Amazon US dropped price for Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 overnight. This tablet is not released in Au yet, but Grey import prices in AU in high $800s. Great deal for those who keen to get it before Au release or pay Au release prices.
CamelCamelCamel.
There is an invisible space between WiFi and on :-)
Beat the netflix tax
So AMAZON with keyboard total $565US(no stock keyboard option) for 32GB WiFi version?
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Mate going New York.
So $829AU with keyboard and 2 screen protectors from Amazon……
Not a very positive review: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/22/15011164/galaxy-tab-s3-re…
Comments?
Please do not turn this comments thread to "this is not good for me" or Apple better than Android. This was aimed at those who made their mind and about to spend $900 on it before protectors, keyboards and memory cards. And if the internet is your point of truth here is the positive one to end with https://www.stuff.tv/samsung/galaxy-tab-s3/review
He copied from the review I posted and contradicts himself if you actually read the details!
Just enlightening others!
I see your suggestion to stop people discussing strengths and weaknesses of a product is both draconian and counter productive to the culture of OzBargain. Throwing rocks "Apple is better" isn't helpful, but, I often enjoy hearing people's experiences with a product. Sharing reviews (especially good ones) is very helpful.
Totally with you on that, but if this is the purpose Whirlpool is the right place for that me thinks. For some reason I believe that noise of off topic discussions clogs the purpose of this site which is to find a bargain irrespective of bargain is for. For example if I'd like to buy a Merc I probably don't want to hear that BMW is waaaay better or more practical or cost less. Only because I would like to buy a Merc and looking for the right price…
I'm not pro or against Apple, Samsung, Merc, BMW or anything, just wanted to share a bargain for those who looking for it. Others can exercise they will power to move on, they don't have to like it…
It's the Verge though. Their reviews are known for being biased.
They will gladly say "I’ve never acclimated as quickly to typing on a small-sized keyboard as I did on this" for iPad Smart Keyboard (for 9.7). They criticise the keyboard on tab S3 for being cramped.
Here is an image of both keyboards in view, I personally think both of them are simliar in how tightly the keys are positioned.
https://tablet-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ipad-pro-…
I think what the Verge could've criticised was how Tab S3 uses older chip (Snapdragon 820) and have priced itself at a premium tablet price range. In terms of what chip is used, iPad (2017) used A9 which competed with Snapdragon 820 (in terms of when it was released). I think iPad Pro 9.7's A9X is better than A9. I have heard that speaker on it is not as great as iPad Pro's as well (which I unfortuantely cannot verify).
Flagships at high price range has to justify its pricing with its performance. I don't think Tab S3 is doing that for a lot of people. What I said doesn't necessarily make Tab S3 a bad tablet though. Whether the pricing is good or bad really depends on person though, as that has value judgment elements.
What's more funny is the comment that "Multitasking" was not complete on it. Yet, the author keeps comparing it to the iPad, which actually does not even truly multitask (It's technically task switching). So go figure that?
$670 is not really 'premium' though. It certainly isn't cheap, but if you're going to compare it to a 32GB iPad Pro, I think it's a little bit cheaper (well I'm not sure about the clearance price, but before the clearance it retailed higher). But it has an AMOLED screen and SD card slot which is something you don't get on iPad.
SD820 vs A9X which is better is not all that relevant since they were each designed for different devices. You can't run an iPad with SD820 nor can you run an Android using A9X. So which SoC is faster doesn't change anything. There are other factors towards performance such as the software itself.
I'm not buying this, but I can see a market for it. It will get slaughtered by the iPad in sales, but if I was in the market for a flagship Android, I can do this price. But I prefer the widescreen format of the Tab S1. The S2 and S3 are Samsung trying to copy Apple at their own game.
$670 is a discount price. If you look at it's RRP (AUD $794.46 in US, so post GST would be AUD $873.91), that is far closer to iPad Pro 10.5's pricing ($979) than iPad (2017)'s ($469).
Since iPad Pro 10.5 isn't released yet, if I bring discounted price of iPad Pro 9.7 from September last year (5~6 months in from release). They were $594.32 (grey import), $799 (Australian stock). Both from searching Ozbargain.
Tab S3 prices itself to compete with premium line up. Besides, Samsung advertises it as "Premium tablet" on its website.
The reason why I've brought up A9 was more to show that Snapdragon 820 is one year old chipset. Apple placed something that competed with SD820 in its non-flagship tablet line up (iPad 2017 uses A9).
I know there are OS differences and everything, but Samsung has brought this upon themselves when they've made the tablet's RRP close to the iPad Pros. Functionally, iPad Pro 9.7 will be faster for apps that both OSs have and 9.7 is cheaper. I know S-pen is included with the Tab S3, but I personally don't think that compensates for the price difference (or lack thereof).
