Samsung Galaxy Book

Samsung wants to make the 2-in-1 device work – you could say it’s crucial to the Apple-trouncing ecosystem the company wants to build. The company’s latest attempt at that is the Galaxy Book, a spiritual successor to its Galaxy TabPro S of last year.

The Galaxy Book, frankly, doesn’t do a ton different from the Windows tablet that preceded it, but rather refines it with some marked improvements, namely a far better keyboard cover than before. However, what Samsung’s tablet needed wasn’t improvements on the current design so much as perhaps a different design altogether.

Furthermore, for every improvement made here, there seems to be an almost equal detraction. The result is a Windows tablet that’s just fine in construction and performance, but one that continues to lag behind rivals.

Price and availability

Samsung sees itself in a tough position regarding how it’s priced the Galaxy Book. While it comes in both 10.6- and- 12-inch varieties, the more widely comparable 12-incher starts at $1,129 (about £867, AU$1,510).

That price gets you a Windows 10 tablet housing an Intel Core i5 processor (Kaby Lake), 4GB of memory, and a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD) behind a gorgeous Super AMOLED touchscreen at 2,160 x 1,440 resolution, and with an S-Pen stylus and keyboard cover included.

For reference, a similarly-specced Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (with a keyboard cover included) can be had for nearly $200 less via Amazon on sale in the US, as of this writing. Granted, the SP4 offers a dated processor, though it also houses a sharper screen, more port variety and Windows Hello support natively – face recognition through its infrared (IR) camera – where the Samsung option requires a Galaxy phone connected via a Samsung Flow app.

If you want a 10-inch version of the Galaxy Book, with a TFT touch panel instead of that Super AMOLED display, you’ll have to pay $629 (about £480, AU$800) for 4GB of memory and 64GB of SSD storage powered by an Intel Core m3 processor (Kaby Lake) behind a 1,920 x 1,280 touchscreen. For reference, the entry-level Surface Pro 4 goes for just over $100 more on Amazon in the US, doubling the Galaxy Book’s storage but lacking an included keyboard cover.

Both the 10-inch and 12-inch models can have their storage doubled for another $100 and $200, respectively, though the latter also gets double the RAM (8GB) for that price. A 12-inch model with an LTE radio powered by Verizon with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is also available for $1,299 in the US.

Design

The problem here with the Galaxy Book price is that its materials don’t exactly scream worthiness of such an entry fee. For instance, while the build quality on display is impressive, the tablet comes in a plastic frame.

Yes, you’re looking at a $1,000-plus tablet inside a plastic shell. Granted the plastic feels plenty sturdy and smooth, giving off the illusion of aluminum from a distance. The Galaxy Book employs curved edges all around its body, giving the feeling that this is a tablet first and a laptop second.

These two points remind us of Samsung’s previous Windows 10 tablet, the Galaxy TabPro S, though that device housed magnesium sides and a plastic back. Speaking of which, the Galaxy Book tacks on four-tenths of an inch more than its predecessor at 0.29 inches thin.

Rounding out what the Galaxy Book looks and feels like, Samsung outfitted the Galaxy with all sorts of tablet niceties, like a top-oriented power button and volume rocker, and a rear-facing, 13 megapixel (MP) camera that no one will (or shouldn’t) use. Though, its front-facing, 5MP webcam is not infrared and therefore does not offer secure Windows Hello login.

(For that, again, you’ll need a Galaxy phone and the Samsung Flow app, which allows for biometric secure login via the phone’s methods – not cool.)

Of course, the Galaxy Book comes with an S-Pen stylus – it's first time featured on a computing device – and backlit keyboard cover included in the price, neither of which require charging whatsoever. The former of which doesn’t offer much function beyond drawing, with nothing but a simple button that activates a secondary function, usually erasing in most drawing apps.

The stylus is awfully light, as a result, and is pleasantly difficult to lose with Samsung’s included pen loop. The loop holds the matte gray plastic pen snugly, and has its own dedicated spot on the included keyboard cover to be attached to with a strong adhesive that’s already on the loop.

Keyboard cover still doesn’t cut it

We appreciate Samsung’s valiant mission to get its take on the keyboard cover working for 12-inch devices, but it’s time to give up the ghost. There’s nothing wrong with the keyboard’s feedback and travel depth – both are quite enjoyable, actually.

