Samsung Galaxy Tab S LTE: Does It Cut It for Business?

As business becomes ever more mobile, business owners and users find themselves increasingly looking for ways to lighten their load when they leave the office. Whether they’re crossing the country or just crossing the street, the growing popularity of tablets is finally allowing some of them to leave the larger and heavier laptop behind.

Unfortunately, not all tablets are able to fully replace a laptop. Many of them are great at surfing the web and doing light messaging, but try to stretch much beyond the basics and their limitations quickly become apparent. From lower-powered hardware to software that just can’t handle the rigours of on-the-go multitasking, many road warriors have learned the hard way that tablets often fall short when it comes to full-blown productivity. It may be tempting to lighten your load and take only the tablet when you hit the road, but the frustration of trying to deliver heavyweight work with a lightweight tool could make it a false saving.

Enter the Samsung Galaxy Tab S^TM LTE, which promises to balance the often-conflicting domains of ultra-portability and the ability to get real work done, even if the office is in the middle of an airport lounge. Samsung’s latest Android-powered tablet aims to bring laptop-like productivity to a category of devices that has traditionally focused more on basic content consumption.

Here’s a quick look at the features it brings to the table, and why they set it apart from other tablets on the marketplace as a viable alternative for productivity-biased travellers:

1.  Most tablets can only display one app at a time. Traditional desktop windowing capabilities are usually absent here, and moving data between different apps often requires ponderous task switching that can quickly grow tiresome. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S^TM LTE has Multi Window capability, which allows side-by-side display of multiple apps and allows users to simultaneously take notes and do research while dialled into a conference call.
2.  The Galaxy Tab S^TM LTE comes preloaded with the latest version of Android, which means it supports the full range of productivity apps available in the Google Play store. Side Sync 3.0 makes it easy to transfer documents, email messages, pictures and videos wirelessly between the tablet and your phone, while built-in call forwarding lets users pick up calls right on the tablet through a paired smartphone. The software also allows remote control of paired smartphones within Bluetooth range.
3.  Businesses and their customers are becoming increasingly concerned with keeping data safe from prying eyes. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S^TM LTE addresses this by featuring a built-in fingerprint scanner to provide ultra-secure physical access to the tablet. The Samsung KNOX Workspace lets you integrate the Samsung Galaxy Tab S^TM LTE with all existing and planned mobile device management (MDM) tools and processes. Using a tamper-resistant area of the ARM processor, it provides a virtual, separate secure space on the device. FIPS 140-2-certified ODE and VPN keep data-at-rest and data-in-transit secure, while maintaining an effective balance between keeping enterprise data safe and maximizing on-the-go productivity.
4.  The Cisco WebEx Remote Video Conference software supports real-time collaborative sessions, and goes beyond basic video with document sharing and other rich collaboration tools – allowing you to communicate with customers & co-workers just as efficiently as working face-to-face.

Connectivity. There’s fast and then there’s fast. Download booster technology combines the built-in Wi-Fi and LTE radios – on Canada’s largest LTE network – to accelerate network speeds and shorten file transfers. Compatibility with Bell’s Tablet Flex plans, which adjust based on your actual monthly business usage, keeps budgets in check, as well.

Longevity. Ultra Power Saving mode stretches the already-extended battery life even further by switching the 10.5-inch Super AMOLED screen to black-and-white mode and turning off all non-essential services. For extended on-the-go work sessions with no wall outlets in sight, this is a crucial capability.

The bottom line
In the past, road warriors looking to reduce their travelling weight were forced to make a difficult choice. Bring the laptop along and suffer the indignity of dragging a heavy bag through the airport, or leave the laptop back home and then risk frustration trying to churn huge amounts of work out of a tablet that was never designed for productivity-based tasks. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S^TM LTE, however, is more than capable of marrying the two. Its enterprise-level power in a thin and light form factor lets it easily hit that convergence point of full-blown productivity and extreme portability. Perhaps it finally is time to leave the laptop back at the office for good.

What are your thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S^TM LTE? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.