be all "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY."
Really, modern touchscreen smartphones are not phones. They are remarkably competent, almost stupidly powerful PDAs, that can be used as a phone in a pinch if you really have to, but honestly, they are SHITTY phones with godawful voice quality.
I will be interested in 5G/LTE enabled tablets upon the day that a major manufacturer releases one that major phone carriers will allow to operate AS A PHONE, so that I don't have to carry a tablet AND a separate phone against the contingency that somebody might call me or I might need to actually make a call. I can see no reason for continuing to not allow tablets to function as phones, except to force people who want or need a large screen (for instance, the visually impaired, or Parkinsons' sufferers) to buy two separate devices when it is perfectly technically feasible to do the job with one.
And honestly, 5G is mostly smoke, mirrors, and marketing buzzwords when it comes to real-world use in the first place.
I use an 8" Asus ZenPad for any media consumption when I'm not say at a PC.
I'm trying to remember how old it is, possibly 3 years possibly more.
It works. Why should I replace it?
My Sony Xperia 10" tablet is sat in the charging cradle. It seems to be slowing down. I remember it being blindingly fast when I first bought it. I assume OS crud over the years. It is still adequate.
To use either of these as a phone I would need a headset (probably BT) worn constantly which I don't really want to do. However mobile data would be enough to persuade me to buy a tablet. I would use it for map reading outdoors where inches really matter. I make/receive very few phone calls but I use my phone constantly as a small computer with built in networking. The tablet would need a really good battery though.
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