Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 ( Android 7.0 + Samsung Pro Audio SoundCamp)

Started by Elantric, January 06, 2018, 01:22:36 PM

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Elantric

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 ( Android 7.0 + Samsung Pro Audio SoundCamp)
http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/galaxy-tab-s3/


I got a clean refurb cheap  ($350) and this is becoming my favorite small tablet
small, stereo sound, decent cameras, and very fast

and no iTunes!!

and I can actually manage and locate all my  files, media and recordings, and compositions

install a 256gb micro SD card and it a mobile media power house

The latest round of Android apps since October 2017 run very smoothly

This is a  highlight

ORG 2018 android music app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sofeh.android.musicstudio3&hl=en
http://www.sofeh.net/en/?page_id=62

no latency
still testing  - but there are many new audio apps in the Samsung Store for use with this machine that work very well.

its not the same high latency Android world of before

Elantric

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-9-7-Inch-Tablet-SM-T820NZKAXAR/dp/B01MTGLBP5
Quote   AC
5.0 out of 5 starsBest tablet ever (totally worth it) only if you know how to use
March 24, 2017
Style: Tablet|Color: Silver
Just amazing

I have owned iPad air2, iPad mini (latest version), and iPad Pro (12.9inch) with apple pencil and keyboard.

I feel like this is the best tablet I have ever used especially the pen that comes with S3 is just insane.
It is just amazingly good. It is located somewhat between laptop and typically tablets (including ipad).
Many many new and great features that I have never experienced from tablets (even including samsung's previous tablets)
Great value if you know how to use it.

However given its price I won't recommend it for everyone.

Don't buy if you just want to use it for internet browsing. It is waste of money.
Buy if you will use your tablet for writing, drawing, games, or business purposes.

Pro
- The pen that is offered with tablet is incredibly sensitive, noise free and charging/connection free.

I didn't expect much since it is basically free. However this works so good that I feel like I'm writing on my notebook.
Palm rejection works flawlessly and interact seamlessly (I found it acts even better than apple pencil. S-pen>>apple pencil >>>>>surface pro pen, iPad compatible 3rd party pen)

Best thing is that you don't need to separately connect or charge.

What I found most annoying with apple pencil was that I have to connect once a while with my ipad by sticking its end to the charging part. It doesn't take long but it got annoying after repeating it three times. Also charging it separately was really bad because you have to literally charge ipad and apple pencil separately once every three days.

Another good thing is that it is noise free.
When I write with my Apple pencil, it makes this noise that you hear when you knock the window with your fingernail. I get used to it but people around me didn't get used to it and found it distracting. (Someone actually pointed out to me after the meeting saying that it is too loud.)
This kept me from using it for writing in a meeting (especially in a quite meeting).

Lastly the pen is capable of so many things that you never even think of. For example you can literally crop and make your own video by just drawing rectangle on youtube video. You can take the screenshot and draw on it or extract only text (great for screencapturing a book page). You can also write on the screen when the screen is off (very useful for writing down in a meeting) The pen has a little click button on the side which acts somewhat like the right mouse button and this gives you a lot of freedom.

- Very very fast processing/ good ui

Unlike other android tablets, this does act very fast. I found a lot of android based tablets lack the smoothness of overall operation that I experience with ipad. It seems like samsung did change the android ui somewhat in their own methods to create a better user interface.
I also like that it gives me freedom to modify with multiple widgets. I know all android tablets offer this feature but the problem is that none of android tablets were fast enough to really give this feature work. It literally took 3 seconds for me to refresh my background.
Tab S3 does this flawlessly and I can take advantage of all the widget features without any waiting time.

Adding onto this, it has many many features that iPad doesn't offer. For example it has multiple keyboard shortcut preset that lets you open apps or do actions literally without touching the screen which gives me extra freedom.

Multi window works flawlessly for all apps. What I didn't like about ipad multi tasking (open two programs at the same time) was that it only works for the app that supports this feature. For example I cannot write down a note on a note app while I read ebook since my ebook reading software didn't support this feature.
I know this feature is more of android thing not the galaxy specific thing but I used multiple android tablet and a lot of them were so slow that this feature was literally useless. This tablet finally made this feature work in a way it was supposed to be.

- Lots of useful softwares come with it or you can install for free from its own app store

For example, MS office comes free.It is not a big deal since you can use it from ipad as well but unless your company pays for it you have to pay for the subscription fee. I'm happy that this tablet comes free with the MS office.
Also it has several apps that I can use my pen with. (Coloring app or memo app etc ) Some of these apps were only available for the purchase in iPad. I'm glad that it comes with free apps that I can take advantage of using the pen.

One thing to note is that Samsung somehow made their own app store (galaxy app) which offers you a lot of apps for free (not all apps are free though). Some of these freely available apps are actually sold for $4.99 etc in google play store. Make sure you check this galaxy app store before you purchase something from google store. I

- keyboard feels pretty good.
I purchased a keyboard accessory that Samsung sells with the S3. Typing feels quite good and I like that it has a language button for people who use multiple languages. Also I was surprised that it is really easy to put the table to the keyboard. I guess it is magnet but it seems like this has magnet in a lot larger area than iPad and it adheres to S3 really well.