Anyways, I was in the market for Tab S3. It was my best bet with the tablet. I used to use styluses a lot for notetaking and I can't stand any of the alternatives. Surface Pro series's palm rejection was just awful. I hated how Apple Pencil feels blunt and how slippery the body was when I tried it. I am a big fan of Wacom EMR. Plus I hate iOS for tablets, I want to do more than what Apple limits. I had to include iPad Pro back into the options I was considering because of how disappointing Tab S3 was with pricing and chipset. None of the options I've considered seem to satisfy me for me to pay for them, unfortunately.
This is what I said before and I think I want to emphasise this again.
What I said doesn't necessarily make Tab S3 a bad tablet though. Whether the pricing is good or bad really depends on person though, as that has value judgment elements.
Snapdragon 820 is one year old, but it's still a good performer. I personally cannot justify paying what I'd pay for a flagship this year for a device that uses chipset from last year. Outside the price, I don't think I would be able to criticise the device without sounding like the Verge.
Since iPad Pro 10.5 isn't released yet, if I bring discounted price of iPad Pro 9.7 from September last year (5~6 months in from release).
Why would you do that? Tab S3 hasn't released here either. So would you compare it to last year's Tab S2's prices?
Tab S3 prices itself to compete with premium line up. Besides, Samsung advertises it as "Premium tablet" on its website.
Premium just means it's the best of its line. Doesn't mean it competes with the best of other people's lines. Xiaomi's "premium" devices compete with mid range Samsung devices in price.
The reason why I've brought up A9 was more to show that Snapdragon 820 is one year old chipset.
It's still the current chipset in a lot of 2017 flagship phones. It's not what year it comes out but what it can do. A faster processor doesn't always increase the speed. Software accounts for much of that. A year also doesn't make a huge difference in performance. Just look at the benchmarks between 835 and 820.
I know there are OS differences and everything, but Samsung has brought this upon themselves when they've made the tablet's RRP close to the iPad Pros.
OS differences would still be there whether they made it $100 or $1000. Some things will always run faster on iOS no matter what. If the only thing that matters is what year the SoC came out, the 835 would not run those apps faster than the A9. And by that reasoning putting this year's Kirin or MTK into the Tab S3 instead of last year's Snapdragon 820 would have made it a "premium" tablet.
Functionally, iPad Pro 9.7 will be faster for apps that both OSs have and 9.7 is cheaper.
OS differences again. There is more to price than speed of apps. There's things one OS can do that the other can't. And there's also the screen. Everyone here who's seen the 9.7 says the screen is terrible compared to the Air 2. The Tab S3 on the other hand has OLED which is more expensive than IPS displays.
The Tab S3 is more expensive than other Android flagships because it has a better screen and other intangibles. It's rumored iPhone 8 will also go OLED, and I presume so will next year's iPads. I'd like to see if that affects the pricing of the iPads.
Would I buy a Tab S3? No. But I do not think it's overpriced for what you're getting compared to alternative Android tablets. It's when you compare them to iPads and make direct ghz comparisons that there's a perceived difference. You are ultimately comparing operating systems at this point. How well would an A9 or A9X run Android? Better than SD820? It's a question you'll never know the answer to. Without that, it's pointless comparing processors. Androids had 2GB RAM or 3GB RAM quad core processors at the time that iPhones used 1GB RAM 1Ghz dual core processors. It didn't matter because the OS addressed that power differently and the extra cores would not have made a difference.
@lostn: I've mentioned this and I will mention this again.
Whether the pricing is good or bad really depends on person though, as that has value judgment elements.
What you are ignoring is Tab S3 is priced close to Apple's iPad Pro 10.5 in terms of RRP. The pricing that we are seeing for this tablet is close to what iPad Pro 9.7 was when it was 6 month in after the release. RRP wise it is in US, I bet we will see similar pricing if not worse knowing how Austrlaian pricing usually is worse than US pricing for a lot of electronics.
I am comparing Tab S3 to iPad Pros, because their pricing is too close. If Samsung has priced Tab S3 closer to what iPad (2017) is, I will be all over about how iPad (2017) is bad value.
Snapdragon 820 was a flagship SoC from last year. If you really want me to go technical and don't simplify what I want to say, OK.
Sanpdraogn and Exynos I usually compare by what Samsung used in their S series. Samsung uses Exynos and Snapdragon on their flagship so they try to make them perform simliarly. I am not saying that they succeed all the time or it is a clear cut. That said when the performance is too different, they drop the other (as seen with Galaxy S6).
