HIGHS

• Impressive array of heart-tracking features, ECG
• Larger screen that looks great
• Strong performance
• Haptic feedback on crown is a nice touch
• Excellent app support

LOWS

• Longer battery life would have been nice
• Expensive
• No third party watch faces

Last year’s Apple Watch Series 3 cemented its place as the best smartwatch you can buy. This year, Apple has gone a step further to make the Apple Watch Series 4 the only wearable you need. The improvements range from a larger screen to two times better performance over the Series 3, but the spotlight falls on the electrocardiogram (ECG) app, which has been certified by the Food & Drug Administration, making the Apple Watch Series 4 the first over-the-counter ECG alternative for consumers. It’s an impressive feat, and it shows just how much of a lead Apple has over the competition.

We managed to spend some time with the new watch at Apple’s event in Cupertino. The ECG app won’t be available until later this year, but that still left us plenty to explore.

BIGGER SCREEN, SLEEK DESIGN

Like before, the Apple Watch Series 4 comes in 40mm and a 44mm size options. What’s new here is the screen real estate — you get more screen, without having to deal with a significantly bigger watch body.

Slimmer bezels allow a 30 percent larger screen, which means you can see more content than ever before. Will this affect battery life? Apple claims new low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) display technology should improve power efficiency, so we’ll just have to wait and see. The screen looks excellent, as usual, though we’ll need to use it outdoors to see if it’s easy to see in bright sunlight.

We liked the Vapor watch face, which showed off neat, dynamic animations on the watch as it lit up.

The Series 4 watch looks a little curvier than previous Apple Watch devices, but it’s just as elegant and sleek. We tried on the stainless steel 44mm watch, which felt lightweight and supremely comfortable. The leather magnetic strap wrapped around our wrist without much fuss, and the lug design meant there were no gaps between the watch and our wrist.

All this being said, we would have been thrilled to see what Apple would do with a circular watch, but it looks like that may never happen.

Accompanying the larger screen are several new watch faces, and some look better than others. The Infograph watch face, for example, looks a bit too cluttered for our tastes, but it does provide a ton of information at a glance if that’s what you want. It has an air-quality index, ultraviolet index, weather, and access to breathing exercises, heart rate, activity, music, and workout. The complications can be customized to your liking.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Other new watch faces have pretty animations that shift to the rhythm of breathing exercises — handy if you constantly find yourself stressed out.

We much preferred the Vapor watch face, which showed off neat, dynamic animations on the watch as it lit up. We do think Apple missed an opportunity here to launch a store for third-party watch faces, but baby steps were made. The Infograph Modular watch face lets you add in a slice of data from any other Apple apps or third-party apps — if developers add support. Baby steps.

MAJOR BREAKTHROUGHS

One of our favorite features on the Series 4 is the haptic feedback implemented in the Digital Crown. As you rotate the button, you can feel vibrations for every selection you move past. It’s a small but wonderful touch that makes interacting with the watch a little more fun.

The Series 4 Apple Watch can also alert you when it detects a low heart rate or an irregular heartbeat.

The crown is also what you will use for the electrocardiogram app when it’s available later this year — just tap your finger on it, and the electrical heart sensor will do the rest. You’ll be able to download a PDF to share with your doctor.

While we can’t comment on how well it works, the ECG has the potential to make a significant impact in the health community.

Many people wear the Apple Watch all day, but may not do the same with traditional ECG monitors. While the results likely won’t be as accurate as what you may find in the doctor’s office, the ability to take measurements quickly at any moment will be a major boon.

The Series 4 Apple Watch can also alert you when it detects a low heart rate, and recognize an irregular heart rate. If you have any heart-related issues, these features make the Apple Watch the watch you want to have on your wrist at all times.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Going a step further, the watch can also detect when you fall, and send out an alert to your emergency contacts if it doesn’t detect movement after a minute. Sure, Life Alert exists, but a stylish watch is a lot more enticing than a clunky pendant.

BETTER PERFORMANCE, LOUDER SPEAKER

The Apple Watch Series 4 is powered by Apple’s new S4 chip, which the company claims delivers two times faster performance. We never ran into a problem with performance on the Series 3, but we’ll happily take any improvements. Moving around the watchOS operating system is fluid and smooth, and we didn’t see any issues here.