As mentioned above this tablet lets you use many many shortcuts. I am not sure whether this shortcut works for the third party keyboard though. At least for the samsung keyboard it works really well. You can see the list of preset shortcut by pushing magnifier button (next to ctrl) and / button together

-Expandable with SD card
It is good feature that you can expand the storage. (i'm not sure whether you can install the software on sd card. I think I can but I'm just not sure how to specify)

Cons

- Expensive
I bought it only because I knew that I could return if I don't like it. (I think I will keep it since it is really good. )However I cannot say it is not expensive.
Compared to iPad pro, i think it is still cheaper given that it comes with a pen (which is a lot better than apple pencil ) but not everyone purchase iPad pro. If you want a tablet for simple game or internet browsing this is not the tablet you want. If you want to draw or write or use it for business purpose I would strongly recommend this.

-for keyboard cover there is a room for improvement
keyboard cover you cannot change the angle, the pen holder seems a bit weak.
You cannot take photos with Samsung cover on using the back camera. But again it is attached to the cover using magnet and you just need to pick up the tablet like you pick up the paper from the desk .(very easy) Still it poses another barrier for taking photos. Since I don't usually take photos using tablet I don't find this that annoying.

-no pen holder unless you buy a keyboard cover. I am not sure why they didn;t put magnet and extractable clip to be able to attach it to the ablet itself.

- A lot of amazingly good features are hidden.
I wish they release an official video of how to fully take advantage of all features available. For example you can write a memo when the screen is off but to do so you have to hit the screen while clicking the side button of the pen. (I figured it out accidentally.) I bet a lot of people will not figure this out on their own because this feature is all new. (you don't expect to be able to write on ipad when it is turned off. )
I don't know what I don't know. I bet it has more features but I just didn't discover yet.(I may never get to discover..) Samsung seriously needs better marketing.
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utensil

Does it work with sound camp? or any android multitrack recorder?


admin

Quote from: utensil on February 14, 2018, 12:45:09 AM
Does it work with sound camp? or any android multitrack recorder?

Full Soundcamp is included with Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 , and works very well - very low latency
http://www.samsung.com/au/tablets/galaxy-tab-s3-wifi-32gb-sm-t820/



admin

Not seeing much difference between Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 ( Android 7.0)  vs the new Galaxy Tab S4 (Android 8 )   

(Im still very happy with my  Galaxy Tab S3 - better than a Chromebook, and Android 8 early reports the USB Audio latency is now higher,  vs lower USB Audio latency on Android 7 )

https://www.yahoo.com/news/everything-know-samsung-galaxy-tab-201641113.html


jassy

Then the Android latency at this time is OS dependant or hardware dependant?
Its already known the numbers of low latencies in Android?
It does not seem that music software manufacturers are looking at Android as a viable option.
I would like this to happen and be able to forget Apple, but at the moment it seems that we musicians have no other option.

admin

Quote from: jassy on August 02, 2018, 10:25:17 AM
Then the Android latency at this time is OS dependant or hardware dependant?
Its already known the numbers of low latencies in Android?


Sadly only a few Android device offer low audio latency

and there are reports Android 8 has higher audio latency compared to Android 7 
https://superpowered.com/android-audio-latency-problem-just-got-worse

https://superpowered.com/android-mono-hack-android-audio-gate

QuoteAndroid Mono Hack: AndroidAudioGate
Two days ago, we posted an article that claims Android 8.0 demonstrates worse latency than Android 7.0. That is to say, from the mobile audio developer POV, Android 8.0 is an indisputable step-back from Android 7.0.

To allow independent verification of our claims, we provided our data, our testing methods and an open-source app for 3rd party testing.

In response, a Developer Advocate at Android Audio, has made some, well, *interesting* statements about the capability of Android 8.0 with regards to latency.

He publicly states that our claims are false, and that latency on Android 8.0 has not deteriorated...as long as...here's the punchline: developers switch to mono input, instead of stereo (because of a Google-internal bug with Android's Fast Flag).

But that suggestion, excuse the phrase, is lipstick on a pig.

details of Android hardware with low latency is here
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=6637.0

http://www.extreamsd.com/index.php/technology

http://www.extreamsd.com/forum/
http://www.musicalandroid.com/


admin

Quote from: Spider on December 04, 2014, 02:45:52 PM
It is not only a problem with CPU power but it lies more deep in the architecture. In Android for example a big problem for onboard piano apps latency was... too slow display/touch sensor refreshing...

Audio Latency has improved ( lowered) with Android 7 devices
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 ( Android 7.0 + Samsung Pro Audio SoundCamp)
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=22456.0

But dont get too excited - I understand things are currently broken again with Android 8  - which has higher audio latency vs Android 7

Android 8.0 Oreo has worse latency than Android 7.0 Nougat.
https://superpowered.com/android-audio-latency-problem-just-got-worse