I don't think of MTK or Kirin to be a flagship SoC. They are capable chips, but usually Samsung's Exynos that gets used alongside Snapdragon chips are better. For example Kirin 960 had ARM Mali-G71 MP8 versus Exynos 8895 which ARM Mali-G71 MP20. MTK always had issues with performance. The point is, they don't perform as well for me to consider them as a flagship SoC. High end, certainly, flagship, not really. I've been talking exclusively about Snapdragon and Apple's A chip for a reason when I was talking about Tab S3.
As with why I compare Snapdragon and A series by generation. They have simliar technology available to them in the same generation. FinFET (Samsung foundry and TSMC competes for Apple's and Qualcomm's chipset so they have to be comparable), ARM architecture (last year's and current flagship SoC uses customised ARM architecture) and more importantly, they go in products that compete with one another that year. It's never clean cut, but what I said usually are not that different within a year. Snapdragon 820 was in flagships last year, so was A9.
Besides, with so many apps that are in both app markets, I don't think I am being unreasonable when I compare devices within same generation. Office apps like MS Office is cross platform. A lot of games are cross platform as well and that's what normally requires flagship level performance.
I do agree that there are things that an OS can do but the other can't, but at the same time, simliar pricing and things that are cross-platform allow me to compare them. I believe that raw performance comparison is not being unfair for flagship SoCs because they had simliar technology available.
That is my justification on why I am complaining about Snapragon 820. I simply don't think Snapdragon 820 is a flagship chip for 2017. That is why I am very annoyed to see flagship tablet price on Tab S3. If Samsung has priced it more dearer, I would've been very excited. I said this before:
Flagships at high price range has to justify its pricing with its performance.
I simply don't think Tab S3 is doing that with Snapdragon 820. They could've used Snapdragon 835 or Exynos 8895 or they could've made the pricing better if they couldn't use them on tablets. They didn't.
Basically what I am saying is this. From what I said before:
Snapdragon 820 is one year old, but it's still a good performer. I personally cannot justify paying what I'd pay for a flagship this year for a device that uses chipset from last year. Outside the price, I don't think I would be able to criticise the device without sounding like the Verge.
That's my opinion and that's why I am very disappointed with Tab S3 after waiting for something like it since 2014. If you think I am being unreasonable with my opinion, so be it.
I have the S2 since launch and it is a very nice tablet but it would be hard to justify spending this much I think. The utility is not really there, it's great for youtube and plex and some web surfing but to get $670 worth of use out of it would be very hard. You need to either spend less and get a ~$300 'high-end' china tab or spend more and get a lenovo laptop. The value is not there for high end android tabs.
S3 has the S pen as a new feature for some added value, 4 speakers, but still can't justify the price either. I guess its a "blown up" version of the note 7….I'll walk myself out
The problem with the China tabs is their software. I just don't like the launcher they use.
It's about iPad priced, or cheaper. And I'd say that's a good thing if you want the use of an iPad without the lockdown of a walled garden. There are things I always hate about using my iPad. Things you need to jailbreak to get which are out of the box features of any Android. Features such as dispensing with itunes or needing to convert my MKVs into a format where I lose my subtitles, being able to change my default browser and mail client, better integration with google apps, being able to toggle wifi/BT/gps with the pull down menu instead of leaving my current app and needing to open settings (which is an app in itself) then go back.
If you want actual cellular, the China tabs have poor band support. I've even found the x86 atom processors used in those tabs to be incompatible with some apps. You can also get them in MTK, but let's not go there.
So if you want an equivalent to the iPad but are used to Android, this is cheaper than buying an equivalent iPad and you have an OLED screen.
This one also comes with a stylus, and it doesn't need battery. To get Apple's one you'd have to fork out $165.
Having said that, I myself have no need for another Android tablet so this is not for me.
I've had this for about a month, from a s2 (busted screen). It is expensive but also a noticeable upgrade: faster cpu, better screen, huge improvement in otg performance, ucb-c, build, etc. The s3 hits a set of features that, for some, are important and not found elsewhere.
What do u think of the reviews?
What do you use it for?
Try Anandtech. Here's a link that may give you some insight.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9771/best-tablets
I recently gave my parents an old iPad because they wanted something simple to use for connecting to the internet. If I hadn't done that, i'd probably buy a chromebook for them. Not only are chromebooks often cheaper than tablets, but they are more capable at content creation (ie. they have keyboard/mouse rather than a touch screen) and they also have the low administrative overhead like a tablet.
I just wanted Krunel first hand experience comments with the S3….I have tablets…..
Wifion?