Apple has also shifted the placement of the microphone to reduce echo during calls, and the speaker is purportedly 50 percent louder. We weren’t able to tell in the loud environment we were in, but if true that should make using the new Walkie-Talkie feature in watchOS 5 easier. Speaking of watchOS 5, you can check out all the new features available in our handy guide.

APPLE WATCH SERIES 4 COMPARED TO

Garmin Fenix 5X Plus

Casio Pro Trek WSD-F30

Alpina AlpinerX

Fossil Q Venture

Garmin Vivoactive 3

Emporio Armani Connected touchscreen…

Fitbit Ionic

Apple Watch Series 3

Diesel On Full Guard Smartwatch

Huawei Fit

Garmin Vivoactive HR

Apple Watch Series 2

Asus ZenWatch 2

Asus ZenWatch

Garmin fenix 2

We’re not expecting much of a difference with battery life of the Series 4, so expect more than a day, perhaps two, based on our experience with the Series 3.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

The Apple Watch Series 4 starts at $400 for the Wi-Fi and GPS model, and $500 for the GPS and cellular model. Prices also vary depending on whether you want the aluminum case or the stainless steel. There are a ton of options to choose from, so it’s easy to find something you’ll like. The two size options are also great for people who want a smaller or larger watch. Pre-orders start September 14, with sales starting September 21.

There’s a lot of technology fitted into the relatively small case of the Series 4 Apple Watch. It’s impressive, but we haven’t really been able to test many of these features, so we’re not ready to recommend it quite yet. Still, considering the FDA certification and the host of new heart-tracking features, this is certainly a smartwatch worth considering for everyone.

What is an Android tablet with a keyboard, mouse, and pen? Well, it’s still an Android tablet. The Galaxy Tab S4 is the new flagship 10.5-inch tablet that Samsung is aiming toward people who want a device that’s lighter than an ultrabook but still has a keyboard and pen.

Samsung has done everything it can to transform the Galaxy Tab S4 into a “real” computer, even though it still runs Android 8.1. That strategy revolves around giving the Tab S4 a desktop-style environment with individual windows and improved multitasking called Samsung DeX.

THE TAB S4’S EXECUTION IS LAYERED

But turning an Android tablet into a hybrid doesn’t come cheap — at least not by usual Android tablet standards. Pricing for the Wi-Fi version of the Tab S4 starts at $649, which includes the S Pen. However, the keyboard is an additional $149. That makes a complete setup $800, which is $10 less than a 10.5-inch iPad Pro with Apple’s Smart Keyboard (minus the Apple Pencil).

You can also link a Bluetooth mouse if you already have one to complete the DeX experience. (And, as you’ll see, you kind of need to.)

Aesthetically, the Galaxy Tab S4 is a good example of straightforward industrial design for a tablet. It measures 7.1mm thin and weighs 482 grams (1.06 pounds) so it definitely passes as lightweight. It has a glass back and front, comes in white or black, and is well-balanced, no matter how you pick it up.

Since it’s mostly glass, the Tab S4 is a fingerprint magnet of the highest order. Once I wiped it off a few times, I realized Samsung still deserves credit: it’s a unique and good-looking tablet without excessive branding.

If you take a look around the Tab S4, you’ll notice the gold contacts on the edge of the long side (meant for the keyboard), a volume rocker, power button, microSD card slot, 3.5mm audio jack, and a USB-C fast charging port.

The one major takeaway I have from using the Galaxy Tab S4 hardware is how beautiful the screen is. It’s a 10.5-inch, 2560 x 1600 sAMOLED display. (Yes, Samsung rebrands the tech its displays use.) Brightness can be cranked up to the max, and it still produces an image with tons of contrast and saturation without blacks looking washed out. The crisp image the Tab S4 produces means that it’s highly suitable for photo retouching, drawing doodles, or watching the new season of Luke Cage.

