I did appreciate that the speakers pumped out clear, rich audio. Unfortunately, the screen was harder to see in direct sunlight, even at max brightness. Besides, it still offered respectable image quality: details like blood dripping from The Weeknd’s teeth and the texture of his face were easy to make out. I was slightly disappointed Samsung used a TFT panel here instead of an AMOLED, but for the price I won’t complain too much. I used it to watch The Weeknd’s music videos for The Hills and Blinding Lights and found the 2,000 x 1,200 display to be crisp and colorful. In fact, being a tablet is where the S6 Lite shines. The Tab S6 Lite is a tablet first, which is perfectly fine. Samsung did improve its keyboard case for the Tab S6, but the buttons were still too small for typing to be comfortable for prolonged periods of time. This $70 case is the only one Samsung makes for this device if you want one with a keyboard built in, you’ll need to look for third-party accessories. It attaches magnetically to the Tab S6 Lite and offers a neat slot to tuck your S Pen away. Samsung provided a cover with my review unit, which let me prop it up at a couple of angles for easier hands-free Netflixing or YouTubing. I also had it propped up next to my laptop as a makeshift second screen for my minimal work-from-home office. I didn’t just use the Tab S6 Lite for drawing and taking notes, of course. If Samsung could improve this, the company would have me fully convinced that the S Pen’s note-taking prowess is bar none.
My one gripe about Samsung’s software here is I wish its palm rejection were better so I wasn’t leaving stray dots and strokes all over my artwork.
This time around, the S Pen doesn’t support Bluetooth for motion controls like it did with the Tab S6, but that’s OK since I didn’t use those much anyway. I already liked this feature on the Note 10, but it’s even easier to use on the larger canvas that the Tab S6 Lite provides. not the best, so I was impressed that the Tab S6 Lite could understand what I scrawled. I jotted down a quick shopping list, a bunch of to-dos and a selection of my go-to karaoke hits, then searched for the words “review,” “karaoke” and “bread.” Samsung’s app returned the correct list every time, and even highlighted the search term when I opened up the corresponding note. It’s similar to the Note 10 and Tab S6, where if you write something down in the Samsung Notes app, the software will automatically recognize your handwriting and index what you’ve written so you can easily search it later. I enjoyed creating dubious works of “art” on the S6 Lite, but it was the note-taking experience I found most useful here. It’s basically the same size as a real pencil and can magnetically snap onto the Tab S6 Lite so you don’t have to worry about losing it.
The S Pen the company includes with the Tab S6 Lite is a larger stylus than what you’d get with a Note phone or Galaxy Book laptop. My handwriting is still terrible, but that’s not Samsung’s fault. With the included pen, I spent hours doodling random clouds and honing my Chinese calligraphy.
That’s a little lighter than the iPad though the Lenovo Chromebook Duet we just reviewed weighs even less at 0.99 poundsĪ lightweight design is important for most devices, but all the more so for a tablet you’re going to be holding for long periods to read or write on. Along the edges you’ll find volume control keys, a power button, a microSD card slot, a USB-C port and - great news for wired audio hold-outs - a 3.5mm headphone jack.ĭespite offering so many connectivity options, the S6 Lite cuts a sleek 7mm (0.27-inch) profile and weighs just 460 grams, which is equivalent to just over a pound. It has thin bezels on all sides around its 10.4-inch screen and no home button on the front. The Galaxy Tab S6 Lite looks pretty much the same as its pricier cousin, the Tab S6.