This tablet has become something I happily use every day. I've been trying to get into digital art, and I've tried both screenless tablets that connect to a computer as well as a cheaper Lenovo tablet with a stylus. Neither of those devices compares to the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite.
** S-PEN **
If you're getting this tablet, you are almost definitely interested in the S-Pen. I'd call it the most important feature of this tablet.
The S-Pen is in a class of its own; it feels incredibly natural and smooth to use. I wouldn't call it quite like paper, since there is a very small input lag. However, it is still a joy to use, as that input lag is only noticeable when you're looking for it. I only notice it because I've used more expensive Samsung and Apple tablets before with higher refresh rate displays. If you've never used one of those before, you will absolutely not notice that input lag.
I also appreciate the magnetic attachment ability the S-Pen has; hopefully that'll make it harder to lose the pen! The Lenovo tablet I had beforehand did not have this feature, which caused me to almost lose the pen once or twice. Also, this pen does not need to be charged, ever. It is powered simply by hovering it over the screen like a Wacom tablet (and, in fact, it is the exact same technology, presumably licensed from Wacom itself). And if you're wondering, it does have a laminated screen, so there is no gap between where the pen touches and the actual pixels on the display. The iPad (not Air/Pro) does not have this hardware feature, which is very important to how the pen feels to use.
** General Performance **
This tablet has a Snapdragon 732G (yes, the documentation says 720G but all apps will detect a 732G so that's what I'm going with; it also doesn't make a huge difference), which performs great considering the price. All drawing apps I've used aside from Krita (which is definitely not optimized for Android anyway) perform perfectly fine, even with many layers. OneNote, which I use for note-taking, also works very well. An interesting quirk is that when using Samsung Notes, the S-Pen has close to zero input lag, so there's probably some extra optimization there.
I can't really speak for gaming, since that's not what I use this for, but I would not expect it to be great. But for regular use and some light multitasking (the multi-window feature is very useful), it performs incredibly well!
** Battery **
This unit has a 7040 mAh battery, which I actually thought was small for a tablet, but it's quite good in reality. With my usage, the battery lasts somewhere between 4 to 7 days. This is comprised mainly of youtube, web browsing, drawing, note-taking, etc. It also has a very minimal idle drain, meaning that if you don't use it and leave it in sleep mode, it sips very little power. Most smartphones aren't great at this, but this tablet has no issues conserving power when not in use. In summary, I would say battery life is a non-issue for this device!
** Software **
This comes with Samsung's OneUI 4.1 and recently got updated to OneUI 5.0. OneUI has a lot of pros and a lot of cons. The pros are mainly that it is full of features; anything you want, OneUI has it hidden away somewhere. I've never felt like I needed a feature that wasn't present here. With that, of course, comes all of the bloatware. There are a lot of apps pre-installed with this, such as Samsung Kids, or Galaxy Store, PENUP, and a few others. It's definitely not as bad as it could be. All of the extra apps are at least Samsung apps, there are no third-party games or anything here, but it's still a little annoying. Some of them can be disabled.
Customization is great, it has most of what Android 12/13 has by default with a few extras tossed in by Samsung. Overall, I'm mostly a fan of it, and Samsung has been getting better with their update speed as well.
** Final Thoughts/Hardware **
I'm very happy with this purchase. Since I got it on sale, it was very good value for the money. A couple notes about the hardware: it's surprisingly thin; comparing it again to my previous Lenovo tablet, this was at least a couple mm thinner. It's also very light for its size. The cameras are nothing worth talking about, they just work and take photos/video. The front camera is OK for video calls, but again, nothing that great. Same story with the speakers, they didn't wow me, but they sound good enough and get loud enough. The Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is overall something I'd recommend to anyone looking for a tablet between $200 and $300. I don't think there's anything better than this in this price range, and it honestly might be able to compete at the $300-$400 level as well. I have essentially no complaints about it and nothing but praise for the S-Pen.
| Standing screen display size | 10.4 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1200 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 2000 x 1200 Pixels |
| Processor | 2.3 GHz |
| Hard Drive | 128 GB |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 12 Hours |