IF YOU’RE INTO HEAVY SATURATION AND CONTRAST ON SCREENS, THIS IS IT

The Tab S4 definitely has one of the best-looking tablet displays of the year, and it’s not just because of Samsung’s use of display tech and color balancing. The bezels on the sides have shrunk compared to last year’s Galaxy Tab, so it’s more visually striking and immersive to look at. However, if you appreciate more color-accurate screens, there’s a chance you might not like the Tab S4’s oversaturated color profile.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 specs

• 10.5-inch 2560 x 1600 sAMOLED display
• Snapdragon 835 octa-core chipset
• 4GB RAM / 64GB storage / microSD up to 400GB
• 7,300mAh battery
• Android 8.1 with Samsung Dex
• Quad speakers “tuned by AKG”
• 13-megapixel main camera with flash / 8-megapixel front-facing camera
• S Pen

On its own, the Tab S4 is a powerful media-consumption device. But Samsung’s real goal for this tablet is to make it a productivity device. The $149 keyboard doubles as a stand and case for the Tab S4, but you can’t adjust the angle, so it only really works in one position.

On the left side of the keyboard, there’s a removable S Pen holder, but it feels chintzy. It sometimes can accidentally snap off before you have to snap it back on again, and it’s an odd place to cut corners.

Another oddity: there’s no trackpad. So if you really want to take advantage of the DeX desktop mode, you’ll need your own Bluetooth mouse, or you can use the S Pen as a mouse replacement, which is awkward.

EVERYTHING BUT A TRACKPAD

If there’s a bright side, it’s that typing feels decent. It doesn’t have a lot of travel, but it isn’t as shallow as the MacBook Pro’s butterfly keyboard. However, the keys are incredibly small, and despite having young, nimble fingers, I often struggled to hit the backspace key quickly or get used to the even smaller number row. If you want to send dozens of emails with the Tab S4 keyboard every day, you should practice a lot to commit the layout to your muscle memory. Also, the keys aren’t backlit, so using the Tab S4 keyboard at night is a crapshoot.

TECHNICALLY, YOU HAVE AN EMOJI BUTTON

One pleasant surprise was Samsung’s decision to include an on-screen keyboard button, which brings up a small version of the native full-screen Android keyboard when you’re in DeX mode. It’s helpful if you want to add emoji, type using your voice, and add GIFs or stickers.

The only included accessory, other than a charger, is the S Pen. This year, it’s been redesigned for the Tab S4. Design-wise, it reminds me of a faux Montblanc pen, but Samsung prefers calling it “refined.” And it is! It’s lightweight, balances in your fingertips like a real pen, and has a soft tip. It tracks very well and reminds me less of the Galaxy Note’s S Pen and more like the Surface Pen, which is often used by artists for professional design work.

Drawing by Dami Lee / The Verge

Our resident talented artist and Circuit Breaker reporter Dami Lee drew a quick doodle and said it “felt better and more natural than an Apple Pencil.” While you can’t flip the pen over to use it as a digital eraser, it does support Samsung’s Air Command features. You can annotate screenshots, write out notes, draw, sign documents, and do pretty much anything else a digital pen is meant for.

THE NEW S PEN IS GREAT FOR ARTISTS

DeX is Samsung’s specialized software for giving Android a desktop interface, with windows, browser tabs, and a taskbar. On the Tab S4, it’s available as just another mode, whereas on Samsung phones, you have to plug into a weird dock to enable it.

Samsung DeX is going to be one of the Tab S4’s biggest selling points and for good reason. It’s amazing what Samsung has accomplished with Android here.

You can have a dozen Android apps open at a time in an environment where you can resize them as windows, move them around, go full-screen with just one, or have the option of projecting the whole thing on an external TV / monitor.

IT’S SNAPPY, AND THAT’S GOOD

There’s still a downside: Android apps optimized for tablets are few and far between, and those that do exist definitely haven’t been designed or optimized to run on the Tab S4 in DeX mode.

Performance-wise, I had some concerns about Samsung using an older Snapdragon 835 chipset with only 4GB of RAM, but I haven’t come across crashes or lag at all. Overall performance doesn’t become an issue until you hit a dozen apps running at the same time. At that point, I noticed resizing windows wasn’t as snappy, but the Tab S4 still persisted and didn’t crash.

