yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] d210:
I am more or less in precisely the same boat with the OP. While I can't comment much about lag and battery (lag doesn't bother me and I don't use it much at a time and charge it rather often) the other complains are clearly justified.

This glass&metal construction is as bad as it gets, both because it's fragile and because it's hard to grip. It is kind of ridiculous, just try to keep it between your fingers and walk with it balancing your arms normally (or exaggerated, just to see what I mean). It will just inexorably slip through your fingers (not to the point of dropping it, if you're careful but you'll have to push it up with the other hand from time to time). That is without having any kind of greasy or wet fingers. I don't know what was wrong with something like Galaxy Note's (1) plastic (removable!) back. Oh, it doesn't look premium, bla bla.

Other than that the display is fine for browsing but for movies is beyond bad. I posted earlier about the dark screen (what is a little bit dark is completely black). Also in daylight (and I mean indirect daylight, in full shade) it's so reflective that is almost useless if you want to do something comfortably.

I would get the ipad (I can still return the S3) but the price difference is rather large (I can well afford it but can't really justify it). I managed to get the S3 for ~450 euros after all rebates (that is with LTE) and I can't do better (at least for the near future) for the ipad than the official 729 euro. And that would be without LTE, pen and with the pathetic 64GB non-expandable. If I go for 256GB and LTE ... sky's the limit. And even with LTE I still can't use the ipad as a backup phone (this was actually what I've got LTE for).

But with iPad I'll get the better screen (which is what I value most) and a much better camera (which might come in handy). But I'll have to change to iOS and it bothers me to learn new tricks (heh, I'm old).
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] ADRz:
I have no idea what you are talking about. I have the S3 and I observe no lag. I am not sure what kind of lag you were experiencing but I guess that it is not characteristic of the tablet per se. I wonder if you had a software issue.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] Themetnut:
I love my Tab s3, but I am getting a little frustrated with the battery drain when wifi is on while the tablet screen is off. I installed tmobile DIGITS and ever since then the wifi won't turn off, even after I deleted the app and did a factory reset.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] imanym:
WoW, just when I thought my issue was unique. My issues with the s3 are as follows.

Horrible virtual key accuracy

At times it is very slow and laggy

Like the weight but glass is very slippery

IPad pro

No split screen

MS groove a very poor app

Nook a poor app

OneNote syncs a lot slower than s3

Although the pen is well balanced, the pen tip is like hard plastic against the screen and I find the feel to be similar to the s3's glass feel, not good.

Despite those issues this blog has helped me decide which item I will keep. I will keep the iPad. I use nook and OneNote quite often and the split screen and the quick nav soft buttons on the s3 is far better than the navigation and quickly getting from app to app on the ipad, but. The feel of the ipad is more secure, there is a wider variety of accessories for the iPad pro 10.5 and the speakers and speed is A 1. Thanks so much for this post and, no need to apologize for the length of the post it was awesome.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] JWnSC:
The tablet actually has decent hardware just poorly optimized apps. Even the stock browser is trash. With stock browser it was taking over a minute to open a page. I'm using puffin browser now big difference.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] Tinderbox (UK):
A good night mode is a must on an oled display for night time browsing or to just save power, beware some browsers send all you detail to china like UC Browser, I use the free no root firewall, it blocks all data to china, russia, ect and shows where other apps are talking to in the world so you can block them if you want.

I have been using it on my Tab S1 for months and very low if any cpu usage.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lostnet.fw.free&hl=en

John
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] ComPas-V:
The comparison between iPad Pro and S3 - like comparing an apple and real tool. :)

As a former user of iPad Pro 9.7 256 LTE (this is important) i can say that :

apple pencil is a toy . Even note 4 pen is better.

the system is closed and your handwriting is very limited to no value at all.

U have cellular on tablet , but very limited. in some cases you can not even manage your subscription since no phone application is allowed.

you download capabilities limited by system.

you can connect keyboard , but not mouse

using external drives is limited.

etc....

Bottom line - you hardly can leave without regular PC and Apple machine is very preferable.

But I do agree , that iPad Pro is a nice tablet.

Depends what you're looking for and preferable scenarios of use
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] Ovy13:
I have to partially agree. I picked up a Tab S3 last night, and I'm shocked at how laggy it feels. Scrolling through Chrome or whatever other app is jittery. I expect a lot more for the price, and if I have to put up with poor performance, I may as well save a couple hundred dollars and get something around the $300 range.

I'm also taking issue with how dark media can be. A lot of detail is lost in the shadows of any given scene. I never thought I'd say this, but the contrast is just too damn high -- at least, for non-HDR content.

I'll give it a couple more nights to let it grow on me, but I wouldn't be surprised if I end up returning it.

