Here's Why The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Is Probably The Best Android Tablet You Can Buy Right Now

Tablets are in decline. With the advent of large-screen smartphones, there is really no need to own a tablet today. Smartphones pack in great features, making them great multimedia devices, which can also be slid into a pocket easily. But that doesn't mean tablets are dropping dead by the roadside.

I use Xiaomi¡¯s ginormous Mi Max as my go-to device for watching shows on Amazon Prime and web browsing apart from my smartphone, as I really like the 6.4-inch form factor which also slides easily into my denim's back-pocket.

So when I got my hands on the Galaxy Tab S3, I was in for a very different space. Sure the 9.7-inch display translated to a bigger, more engrossing viewing experience, but it also meant that I had to carry another device around in my backpack. So was it all worth it? Read on...

My first impressions

Galaxy Tab S3 on first impression looks like a blown up Galaxy S8 without the curved Infinity display. The ginormous 9.7-inch QHD panel looks beautiful and slimmer bezels help the device to be more portable. The device gets an all-aluminium chassis along with a glossy glass back, which definitely looks good, but it's also a huge smudge magnet. So you¡¯ll need to have a microfiber cloth nearby to clear those stray fingerprint marks almost all the time.

What made me like this device instantly is the fact that how sleek it actually is. Being 6mm thin and weighing a little below 500 grams, this tablet is easy to hold on to. Its sleek design makes it easy to carry around. However, we¡¯d strongly advise you to get a case for this tablet, as even though the device comes with Gorilla Glass, you don't want to risk a drop.

Now the Tab S3 also comes with an S Pen included in the box. This sadly cannot be slid into the device like the Note devices. It also doesn't get a separate holster to keep it with the tablet. This was a major drawback: I loved using the S Pen and always feared to misplace it, too.

My wow moment

This is the best display I have ever seen on a tablet, period. Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 gets a large 9.7-inch Quad-HD Super AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2048x1536 pixels.

This display also supports HDR playback, which is seen only on a handful of expensive 4K TV¡¯s in the market today. However, I couldn't really find any HDR content to play. Yet, it's a great feature to be included, as we can expect more HDR supported content in the near future.

The first thing I decided to watch on the Tab S3 was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The moment I hit play, I was awestruck. The display was too good to be true, and the audio on the tablet was better than I expected, to say the least. Hedwig¡¯s theme never sounded this good on a tablet!

Galaxy Tab S3 gets four speakers around its sides, making this perfect for media consumption. They were perfectly loud and didn¡¯t make me run for my headphones. Moreover, while resting the tablet in landscape orientation, the speakers fired up through the sides, so the sound never really got muffled, which was definitely cool.

Sketching on the device with the included S Pen is quite enjoyable, almost as good as professional illustration Wacom devices. I had lots of fun sketching and doodling on it, whenever I wasn't watching something on the Tab S3.

The day I tossed my Xiaomi Mi Max aside

After a few days with the Tab S3, I completely forgot about my Mi Max, and the Tab S3 became my primary device to binge watch shows. Since the Tab S3 also supported a SIM card and voice calls, I could use it browse data on the go, but refrained from answering awkward tablet-phone calls.

Even with data connected, Tab S3¡¯s 6000mAh battery was able to last a whole day with ease. Also with support for Samsung¡¯s Fast Charging, the device could juice up in just two hours -- a feature that Apple's iPad still doesn't support. The tab is running on Android 7.0 Nougat with Samsung¡¯s custom skin on top, which surprisingly didn¡¯t have a ton of bloatware.

Qualcomm¡¯s Snapdragon 820 paired with 4GB of RAM does a pretty good job of multitasking, Although it did get quite hot under immense loads. You also have the option to use dual-windows which can be a boon to work and enjoy a TV show at the same time.

The bitter goodbye

Why are goodbyes so hard? I never imagined that the moment I¡¯ll switch to the Tab S3, I will fall so deeply in love with it. This is hands down one of the best portable devices to watch movies and TV shows on, and it's perfect to use while on long commutes. It not only has a beautiful display that you can gaze on for hours, but it can do all that without breaking a sweat in performance. People could say that tablets are dead, but Samsung Tab S3 could very well mark its resurgence. But at Rs 47,990, it demands a high asking price for the flexibility and fun it offers, justifying it to a large extent.