Of course, there are some holes in Samsung’s execution of DeX. For example, you have to reopen all the apps you were working from when you switch between the Android and DeX interface, unless you enable the “DeX Labs” feature, which carries them over (but not always).

There’s also the fact that some Android apps, like Netflix or Pokémon Go, don’t seem to work with DeX. It can’t run them full-screen even if you enable a DeX Labs feature that forces non-supported apps to resize. Still, most Android apps should play nice — hopefully.

SAMSUNG DEX DOESN’T PLAY WELL WITH EVERY APP

The most unusual peripheral for an Android tablet is probably a Bluetooth mouse. DeX makes good use of a mouse because you can right click on apps in the taskbar to close them or otherwise access options that would usually be hidden with a long press. What’s unusual is that a mouse is really necessary to make the most of DeX, which makes the whole thing feel a little less portable.

Is using the Tab S4 in default Android tablet mode worth it? Only if you can’t use the app in DeX mode or if you don’t have a keyboard. Otherwise, there’s really no reason to use it like you would most Android tablets. Screen real estate isn’t utilized as efficiently, so DeX is the only point where the Tab S4’s software really shines.

For those of you wondering about Bixby, Samsung’s often-delayed virtual assistant: it’s delayed. Samsung says Bixby should launch for the Tab S4 next year.

The Tab S4 has great cameras on the front and back. (I’ll save what I think about taking pictures on a tablet for another time.) The main 13-megapixel camera can shoot 4K up to 30 fps, while the front-facing supports up to 1080p HD.

On the front, the Tab S4 also houses the sensors for its iris and face scanner unlocking feature. These are hit or miss because the Tab S4 doesn’t always “see” my face if I’m using it with the keyboard and the desk I’m at is too low. However, it does sometimes work in pitch black darkness, so that’s kind of nice.

FACE UNLOCKING IS HIT OR MISS

Most of the Tab S4’s weight comes from the massive 7,300mAh battery. Samsung advertises 16 hours of battery life using the Tab S4 for video and productivity. That’s not far off: I got around 15 hours of use before hitting critical battery levels by binge-watching on Netflix and writing out the occasional Slack message or email with the keyboard. If you use the Tab S4 conservatively (no GPS, Bluetooth, and 50 percent brightness) it shouldn’t be difficult to hit the 16-hour mark.

IT’S MISSING THINGS THAT YOU HAVE TO BUY

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 is a great effort to make the ideal Android tablet. Samsung DeX makes the Tab S4 truly special, but the lack of optimized apps for Android and DeX modes means your software choices are quite limited. Samsung did a remarkable job of making the Tab S4 seem like it’s more than the sum of its parts. I just wish the parts were better.

Pros

•  Stunning display
•  Dex mode is an improvement to the UI
•  S-Pen included

Cons

•  Would like more RAM
•  Glass back is slippery and delicate
•  Lingering issues with Android on tablets
•  Dex mode has a few annoying bugs

Key Features

• Review Price: £599
• 10.5-inch HDR Super AMOLED display
• Optional keyboard cover
• Snapdragon 835, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage
• Expandable via microSD
• 7300 mAh battery, USB-C, Fast Charge

What is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4?

If you’re on the hunt for an Android tablet with specs to match Apple’s iPad Pro 10.5 then options will have been thin on the ground recently. Huawei’s MediaPad M5 8.4 and Huawei MediaPad M5 Pro offer decent specs and features, while Amazon’s Fire HDrange have the mid-range covered. But high-end Android tablets are rare.

That’s where Samsung and its Tab S4 come in. This device is as high-end as you can get: a fast processor, a gorgeous HDR OLED and the S-Pen included. It even manages to swerve the normally quite poor Android interface with some smart software choices.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 price

Pricing starts at £599/$649 for the 64GB model, with an extra £50 netting you the LTE version. If you’re in the US, expect to see the LTE version later in the year. The keyboard ‘Book Cover’ costs an additional £119/$149. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 release date

UK pre-orders for the Tab S4 will begin on August 9. Get in early and you’ll bag the keyboard case for free. In the US, the tablet will be available from August 10.