Oh, and it has a light yellow band going across the middle of the screen, so that whites or grays look uneven. I had this same problem on multiple Pixel XLs. I used to think AMOLED was awesome, but it's becoming more hassle than it's worth -- the consistency is crap.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] jamesrick80:
For movies, cinema mode solves any issue. Perfect movie quality in that mode... The Samsung tab S3 does not lag. Just add a adblocker for the Samsung browser and all issues are solved and change the stock keyboard to the Google Gboard keyboard since the stock keyboard is a mess. If you see any yellow banding or graying, your display is defective.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] thegarmac:
I agree 100% with the review. I also do have both the iPad Pro 10.5 and the Tab S3, you cannot compare them. Ipad has no lag whatsoever and the S3 is soooo slow. Only reason i keep the S3 is because it has the user profiles and allows me easy switch between my Clash Of Clans accounts :silly:

But i wouldn't have expected anything super fast from a tablet released in 2017 with a Processor announced and released in 2015... Still don't know what Samsung was thinking putting a 2 years old CPU in this thing. At least Apple put their latest CPU in the iPad Pro. I do admit the Samsung is a beautiful device. Very premium. I also have the keyboard case and it's great. I will try to find a suitable new ROM for it in hopes it will speed things up. I don't really need all the "extras" Samsung is providing and also realize the lag may be in order to keep things smooth with the S-Pen... but since i don't use that that extra software layer can get lost for all i care :D
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] d210:
I didn't get the ipad (see my previous post) but I've got (again, too good to be true special) the new Surface Pro (2017) with the lowest specs (m3/4/128). Yes, I know, that would compare to the larger ipad pro not the smaller one (or Tab S3) but it is what it is. I can say there's a world of difference. The aspect ratio is much more advantageous for movies (or even pictures from any of my decent cameras and surprisingly even for many pdfs), there is no issue at all with dark scenes too dark, I haven't turned on my home cinema for weeks. And the handling (so to speak) is just fantastic - the back is some kind of magnesium (I think) that doesn't slip, you can use the kickstand to help you keep it even between your fingers or for many other things, it just doesn't compare with anything you can do with a tablet case. Microsoft was going on and on about adding the second position to the kickstand (Pro1->Pro2), then to making it "continuous", tweaking the resistance and feel, increasing the angles until it's almost 180 deg on the last Surface and so on. It isn't (completely) hype, this is something really, really useful. Also there isn't any shiny "Samsung" (or Microsoft for that matter!) on top of your display - these are small things but do matter.

I don't want to comment much about software, this isn't the point - I care about a nice display I can easily hold and use not games or anything else, I can live for sure with either Android or Windows (even if in this case I do like more Windows but I could live even with iOS probably). One thing that irked me about the tab was that it was considerably different from S7/S8 (many settings were in other places, some basic things unavailable, etc.). Also given the fact that I have a Samsung phone and watch where I keep bluetooth mostly off because of Blueborne (while Microsoft did patch this a while ago) I'm happy I don't have a tablet with the same problem too.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] pacc:
I don't know how on earth did you get those terrible tab S3, mine has no issues at all. I even have a magnetic case on my tab s3 and zero impact on the S pen pressure levels.

My only gripe is with wifi signal which could be stronger, but probably that's because of the case.

And remember this model is in early life, software related bugs will be ironed out during the next updates.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] d210:
The model itself is relatively new but the SOC is the one from S7 and the display technology similar and older (including the problems and the partial and cumbersome fixes). I've seen it mentioned in many places that tablets aren't really a priority for Samsung so I wouldn't hold my breath for many fixes. Let us know when you can turn on bluetooth again safely :)
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] pacc:
Meaningless post, just repeating what we already know for ages.

The SOC is currently the fastest on a Android tablet.

The screen is the best on any tablet.

Tablets aren't the priority for any company (not just Samsung).

Bluetooth was/is/will never be 100% safe.

It's all a matter of perspective.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] d210:
I think you completely missed my point, I don't care if it's the best of the worst or second best or whatever. My point is that it isn't some nifty new technology they just rushed yesterday out the door and are just now ironing out the bugs and discovering what it can do. It is something they've had for a good while. If you don't like something there's a good chance you'll never get it fixed, unless there's some critical issue (like the bluetooth vulnerability, which I'm sure it will be patched, at some point).

