ÍøÆغÚÁÏ
Customer Review
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2024As usual this tablet has all the usual strengths and weaknesses of every Samsung tablet and phone. Ease of use and an excellent crisp display Vs Samsung bloatware and Google's prurient interest in its users. The speakers are OK by tablet standards (I use Bluetooth headphones) and access to the Google Playstore AND the Samsung version is easy. The difference though, is that this one was built for Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. Samsung have notably been a little awkward with regional locations in recent months, but this has given me no trouble in Southern England.
I am very glad that I read the 1* and 2* reviews for this as carefully as I did. They seem legitimate but I could guess where they had issues setting this up, and that these were surmountable. The rest of this review has been written to reflect my experience and to reassure potential fellow users.
Setting up
Set up is easy but you need a tad more patience than usual. Mine arrived completely discharged and took a very long time to charge to a level that let me get started. The box itself contains no charger - just a data and charging cable which is usb-c to usb-c (i.e., not the usb-a to usb-c I would have expected in UK and that I need to use my own existing chargers). The lack of speed might be well lie with my charger or the older cables that I had to use. Nevertheless it got there. If you wait long enough the on/off button does function but you do have to wait. And wait.
Language issue
Several people in the reviews seem concerned that the start up menu is not in English. BUT IT IS! Again, if you pause and wait, the English menu comes around - how else would you sell this in Australia or New Zealand, or to all those ex-pats? Patience! If you just press it too quickly the English language may be less accessible, in which case just turn it off and start again.
My language menu even included English variants new to me - see the picture. Make sure you choose the one that suits you.
Apart from having to fib about where I live, once the above is done it is just another Samsung tablet similar to my two previous, but a bit faster with Android 14. It's "secured by Knox" just like all current Samsung phones. I'm not much of a fan of this, but my intended use for this device is as an entertainment tablet around the home, so it's all tolerable.
My next step will be to get a micro SD card to increase the memory and a silicone sleeve, though I do wonder if a better charger is available intended for this device.
Final point - this was dispatched from ÍøÆغÚÁÏ but sent via Royal Mail who claimed tracking was unavailable. The package arrived with a panel requiring a signature (and yet it wasn't signed for) but this implies that it was being tracked. A day later and it is still listed as untrackable. This seems to reflect the precipitous decline of Royal Mail but might be an unnecessary source of anxiety for customers. I can reassure you that, even if untrackable, delivery was by first class post and very quick.
This is decent value and certainly worth considering.
Addendum.
1. Bought a decent 512gb Samsung SD card from ÍøÆغÚÁÏ. Enough for my needs. But getting the card tray out of the side of the tablet took far more fiddling than I expected. Very happy with my purchase though and its performance once installed.
2. Maybe the language issues that others had is connected to earlier use? A number of reviews claim that their box had been opened already "to check" and that this both voided the warranty and led to issues with an initial Chinese language menu. Mine was factory fresh.
I would advise that, if the seal has been broken, you send it straight back. It's been used ... And so have you.
Setting up a Samsung Tablet ... IF you are patientAs usual this tablet has all the usual strengths and weaknesses of every Samsung tablet and phone. Ease of use and an excellent crisp display Vs Samsung bloatware and Google's prurient interest in its users. The speakers are OK by tablet standards (I use Bluetooth headphones) and access to the Google Playstore AND the Samsung version is easy. The difference though, is that this one was built for Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. Samsung have notably been a little awkward with regional locations in recent months, but this has given me no trouble in Southern England.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2024
I am very glad that I read the 1* and 2* reviews for this as carefully as I did. They seem legitimate but I could guess where they had issues setting this up, and that these were surmountable. The rest of this review has been written to reflect my experience and to reassure potential fellow users.
Setting up
Set up is easy but you need a tad more patience than usual. Mine arrived completely discharged and took a very long time to charge to a level that let me get started. The box itself contains no charger - just a data and charging cable which is usb-c to usb-c (i.e., not the usb-a to usb-c I would have expected in UK and that I need to use my own existing chargers). The lack of speed might be well lie with my charger or the older cables that I had to use. Nevertheless it got there. If you wait long enough the on/off button does function but you do have to wait. And wait.
Language issue
Several people in the reviews seem concerned that the start up menu is not in English. BUT IT IS! Again, if you pause and wait, the English menu comes around - how else would you sell this in Australia or New Zealand, or to all those ex-pats? Patience! If you just press it too quickly the English language may be less accessible, in which case just turn it off and start again.
My language menu even included English variants new to me - see the picture. Make sure you choose the one that suits you.
Apart from having to fib about where I live, once the above is done it is just another Samsung tablet similar to my two previous, but a bit faster with Android 14. It's "secured by Knox" just like all current Samsung phones. I'm not much of a fan of this, but my intended use for this device is as an entertainment tablet around the home, so it's all tolerable.
My next step will be to get a micro SD card to increase the memory and a silicone sleeve, though I do wonder if a better charger is available intended for this device.
Final point - this was dispatched from ÍøÆغÚÁÏ but sent via Royal Mail who claimed tracking was unavailable. The package arrived with a panel requiring a signature (and yet it wasn't signed for) but this implies that it was being tracked. A day later and it is still listed as untrackable. This seems to reflect the precipitous decline of Royal Mail but might be an unnecessary source of anxiety for customers. I can reassure you that, even if untrackable, delivery was by first class post and very quick.
This is decent value and certainly worth considering.
Addendum.
1. Bought a decent 512gb Samsung SD card from ÍøÆغÚÁÏ. Enough for my needs. But getting the card tray out of the side of the tablet took far more fiddling than I expected. Very happy with my purchase though and its performance once installed.
2. Maybe the language issues that others had is connected to earlier use? A number of reviews claim that their box had been opened already "to check" and that this both voided the warranty and led to issues with an initial Chinese language menu. Mine was factory fresh.
I would advise that, if the seal has been broken, you send it straight back. It's been used ... And so have you.Images in this review