Related: Best tablet 2018

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 – Design

There’s a whole lot to like about the Tab S4. However, its design and build aren’t on that list. It’s a design that works exceptionally well for phones, but not so much for tablets.

My biggest concern is the glass rear. Not only do I fear that it will become damaged every time I put the device into my bag uncovered, but it’s super-slippery, even after only a few minutes of holding it. Any oily residue on your hands will instantly transfer onto the glass, leaving the device a smudge-covered mess. The cool feel of metal is far more reassuring on a tablet.

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At least the device is thin and light. Slipping it in a bag will result in no noticeable weight gain, and I could hold it in one hand whilst scribbling some notes without feeling any strain.

The rest of the rear is clean, with a camera and flash, Samsung branding and a ‘Tuned by AKG’ logo. My review unit was a glossy black, and there’s a whitey/grey version available too.

Around the metal sides you’ll find a volume rocker, standby switch and a set of POGO pins for connecting up the Book Keyboard Cover, which is sold separately. A USB-C port sits along the bottom edge, flanked by a 3.5mm headphone port.

image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/54/2018/08/DSCF1371-1024x683.jpg

Easily the biggest omission is the home button, which has been a mainstay of the Tab line. It’s been ditched here in favour of a larger screen with a thinner bezel, and it’s a good move. There’s very little need for a dedicated home key here and in my experience,  I haven’t found fingerprint sensors on tablets all that useful.

Those after extra protection will be pleased to learn that the Tab S4 features the same iris scanner as the Samsung Galaxy S9. It works fine, although in landscape orientation it sometimes struggles to accurately find your face.

The stretched-out 10.5-inch display covers the majority of the front of the Galaxy Tab S4. This larger display has resulted in a reduction in the bezel surrounding it compared to the outgoing Tab S3, although it isn’t quite as eye-catching as the Infinity Display on the Samsung Galaxy S9. There’s no curve to the panel – which is probably a good thing for a tablet of this size.

Also available with the Tab S4 is a keyboard folio case. It will come free with pre-orders in the UK, and cost £119/$149 thereafter. I’ve only played with the Book Keyboard briefly, so I’ll save my complete thoughts for an update to this review once I’ve spent more time with it.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 – Screen and S-Pen

The screen on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 is utterly gorgeous, and right up there with the iPad Pro 10.5 for having the finest display on any tablet you can buy right now.

Samsung’s big win over Apple is the use of OLED tech, opposed to IPS LCD. OLED is used in some of the best TVs we’ve reviewed this year, and it allows for perfect blacks and striking colours. The panel is HDR-enabled for apps such as Netflix and Prime Video, and it packs a high resolution of 2560 x 1600. Really, it ticks all the boxes.

image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/54/2018/08/Screenshot_20180808-113751_Netflix-1024x640.jpg

Netflix supports HDR

For watching movies on-the-go there’s simply nothing better. Colours are punchy and bright, viewing angles are wide enough for a couple of people to watch simultaneously, and there’s a good hit of brightness. I did find myself jacking up the brightness to 100% when in sunnier surroundings or on the train in the morning, but turning things down to about 60% will suffice indoors.

image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/54/2018/08/DSCF1384-1024x683.jpg

I’ve been switching between the Tab S4 and Apple’s iPad Pro 10.5 over the past few days to try to decide which is better, and it’s a tight call.

The Tab S4 is easily better for binge-watching on Netflix, not only because of the punchier panel, but because the 16:10 aspect ratio is better suited to widescreen video.

The iPad Pro, on the other hand, has a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes swiping and scrolling a lot smoother. I’d also say the iPad displays colours slightly more accurately – to my eye anyway – and editing the same photos on both devices in Adobe Lightroom CC was a better experience on the iPad as a result.

Really, it comes down to what you value more in a display.

Related: Best phone 2018

image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/54/2018/08/DSCF1375-1024x683.jpg

Included with the Tab S4 is an S-Pen: a Wacom-powered stylus for doodling and note-taking. Unlike the S-Pen that slides into the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, the version here is chunkier and made completely from plastic – it feels a lot like a felt-tip pen.