Sure, it's a matter of perspective, one can throw his hands up in the air and say "bluetooth/wifi/email/web/hey, internet will never be 100% safe" and then scurry around only when his device is pwn3d (information leaked and/or encrypted, bricked and asked to pay some fraction of BTC to get it back). OR one can try to prevent this from happening (and this is why this forum is mostly for, better including more secure software). Others who don't want to mess much with the software on their devices can try to reward manufacturers who care about their security (Microsoft and Apple patched for this since months, linux kernel is patched, Google itself patched but Samsung is silent).
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] episode96:
Personally I understand that Samsung's focus may not be in tablets anymore but then you can't get away with charging £600 for it. Can't have it both ways.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] vampire_8_7:
I have mine now for about a month too, and I play on it not too much but battery last me 3 days at least. It never lagged once it's incredibly fast, I really can't believe I am saying that about Samsung products :D.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] JakeDaSnakePayne:
I have had mine for about a week and I have no lag, or any such problems. This baby is lightning fast, the display is amazing; deep and dark blacks plus amazing color. The pixel density is out of this world and high end games are a breeze to run. I bought it just to game on and have not been let down. I didn't even need to root it, it already preforms over the top, but I did because I have a rooting habit. Antutu score was over 130,000 if that tells you anything and I can straight game about 5 to 6 hours before reaching the 15 percent battery life warning. I think that some of these people are full of crap. (on xda, really!?!)
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] toxotis70:
i have tab s3 too, after i had ipad pro .

No comparison at all !

S3 is super laggy, youtube and chrome chraches all the time ... i dont know what to do.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] zkyevolved:
Android will always be a bit laggier than iOS devices. This is just the nature of the platforms. But I knew this when I picked up the tablet. The reason being:

Android, it's just much more flexible.

I could afford the iOS tablet but then again these are devices that I use for years and then exchange. I couldn't justify paying more than double to do that.

Also, microsd cards. I can sync all folders over in the background and have virtually unlimited space.

But yes, iOS tablets are much more polished, for sure and you just have to get the device that's going to work for you in the long run.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] gottahavit:
So I got a deal on the ipad pro 10.5 last month so figured I'd give it a shot. I have the S3 and had had the S2 and 8.4 Tab S as well.

I have never owned and apple device before, but figured I'd give it a shot.

The 10.5 is SOOOO much faster than the S3. Split screen browsers actually work and are useable.

The 10.5 has a much clearer display(blame it on Pentile).

the 10..5 is much nicer to hold, glass vs alum. and weight.

the 10.5 has AMAZING battery life especially in standby

the Apple Pencil is much nicer to handle and works much better than the SPen, but the charger is STUPID.

The S3 has a MUCH more vibrant display, movies and comics are a dream.

The S3 is ANDROID. Customization, mouse support(very big deal), Apps that are not completely bloated with Ads(was surprised at this), Phone apps at least pretend to work on the tablet(on IOS they are smaller that screen, don't rotate....)

The S3 has SD card

Winner: S3, only because IOS is SH*T

The IPad 10.5 is an amazing piece of hardware.(aside from color), but it's like putting a 600 horsepower engine in a YUGO with a 3 speed automatic transmission.

Samsung really needs to step up it's game on tablets, all the android and windows tablets are overpriced and under spec'd. Look at the reviews on the Galaxy book.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] jolo100:
Battery drain is awful on S3

Thank you for your post!! I thought that I was losing it with the battery. I'm very bummed out and I am sadly going to return it. I have had a Asus ZenPad Z500M, very similar, but about 200 to 300 dollars less.

The writer is exactly right , when using the 3s, the battery drain is unreal, yes, your can see the percentages drop and drop during usage. Apparently, it is a known bug with Samsung.

I got with their tech support three times and three times they got into my S3 using their Smart Tutor app. All three times, they had issues with the Smart tutor app which messed up their connection. But they did make configuration changes, which don't seem to help very much.

I have spent hours working with it.. I would exchange it, except that I have seen the web littered with other posts about faulty battery burn while in use.

Any recommendations?

Please check the $300 Asus ZenPad 3s 10 as I would like feedback. I come see any other comparative android tablets.

Jt
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] zkyevolved:
I just had my device off the charger for 12 hours on charger and sleeping, 0 drain. I tell my devices Wi-Fi to turn off when the screen is off. That's because this tablet isn't my only device. I use my computer throughout the day and then I also have my phone. I'd say the standby time is quite good if you ask me. Try it with that small change to it.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] gottahavit:
Correct if you set it up to let wifi sleep with tablet then the battery drain is gone, however that means no notification for email, hangouts, skype.....

No background app that needs network will be able to perform those tasks.

