Tag: Galaxy Tab S8

Photo by Joe WilcoxJun 5, 202310:25 pm

Time Flies

Today, Apple held its annual developer conference, where the company announced new versions of iOS, macOS, and iPad OS along with hardware that includes 15-inch MacBook Air. Any other year, I would have watched the keynote and downloaded developer builds of the new platforms. Instead, I cancelled my annual developer subscription that was about to renew.

How time flies. In December 2022, I started a complete fruit-logo exodus. This morning, Samsung emailed that my iPad Pro had been received for credit towards the Galaxy Tab S8+ acquired last month. My smartphone is Galaxy S23 Ultra, replacing iPhone Pro 13. I gave up the 16.2-inch MacBook Pro for Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 31, 202310:26 pm

Not Hello, But Another Goodbye

The last of my Mac gear is gone. This morning, I packed up and shipped off the 11-inch iPad Pro M1 acquired two years ago—coincidentally, also on May 31. Galaxy Tab S8+ replaces the Apple slate, for which Samsung gives generous trade-in credit.

Among my three computing devices, tablet is by far the most used, easily exceeding both laptop and smartphone. For the longest time, iPad has been the only choice, although over the years several Androids contended for my affections: Nexus 7, Nexus 9, Nexus 10, and Pixel C; also Chrome OS-based Pixel Slate. Switching was no simple decision but was made in a larger Apple abandonment that started in mid-December 2022. I bid goodbye to 16.2-inch MacBook Pro and iPhone 13 Pro during the same month.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 18, 202310:23 pm

My Pixel Tablet Turnabout

Let’s recap: In December 2022, my wife and I decided to wildly change computing platforms; we wanted freedom from Apple. On the 8th, I ordered Surface Laptop 5 for her and Surface Laptop Studio for me from Microsoft Store. Hers: 13.5-inch touchscreen (2256 x 1504 resolution); 12th-generation Intel Core i7-1255U processor; 16GB RAM; 512GB SSD. Mine: 14.4-inch touchscreen (2400 x 1600 resolution); quad-core 11th-generation Intel Core H35 i7-11370H processor; 4GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics; 32GB RAM; 2TB SSD.

Two days later, I ordered Galaxy S22 and S22 Ultra direct from Samsung. Both smartphones arrived on the 15th. Storage: 256GB for her; 512GB for me—both free, double capacity upgrades during the manufacturer’s holiday promotion. Unexpectedly, in mid-February, I traded up for the spanking new S23 Ultra. What stayed: Both our iPads, as I waited to see what new tablets Google, or perhaps Samsung, would bring to market this year. Recap over, the rest of the post explains what happened and why.