Considering how thin this tablet is, there’s nowhere for the S-Pen to live. It would have been nice to see Samsung follow Microsoft’s lead and add in some magnets for sticking the S-Pen to the side. I love this feature on the Surface Pro, and it stops the pen getting lost in your bag.

Not being a particularly great artist myself, I gave the device and stylus to a team member who used to work as an artist to give it a whirl. They found that as a creative tool the Tab S4 is a significant step up on competing Android tablets, such as the 10-inch Huawei MateBook. The S Pen is one of the best tablet styluses around, offering a solid 4096 pressure sensitivity levels and pleasing 0.7 mm rubber tip. The tip gives the pen a degree of resistance when writing on the screen – something that is missing on competing styluses, including the Apple Pencil.

Scribbling in Samsung Notes, the pen was reactive and didn’t suffer any latency. Samsung hasn’t pre-installed any third-party apps for doodling, photo editing or vector work. Testing the pen in Autodesk Sketchbook, Adobe Sketch and Adobe Draw, the pen performed well. Pressure sensitivity levels were accurately read and good enough to comfortably sketch and ink pencils.

image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/54/2018/08/Screenshot_20180808-113721_Autodesk-SketchBook-1024x640.jpg

Multiple apps support S-Pen input

The only minor annoyance was that S Pen’s quick menu can easily be launched accidentally using the side shortcut button. It would better if you could customise the button’s function on an app-by-app basis. All in all, the combo works well enough to make up for the lack of customisability, however.

If you’re a creative after a mobile touch-up station or sketchpad that isn’t an iPad or Surface, then the Galaxy Tab S4 is a solid choice.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 – Performance, audio and camera

There are four speakers on the Galaxy Tab S4: two along the bottom and two on the top. Each has been ‘tuned’ by AKG – a brand owned by Samsung – and they’re capable of pushing out Dolby Atmos audio.

Enabling the Atmos setting does result in a fairly decent faux-surround feel. However, it sounds a little fake and processed at loud volumes, tending to feel a bit tinny. At least a headphone jack is included.

Related: What is Dolby Atmos?

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Inside the Galaxy Tab S4 there’s a Snapdragon 835, 4GB of RAM and, in the UK, 64GB of storage (some regions will get a 256GB option too). A microSD slot is included, so you can expand that further.

In 2017, this would have been a flagship setup. In 2018 it feels slightly limited, though. Especially for the £599 price. 4GB of RAM is tight, and leaves multi-tasking in Dex mode feeling unreliable. I’m less disappointed about the inclusion of the Snapdragon 835, however. Apps run fine, and even games such as Asphalt 9 are fast and smooth.

See below for a look at how the Tab S4 performs in Geekbench 4 tests, when compared to the Tab S4 and the two current iPads.

image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/54/2018/08/Single-core-and-Multi-core.png

Related: Best Android phone

Cameras are far from the most important part of a tablet, and Samsung hasn’t done much here to show it has focused any time or effort on them. There’s a single 13-megapixel f/1.9 camera on the back, and an 8-megapixel version on the front.

Pictures remind me of those taken with a mid-to-low-end phone, maybe the Galaxy A6 (2018). They’re colourful, with decent detail; they get the job done if the environment is bright. Low-light performance is poor and you’ll likely get better results from your phone. The front 8-megapixel sensor is good for video calls – I was using Google’s Duo app for this – with nice facial details and sufficient brightness.

My review unit came with LTE/4G support, which worked perfectly once I’d added a Three SIM-card inside. It works for phone calls and messages, too. For LTE connectivity you’ll have to pay an extra £50 (£649 as opposed to £599). That seems a fair price and I’d likely choose that option just for the extra freedom you get with 4G.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 – Software

Android tablets have always felt hamstrung because of the software. Android is great on phones, but poor on anything larger. The lack of updates and support from Google has meant that it’s been up to third-party developers to try to get the job done. Considering there don’t appear to be any tablet-specific features in Android Pie, things look set to continue in this vein.

In an attempt to get around this, Samsung has plucked its Dex interface from the Galaxy S9. Dex is a completely separate UI, which was previously only available when you connected a compatible Samsung phone into a Dex dock and a monitor. It would then let you attach a mouse and keyboard and use the phone like a more traditional desktop PC.

