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Add to SafariWhen comparing iPad (2017) vs Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, the Slant community recommends iPad (2017) for most people. In the question“What are the best 10" tablets around $650?” iPad (2017) is ranked 1st while Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose iPad (2017) is:
Costing just above $300 in its most basic version (the most expensive one costs $559), this iPad has a very attractive price tag for its features. It has a 9.7″ Retina display and comes with a 64-bit A9 chip that ensures a fluid performance and enough computing power for demanding games and other applications. Overall, its features and performance are equivalent to those of other tablets that cost at least $100 more.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Excellent value for money
Costing just above $300 in its most basic version (the most expensive one costs $559), this iPad has a very attractive price tag for its features. It has a 9.7″ Retina display and comes with a 64-bit A9 chip that ensures a fluid performance and enough computing power for demanding games and other applications. Overall, its features and performance are equivalent to those of other tablets that cost at least $100 more.
Pro Great power for games and media
This tablet uses a 64-bit A9 chip and 2GB RAM, which ensure fluidity when gaming, watching media, or even doing some light multimedia creation tasks (in GarageBand, for example). Evidently, it doesn’t perform as well as the iPad Pro, but it’s very noticeable that it’s more powerful than the previous iPad Air 2.
Pro Good for a pleasant media watching experience
The 2048x1536 display, with a 264 ppi pixel density, handles content reproduction quite well. Despite missing some importante features, such as True Tone technology or anti-reflective coating, it’s still a good screen that creates a pleasant experience, creating vivid and rich images. However, it’s noticeable that it’s not as good as the displays of the iPad Pro or of the iPad Air 2 from the previous generation.
Pro Camera is good enough for modest photography
The iPad 2017’s camera is quite decent. It’s 8 MP sensor and good color reproduction capabilities allow for some good photo-taking. Still, it’s not as good as the iPad Pro’s 12 MP camera.
Pro Long battery life
The iPad 2017's battery lasts up to 10 hours (while doing tasks equivalent to regular internet browsing, watching videos or listening to music). It's a lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 8,800 mAh, which represents a great improvement from the iPad Air 2's battery, which only had 7.340 mAh.
Pro The performance is great
This tablet is quite fast and responsive. A quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor and 4 GB of RAM make it suitable for video streaming and gaming.
Pro It's a good alternative to carrying your laptop everywhere
While the Galaxy Tab S3 is not as powerful as a typical laptop with comparable price, it has decent specs, a keyboard (sold separately), and a stylus that make it a quite capable workstation. Of course, it won't be able to replace your normal computer completely, but it will suffice to get some work done in a coffee shop.
Pro The image quality is excellent
The Galaxy Tab S3 has one of the best displays on the market. It's a Super AMOLED screen with a high resolution -
2048 x 1536, that provides a very sharp image even in direct sunlight and works great for watching videos, gaming, and reading. The HDR technology makes it great for watching films because you can see every small detail, even if the action happens in the dark.
Cons
Con No accessory connector
There’s no connector for accessories: to connect them to the tablet, Bluetooth is the only possible option.
Con Storage options could be better
32GB and 128GB are the only storage options available, with no possibility of expansion (via SD cards, for example). This means there’s a huge gap between the lowest option, which will feel like not enough for lots of people, and the highest one, which has too much space for those same users. A 64GB version would probably be more balanced and the most suitable for the majority of users.
Con Takes too long to charge
This iPad's battery takes around 4 hours to completely charge, which can feel like too long in many situations where you don't have that kind of time to spare.
Con Heavily modified software
Samsung's modifications to Android 7 mean updates are rare and apps you may have no use for are preinstalled.
Con It's quite pricey
The tablet with a stylus will cost you around $550. The price increases to about $620 if you include the cover with a physical keyboard. It's a pretty hefty investment for a tablet since you could get a pretty decent laptop for the same amount.