It’s that firstly, the keyboard lays completely flat when using the device as a laptop, which isn’t very comfortable; secondly, typing with the device on your lap often feels as if the device is going to spill right out and finally, figuring out the keyboard cover’s various magnetized orientations feels like making origami to get it aligned with the tablet’s several magnets correctly.

In short, this is a keyboard cover design that isn’t conducive to many forms of work, yet at the same time is essential to using the Galaxy Book in those very scenarios. This is because Samsung still wants the keyboard cover to act as the device’s kickstand. Frankly, as we’ve seen from other device makers before (including Samsung), it doesn’t work out so well.

That said, the keyboard cover’s soft-touch plastic feels quite comfy to at least rest your palms on, while it offers up little to no flex when bent – a fine sign of sturdiness.

Power-wise, the Samsung Galaxy Book fights in the same ring as Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 and even the iPad Pro. That said, it’s clear that updated hardware does make a difference, albeit an incremental one.

The Galaxy Book’s Kaby Lake Intel processor stands to give it a bit more power over its rivals from Microsoft and Apple, but not necessarily more longevity.

As you can see from the benchmarks, the Galaxy Book is marginally more powerful than the Surface Pro 4, which in real-world use will amount to basically no difference. 

Standard workloads will be just fine on the Galaxy Book, but anything beyond basic photo editing will likely result in a trip to lag city.

Display and battery life

Unsurprisingly, anything you do on the Galaxy Book, whether it be write a paper or binge a series on Netflix, will look amazing. Samsung knows how to make an incredible screen, bringing its myriad learnings from mobile to PCs.

While it’s not as sharp as the one inside the Surface Pro 4, the Galaxy Book display is just as color-rich, if not more so. That makes video and still media pop even better. We didn’t notice any egregiously saturated colors between it and other displays, either.

That said, don’t expect incredible battery life gains from the supposedly more power-efficient Kaby Lake processor inside. The Galaxy Book reported a PCMark 8 battery life score five minutes shorter than the Surface Pro 4 did, at 3 hours and 10 minutes.

However, like most devices, the Galaxy Book performed far better at local video playback, lasting for a cool 7 hours and 32 minutes. That’s about as much time as we’re used to getting out of the Surface Pro 4 in general use, all told.

Regardless, both tested times fall well below Samsung’s promise of up to 11 hours from the 12-inch device. Sure, it’s par for the course, but that doesn’t make the discrepancy any better.

Samsung also touts its tablet’s fast charging capabilities via USB-C as part of its battery offering, promising a full charge in less than 3 hours. However, that doesn’t sound very fast and is actually far longer than the estimates we’ve seen Windows 10 provide from near-zero charge in the Galaxy Book’s battery.

Also, the light that indicates the Galaxy Book is charging is placed right beside the front camera and glows red – not the best design choice given Samsung’s recent run-ins with security and privacy.

We liked

The Samsung Galaxy Book does offer plenty in the box for the price, unlike some key rivals that refuse to include keyboard covers in their productivity tablets. Plus, the screen is just downright gorgeous, and the tablet is more than thin and light enough for true portability.

We disliked

While you get a lot in the box for the price, the Galaxy Book is too easily outpriced for what’s on offer when stacked up against rivals, namely the Surface Pro 4. Also, locking biometric login capability behind a secondary device – via a Galaxy phone with the Samsung Flow app – is not a good look when rivals offer it for no extra cost. Finally, we’re no bigger fans of Samsung’s folding approach to keyboard covers than when it tried practically the same thing on the Galaxy TabPro S, which didn’t go over well then.

Final verdict

Unless you’re really into Samsung products and will make liberal use of Samsung’s Galaxy phone-exclusive syncing and biometric login features (Samsung Flow), there aren’t many compelling reasons to pick up the Galaxy Book over similarly priced competitors. After all, the Surface Pro 4 offers biometric login through its own IR camera at no extra cost.

The Samsung Galaxy Book is a strong effort to contend with the current king of 2-in-1 PC devices, Microsoft, but falls short in some key areas that keep it from making your buying decision any more difficult than it already was. If you’re a major Samsung fan, then we don’t need to convince you of anything – this is the companion to your Galaxy phone that you’ve been waiting for.

However, for the discerning reader that’s looking to buy a detachable 2-in-1 laptop, there are plenty of options out there that are even stronger for everyone, regardless of the smartphone they own.