The Dex UI’s strength lies in its windowed interface, which means you can have a few apps open at once. Being able to open Spotify and YouTube, along with Docs, Sheets and a calendar at once, with them all visible, is truly great for productivity.

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Apps can be windowed in Dex

Dex is enabled by a toggle in the quick-settings menu. Tap it and, after a couple of seconds, the Windows-esque desktop will appear. Along the bottom you’ll find the usual Android soft-keys plus a selection of running apps and a taskbar incorporating the date, time and other settings. Apps can be dragged anywhere on the desktop, but there’s no support for widgets.

When you open up an Android app in Dex, it appears as a phone-sized window. You can drag this around and open multiple windows at once, or switch to a full-screen view.

While all of Samsung’s own apps work perfectly well in either mode, I’ve come across others that struggle. Netflix, for example, refuses to fill the entire display and remains in a small window, which forces you to return to the standard Android view. I’d guess this is a problem with the app itself, rather than Dex, since other video-streaming apps – YouTube and Prime Video, for example – work fine.

image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/54/2018/08/Screenshot_20180806-164626_Samsung-DeX-home-1024x640.jpg

Main Dex launcher featuring apps

There are other bugs, too. I’ve found that having four or more apps on-screen at once causes slow-down, and if you add a playing video to that it can grind to halt.

There are issues with the keyboard forgetting which apps you want to input text into, and refusing to do anything. You also can’t use Screen-off Memo in Dex or any of the handy S-Pen tools that are normally available. The iris scanner, too, is less reliable in Dex.

Nevertheless, Dex is far better than the standard Android tablet view. Switching back to the regular homescreen shows how unproductive tablets are in general. Putting apps side-by-side is clunky, and having Android fill the whole display just feels a waste of space. Dex is far from perfect (yet), but it solves many of these issues.

I won’t bang on too much about app support on Android tablets, but it could be better. Even Google’s own apps, such as News, are blown-up phone versions with far too much wasted space. It’s a real shame.

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While Dex is the star of the show, there are a few other software additions here, too. Daily Board turns the Tab S4 into something akin to the Echo Show: a display that will display calendar appointments, weather and the time. This pops into life when the tablet is attached to a dock (£49.99), or when it’s charging. Bixby is here, too; we’re hoping the slightly dodgy voice assistant receives a substantial update soon.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 – Battery life

Inside the Galaxy Tab S4 you’ll find a 7300mAh battery, which is a decent increase over the 6000mAh cell from the Tab S3. A fast charger is included in the box, via which you’ll be able to get from 0% to 100% in a couple of hours.

In our standard array of battery tests, the Tab S4 did well. Starting from a fully charged cell, it went from 100% to 91% after an hour of HDR streaming video from Netflix. It lost a further 8% after an hour of standard HD Netflix video, and then 5% playing a video stored on the device. These results are just about on a par with those achieved by the iPad Pro 10.5 running the same tests.

Where the Tab S4, and most Android tablets, fall down is in standby time. Leaving the Tab S4 unplugged overnight saw a 9% drop. The iPad Pro dropped just 3% in the same time. This means you’ll need to keep more of an eye on the battery if you tend to leave a tablet in your bag all the time.

Why buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4?

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 is the best Android tablet you can buy. It’s pricey, but for the money you get a stunning screen, and as someone who watches a lot of videos on a tablet, I’d happily spend extra for a panel this colourful and sharp. I’m not sure this is a great buy for those wanting a tablet just for web-browsing, a bit of gaming and the odd Netflix watch on a train, however.

The S-Pen is good, Dex makes Android workable on a tablet, and battery life is on a par with the competition. I’d like more RAM and maybe a metal rear rather than glass – but those are my biggest issues.

The Tab S4’s most significant rival is the iPad Pro 10.5 (£619/$619), but you’ll have to buy the Apple Pencil (£89/$99) separately. It might also be worth waiting to see what the iPad Pro 3 has to offer.

Still, if you want a high-end Android tablet then the Tab S4 is the device to get.