Google Apps won't auto update.

so it all depends on your needs.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] Extreemator:
What a load If you are content with ipad than you never needed android tab in the first place, I am not sure how he didn't know it in the first place. We all know that it's has better cpu and battery, yes, but one day it will end for Apple too, because SoC making is not exclusive previleage their advantage will be getting shorter. And of course samsung and Qualcomm are doing now very bad, my s2 is as fast as s3 aside gpu, but if not them other companies will do it for them. But please don't write about wonders of ios and how super easy it is. It's super easy and useless and with every year more expensive. I have ipad lying around and almost never touch it, you see I cannot ftp from my pc with solidexplorer a audiobook quickly from my hdd or a video file to my TV and many other things of sort.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] sketchman16:
I can see the issues he's talking about. Especially with stock ROM. I literally can't stand (I have either CMed/LOSed or installed a stripped ROM or dumped every Android device I have ever had) stock Android devices.

Once you put an iOS tab next to an Android tab you will see the lag you didn't notice is there in Android. Same with battery life. The difference is nuts.

I hate iOS and Apple, but I'm a realist, too. I still prefer Android with mods, though. Yeah, performance is not the best, but that's really why we're here in the first place. Cause we like to mess with our devices. Make them better. Apple doesn't like you doing that. And really, performance is good enough or can be made good enough.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] d210:
Generally you're right but the price plus Knox doesn't make this device the best for tinkerers.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] aretzios:
I am quite satisfied with the Tab S3. It does what I want and it is speedy enough for me. I do not think that speed is really an issue for most items one does with tablets. I am also certain that progressive software improvements will increase speed. However, I have to say that the Samsung keyboard cover alters the usability of the device. It is actually as good a keyboard as anybody could have wished for tablets of that size. It is really quite usable and when I have to use it, I can type relatively fast. However, the problems arise when I do not want to use it. As currently structured, if one wants to get the benefit of a slim and easy to manage tablet, one would need to remove the cover. Otherwise, the keyboard makes the tablet a bit awkward to use as a tablet. It works fantastically when it transforms it into a mini laptop, but this is not a very frequent configuration. I thought that Samsung had not exactly made its mind how this tablet would be used when it designed it. A click-on keyboard would have been a far more efficient add on.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] dontbeweakvato:
This sounds like an ad or endorsement.

I would perform a partial self castration before purchasing any iOS device. Ever.

But glad you found something that works.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] naruto.ninjakid:
Updates

Update since I asked around here before purchasing. Picked up the Tab S3 from Costco for $460 New. So far not too bad. Already tooted the tab. With WiFi on in sleep on latest AQI2 build I lose 10% overnight. With WiFi always off during sleep I lost 1% so Its ok. Considering if leaving WiFi on is worth the battery lost. Also, I have an ASUS AC66U router if that helps. Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] wegwolv:
This Tablet Performs considerably worse than my Xiaomi 5plus which has a SnapDragon 625 CPU...

The The laginess comes from the Samsung Touchwiz ui with Pencil Features...
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] Crow1510:
I seriously cant figure out what you guys are talking about. Got the tab S3 two weeks ago, and haven't noticed any issue you have reported. The battery provides me about 7 hours of display, I did not experience a single lag and trust me, I am using it for university (taking notes, open heavy PDFs). The pen's performance is good enough to capture my handwriting at about 90% accuracy and I'm really happy with this, since it is included in the box and it is super light and doesn't have a battery in it. The display is absolutely fantastic and to let you know, you can adjust contrast in the settings if the high contrast set on by deafult bothers you. Really, I am very happy with this tablet.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] sireniankyle:
I would definitely buy an iPad, but I want to remote to my desktop, and for it to be a fluid experience, I need mouse support. Thanks for the post, though.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] Kizznyc:
See...
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] Msamp:
just some thoughts

just a few arrogant comments from a true apple hater.

1) so the s3 is heavier than the s2? didn't notice. get a set of weights or do a few pushups. i honestly didn't notice.

2) glass construction: being 10 times voted the world's clumsiest man, i tend to get protective cases. far easier to hold and keep clean-looking, but i realize this isn't a solution for everyone.

3) i don't care what the circumstances, i don't but non-rootable devices. i'm not 3 yrs old - i don't need to be protected from the big, bad OS Genie. if i put down my money for it, i expect full access to all of its functions, not just those some marketing weenie thinks are 'safe'

4) Samsung is not my favorite, what with all that knox nonsense, but once that's disabled and the stupidities of SE Linux bypassed, this is a pretty powerful device. good enough to process data in the field using Octave.

5) so i say stick with android, if not Samsung. I *might* buy an apple concentration camp phone to save my kid's lives, but i can't think of any other reason.

all imho, of course
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] c0ntagi0:
Mate, you've bought the best tool for the job, I'm happy for you. Letting fanboyism cloud your judgement is just retarded. The iPad Pro is the best note taking device at the moment, so there's no need to settle for second best. You're voting with your money and putting other tablet manufacturers on notice that you're not settling for just good enough. Good on you.
[Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Guides, News, & Discussion] Kizznyc:
"Yeah, Shane. I know how you see it" ~ Rick Grimes