Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Android Tablet, 11” LCD Review

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 is a bit of a puzzle. On paper, it's a solid, well-rounded Android tablet with an 11-inch screen, 8GB of RAM, and a Snapdragon chip. It comes with the excellent S Pen in the box, which is a huge perk for note-takers and doodlers. But when you look at its overall score, which lands in the 49th percentile, it's clear this isn't a category killer. It's a good tablet that feels caught between worlds.

So who is it for? Honestly, it's best for someone who's already deep in the Samsung ecosystem and wants a premium media consumption device. The 11-inch LCD is sharp at 2560x1600, and the quad speakers are great for movies and shows. If your main goals are streaming, light web browsing, and using the S Pen for notes or sketches, this tablet will feel right at home. It's a comfortable, familiar Android experience.

What makes it interesting, though, is Samsung's push to make it a productivity tool with DeX mode and Microsoft 365 integration. The idea is you can plug it into a monitor and get a desktop-like experience. That's the promise, but the reality is a bit more complicated. Its weakest area, scoring just 38 out of 100, is productivity. That tells you something about how well those PC-like ambitions actually pan out in daily use.

Performance-wise, the Tab S8 is perfectly capable for most tablet things. The Qualcomm Snapdragon chip and 8GB of RAM put its CPU and GPU performance in the 68th percentile. That means it's faster than most tablets out there, but it's not breaking any records. You'll have no problem flipping between apps, playing casual games, or editing a photo. Everything feels smooth and responsive.

Where the numbers get real is in that productivity score. A 38 out of 100 is low. This tells us that while the hardware is competent, the software experience for getting real work done just isn't there compared to dedicated laptops or even some competing tablets. The benchmarks suggest the power is adequate, but the ecosystem and app optimization for multitasking and heavy lifting hold it back. It's fast enough to run DeX, but the experience around it might not be as seamless as you'd hope.

Here's the kicker: the Tab S8's value is almost entirely about the price you pay. At its original MSRP, it was a tough sell against an iPad Air or even last year's iPad Pro. But if you can find it for around $300, the math changes completely.

At that price, you're getting a premium-feeling tablet with a great screen and a superb stylus thrown in for free. That's a compelling package for a student, an artist on a budget, or someone who just wants a nice Netflix machine. You're trading away some peak performance and app ecosystem polish, but you're saving a significant chunk of change. Just know you're buying a very good entertainment tablet, not a laptop replacement.

The most direct competitor is the Apple iPad Air. For similar money (at full price), the iPad Air offers significantly faster performance from Apple's M-series chips and access to a much deeper library of tablet-optimized apps, especially for creative work. The Tab S8 fights back with the included S Pen and a more flexible file system, but the iPad's overall smoothness and app support are hard to beat.

Then there's the Microsoft Surface Go series. If productivity is your true goal, a Surface Go running full Windows 11 is a more genuine laptop replacement. You get proper desktop apps like full Photoshop or Excel. The trade-off is that the hardware in the same price bracket often feels less refined than the Tab S8, and battery life can be worse. It's a choice between a better tablet experience (Samsung) and a better PC experience (Microsoft). The Lenovo Legion Go S and Panasonic Toughbook are for very different, niche audiences (gaming and rugged fieldwork), so they're not really in the same conversation.

If you're a Samsung phone user who wants a slick companion for watching videos, browsing the web, and jotting down notes with the superb S Pen, and you find the Tab S8 for $300 or less, go for it. It's a great deal for that specific use case. The screen is lovely, the build is premium, and it just works well within its lane.

But if you're looking for a true productivity device to replace your laptop, or if you want the absolute best performance and app selection for creative tasks, you should look elsewhere. The iPad Air or a base model Surface Pro will serve you better, even if they cost a bit more. The Tab S8 is a very good tablet that tries to be a laptop, and that's where it stumbles. Buy it for what it is, not for what Samsung wants it to be.