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The world of Android tablets is competing with laptops to create productivity machines that are as light and portable as tablets. Samsung in particular has been a leader in that field for many years. For a long time, the only real choice for a high-end Android tablet was one made by Samsung.

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Productivity tablets in particular are a strange kind of niche for Android tablet users. If you ask around, you’ll find that it has many uses, from education to the construction industry. It used to be that Android tablets in particular were just glorified Netflix boxes, fit for consumption, and that was it.

These days, with processing power relatively easily available, “productivity tablets” are becoming a force to be reckoned with. The benefits are obvious. Mobile operating systems are what most people spend the most time on. So why not come in a larger form factor that also gets the job done?

At its recent fall event, Samsung announced two new tablets: the Galaxy Tab S10+ and Tab S10 Ultra. I’ve been using a sample of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Plus provided by Samsung in my office for about two weeks. Here is my full review.

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All of a sudden, it seems a bit strange in that Samsung has launched the Galaxy Tab S10+ (or Galaxy Tab S10 Plus, your choice) and Tab S10 Ultra. In the past, three tablets were introduced, starting with the non-Plus version. What’s a little different is that when you start with the Plus version, you start thinking, “What does Plus compare to?” And that’s where Samsung left us all scratching our heads.

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Anyway, here’s what you get with the Tab S10+. You get a gorgeous 12.4-inch screen with 1,752 x 2,800 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate. The tablet is available in 256 GB or 512 GB configurations, both with 12 GB of RAM. But there’s one more interesting part about the interior.

It also features a Mediatek Dimensity 9300+ processor, a first for a US-based flagship. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors typically power Samsung devices in the US, but the switch to Mediatek could be interesting. At the very least, this should spur Qualcomm to improve its processors now that there’s real competition in this space. I’m really excited to see how this develops in the future.

In addition to the MediaTek processor and all the other specs, this tablet has a 10,090 mAh battery, which is quite large for a tablet space, especially considering how thin the table is. It’s only 5.6mm thick, which is pretty impressive considering the amount of power this tablet packs. The Type Cover adds some bulk, but overall it’s a surprisingly thin and light tablet at 571 grams.

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Around the sides of the device, when in landscape orientation, there’s a power and volume rocker in the top left corner, and a microSD card holder in the top right corner. There are four side-firing speaker grills on the top and bottom of each side, and the right side has a USB Type C port for power and data transfer.

There are dual cameras on the back, but don’t use them. There is a 13-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera. The 12-megapixel selfie camera on the front is perfect for video calls.

Like past Samsung Galaxy Tabs, the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus and Ultra both ship with a stylus in the box. This stylus attaches magnetically to the back of your tablet and is a great addition for anyone who likes drawing or making fine selections. Personally, I rarely use a stylus on any tablet, but that’s me. I would much rather buy a tablet that comes with a keyboard included. Oh, and by the way, that’s not the case here. Keyboard sold separately.

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This is both welcome and surprising. So in both cases that’s not the case at all. But Samsung is going one step further and touting the fact that you can use the AI ​​at the press of a button without actually giving you a button to press. Never mind that this is marketed as a productivity tablet that is basically impossible to be productive with. Maybe I have a special use case. There may be many people who own a Bluetooth keyboard and just can’t let go of it. But the worst part is that the keyboard is not that good.

To be fair, I don’t really care, but I like slim, low-profile keyboards with minimal travel. But when you compare this keyboard to something like Apple’s Magic Keyboard, it’s laughable. At least the OnePlus Pad 2’s keyboard is removable and still works with Bluetooth. The fact that Samsung is actually charging extra for this keyboard feels a little ridiculous.

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Of course, since this is a Samsung tablet, we have to talk about AI. One of the easiest ways to access AI is through the dedicated AI button on your keyboard (not included). Pressing the AI ​​button will summon Bixby (which, by the way, still exists) or Google Gemini to the side panel. In fact, this implementation is very good at that. I’m enjoying it.

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Here are Samsung’s other AI features. Most of the ones I use are specific to the tablet’s camera and image generation. In one case, I took a photo of the library’s main reading room and drew a sketch of a dog. He was a very cute puppy back then.

Circle to Search is also here. Essentially, all the AI ​​features you can access on your phone are also available on your tablet. Many of Samsung’s AI services are built into Samsung’s own apps, such as Samsung Notes, so if you’re not interested in that ecosystem, you’ll have a hard time figuring out how to take advantage of it. Of course, the opposite is also true. Of course, services like Circle to Search are more universal.

The tablet has a long battery life. I’ve had this tablet for about two weeks and only had to charge it twice in that time. During those two weeks, I watched movies, did a lot of writing, and wrote some lighter parts of my work. To make this clear, many of the systems we use at work are not tablet-enabled, so you can’t do all your work completely on this tablet alone. This is not a Samsung issue.

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Everything written and researched over the course of two weeks was done on this tablet. I took it to a few remote work sites, including a local theme park, for a little Sunday writing while my daughter enjoyed an early Halloween celebration. I’ve never had any concerns about battery life or whether the tablet can do everything I need it to do.

In terms of benchmark action with Geekbench 6, the tablet’s single/multi-core scores are 2,115/6,966, which are very solid numbers. Mediatek is making waves in its core areas. I don’t know if they’re ready to go toe-to-toe with Qualcomm, but they’re doing a lot of things right.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Plus is a worthy successor to the Tab S9 in every way. In fact, I prefer the smaller size to the Ultra just for portability. Most other aspects are the same between the two tablets, so the choice comes down to size and, of course, budget. The Tab S10 Plus starts at $999, the same price as last year. The difference is that there is no non-Plus version, which is a shame if you wanted something smaller and cheaper.

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At $1,000 to $1, it’s very expensive for this kind of tablet, but it’s a great tablet in many ways. The keyboard (which you have to buy separately anyway) is not as high quality as the tablet and has a “cheap” feel to it.

The tablet itself is thin, light, and of high quality. The S Pen mount on the back of the tablet is pretty solid, but it’s hard to put it in and out of your bag unless you have a handy covered keyboard case (not included). I can’t stand it. Did I mention that the keyboard case is not included because I didn’t want to accidentally mention that the tablet price doesn’t include the keyboard?

Once you get past all of this, you need to ask yourself whether you need a $1000 tablet, and if so, what you need it for. $1,000 is within the range of very good laptops, so if you just want a laptop, you have options. If you need that laptop to run Android for some reason, I guess that makes sense, but the distance you can use it in this particular area varies.

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So if you’re looking for an Android tablet on the market that’s worth the $1,000 price tag, this could be the new best tablet. The Tab S10+ is available from many other retailers including Samsung.com and Amazon.