[Samsung Galaxy Tab S8] drjoe1:
Another update and more impressions...

1) I followed Jake's advice and wiped face recognition. It really isn't needed with the thumbprint reader placed in easy access when holding the tablet in landscape orientation. Plus the feature that the four-digit PIN automatically unlocks after you put the correct four digits makes putting pin in very fast.

2) I love super fast charge. This is the first device I have with it (my phone is a Galaxy S10 Plus). It really is fast enough that you can charge the phone between planes in an airport terminal.

3) [Charging rant on] Charging is and has always been more mysterious than it should be. I found out that all cables were not the same back with my first tablet in 2014. And that you had to read the fine print to determine the gauge of the mini- and micro- USB cables. Then that chargers weren't the same. There is table at https://www.digitalcitizen.life/fast-charging-standards/ that has over TWENTY EIGHT different standards. And Samsung doesn't use the standard standards! My understanding is that Samsung Adaptive fast Charge was really a castrated version of Qualcomm Quick Charge 2! And now they have Samsung Super Fast 1.0 and 2.0 as separate standards again from PD! So how do you know if a brick supports Super fast 2.0? You'd think it would have gotten better with PD and USB C, but no! Samsung is still Samsung!

So I got an awesome charger that is also a power bank ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DC99CB5 ), and I get the Super Fast Charge with it. But I still don't have a clue how the damn thing works. First, they rate the primary charge on the native 3.8V lithium ion batteries. 10,000 mAh. But the battery pack has to convert this (with losses) to a USB standard voltage. This used to be 5V, and they do still tell you the rating at 5V. 5,800mAh. But the PD (Power Delivery) standard uses 5V, 9V, 12V, 15V, and 20V. I have no idea what the battery rating is for the higher voltages. And then, the tablet has to take the 20V, 15V, 12V, 9V, and 5V and convert them with losses back to 4V to charge the internal battery. And if the internal battery is charged and you are maintaining the battery level, I don't know if it is powering the tablet directly (and at what voltage) or topping off the tablet battery at 4V as it discharges. And what the efficiency is. So how much charge do I get with a battery pack? I don't know!

And now there is more USB-C cable madness. Again, you have to figure the gauge of the cable! And it seems sometimes they rate cables by current rating not gauge. Sometimes they tell you descriptively it is for fast charging sometime they don't. And add to that the mysterious "Super Fast Charge 2.0" (not to be mixed up with "Fast Wireless Charging 2.0")! It seems you need a cable with an "E-Mark" chipset to run at currents over 5A. And maybe for 20V -- it isn't clear to me if E-Mark is related to "Super Fast Charge 2.0" kicks in. And I can't find any documentation for it except references on the S20 series phones ( https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/what-is/super-fast-charging/ ). The S20's seem to be 45W just like the Tab S8+. But other info on Super Fast Charge 2.0 suggests it is for 65W or 100W laptops.

So does "Super Fast Charging 2.0" exist on the Tab S8 series? I don't know. When does it kick in? I don't know. How much faster is it? I don't know. Why do they need to make this so confusing? I don't know. I have a PhD in Physics and work as an engineer in a semiconductor factory that makes wide band-gap chip products for chargers, and I don't know!

Hahaha.... [Charging rant off] Very frustrating. But liking the tablet. Still getting used to the size.

Joe