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In a few short hours, Nintendo will host its first Direct of 2022, and it’s one you won’t want to miss. The company has promised to spend approximately 40 minutes talking about games that will debut on the Switch throughout the first half of 2022. You can watch the entire presentation starting at 5PM ET through YouTube and Twitch, as well as right here.

As for what to expect from the company, Nintendo is likely to provide updates on upcoming games like Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, as both titles are slated to arrive both the second half of the year. The company could also share updates on highly anticipated releases like Bayonetta 3 and the sequel to Breath of the Wild. Lastly, will we finally get a release date for Silksong? Whatever happens, make sure to visit Engadget later in the day, as we’ll have stories on all of the company’s biggest announcements.

Grindr is tightening privacy controls for the Olympic Village in Beijing. Bloomberg has learned the gay dating app is blocking people outside the Village from using the location-based Explore feature to find athletes in or near the area. The move is meant to protect athletes from harassment or persecution so they can "feel confident" connecting with each other during the Winter Olympic Games, Grindr for Equality director Jack Harrison-Quintana said.

Anyone who uses Grindr inside the Village will see a pop-up telling them people outside the area can't browse the locale using Explore. "Your privacy is important to us," Grindr says in the alert. This is the first time Grindr has provided such a notice.

Previously, Grindr users anywhere could find Olympians through Explore. The openness created a serious problem for athletes from countries that either criminalize LGBTQ sexuality or have strong cultural prejudices against it. The issue is more than just hypothetical — Insidernotes TikTok and Twitter users found numerous athlete dating profiles during the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and an American news site retracted an article that found LGBTQ athletes during the 2016 summer games in Rio de Janeiro.

The potential for abuse was already slightly limited after Grindr pulled its client from Apple's App Store in China due to concerns about cross-border data regulations (the app itself remains functional). If all goes well, though, the measure will let gay athletes connect during the Beijing Olympics without fearing what happens when they return home.

The Galaxy S22, S22 Ultra and Tab S8 aren't just hardware upgrades — they'll also represent improvements to Samsung's update policy. The company has promised the whole S22 and Tab S8 families will receive "up to four generations" of Android OS updates — not just security patches, as announced last year. S21, Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 owners are eligible, too. The exact number of upgrades will depend on the combination of model and market, but this could mean the S22 you buy now will remain current by early 2026.

The expansion gives Samsung one of the longest update policies among Android manufacturers. Even Google is only promising three years of Android version updates for the Pixel 6 series, with security updates lasting five years. While this won't match Apple's update policy (typically five to six years of OS upgrades), it could give you a reason to pick the S22 if you either prefer Android or upgrade relatively frequently — you might not have to worry about falling behind during your phone's practical lifespan.

Catch up on all of the news from Samsung’s February Unpacked event right here!

Today Samsung showed off its latest large flagship phone, the S22 Ultra. But users with smaller hands and smaller pockets need not fear being left out, as the company also debuted two smaller phones with the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip and triple-camera array. These 6.1- and 6.6-inch handsets will be facing off against powerful phones from Apple and Google — check out all the specs below to see how they stack up, and be sure to check out our hands-on!

Catch up on all of the news from Samsung’s February Unpacked event right here!

It’s February, which means it’s time for Samsung to drop its new flagship phones for the year. This time we’re looking at three handsets, all powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. The biggest of the lineup is the massive 6.8-inch Ultra, which packs in two telephoto cameras in addition to the now-standard wide and ultra-wide. But is that enough to raise it above a rarified pack that includes 6.7-inch devices from Apple, Google and OnePlus? Check out the specs below for a sneak peek of what the Ultra has to offer against the competition, and take a peep at our hands-on for even more info.

Catch up on all of the news from Samsung’s February Unpacked event right here!

Don’t say goodbye to the Galaxy Note yet. When Samsung launched the Galaxy S22 Ultra today, it said the new flagship merges “the best of two smartphone legacies,” bringing together the S Pen, camera and other power-user features into one device. With its onboard S Pen slot, distinct rectangular shape and premium specs, it’s easy to think of the S22 Ultra as a Note replacement. And in many ways it is. But does that mean Samsung is done with the Note altogether? According to Samsung’s vice president of product management Drew Blackard, the short answer is no.

The longer answer is a little more complicated. Setting aside the fact that you can never say never, Samsung (along with many other companies) says it makes decisions about its product roadmap based on customer feedback. That means if enough people clamor for a new Note, Samsung might bring it back. Still, though he won’t rule out anything for the future, Blackard told Engadget that in the near term there are no plans for a new Note device. “There’s not going to be a new product in the current portfolio with Note in its name,” he said.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

But the Note branding isn’t completely going away. “I can’t be clear enough, this is just an evolution of Note for us,” Blackard said. “It’s not the end of the Note.” He pointed out that the S22 launch event alone will reference Note-like features several times. “It just happens there’s not a device called Note right now,” he said.

What that means is features that were hallmarks of the Note line, particularly the S Pen, will continue to be embedded into Samsung’s other products. The company’s stylus has already shown up in its tablets, laptops and foldables in some form.

Now that the S22 Ultra has an onboard slot, it’s like a Pokemon that has completed its evolution into the Note. “We're going to be telling Note users that S22 Ultra is the device for them,” Blackard said. “It's the natural step up.”

“We would argue we don’t make too many damn phones.”

Consolidating the Note and Ultra series makes sense. There was already a ton of overlap between them, and Samsung was, in my humble opinion, already making too many damn phones. Blackard himself acknowledged that there was “a lot of commonality” between Note and Ultra users. But he also said, “We would argue we don’t make too many damn phones.”

Blackard believes “we make a breadth of choice for a very diverse market.” To him, the challenge is in communicating clearly to consumers so they have the information to choose the right phone for them.

To be fair, the Note series did offer an onboard S Pen in a tinier, cheaper handset. (Remember the Note 10 Lite?) Having a dedicated series allowed Samsung to offer more configurations, like a smaller version of the Note. But according to Blackard, when different versions were offered, a disproportionately large portion of people bought the Note’s Ultra variants.

With foldable phones joining the annual launch lineup over the last few years, Samsung’s calendar was starting to look stacked. Substituting the usual Note event in the fall with something dedicated to the Z-series foldables also makes things easier. Plus, Samsung is expected to eventually add an onboard S Pen slot to the Z Fold series, so who knows, the Note name might resurface there. A Galaxy Note Fold? That would make sense to me.

Catch up on all of the news from Samsung’s February Unpacked event right here!

Samsung spent the morning revealing its latest smartphones and tablets, and all of those new devices are available for pre-order today. The top-of-the-line Galaxy S22 Ultra combines the flagship features of the company's S-lineup and its Note family, while the Galaxy S22+ and S22 look similar to last year's models and come in at slightly more affordable prices. The latest Android tablets from Samsung include the premium Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, a 14.6-inch slab with WiFi 6E support and an included S Pen, and the Galaxy Tab S8+ and Tab S8. Here's how you can pre-order all of Samsung's latest devices.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Samsung

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra starts at $1,199 and is available for pre-order today. It will be widely available starting February 25th and comes in Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green and Burgundy. Those who pre-order now through February 24th have the chance to upgrade to the next storage tier when purchasing the 128GB or 256GB models. Plus, if you pre-order any Galaxy S22 handset, you can also get 25 percent off any Tab S8 model.

The most powerful handset in the S22 lineup has the look and feel of Samsung's previous Note smartphones, including a built-in S Pen. It has a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED display with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 1,750 nits. There's also a feature called Vision Booster, which dynamically adjusts the screen's brightness throughout the day. The S Pen has 70 percent lower latency and software improvements now allow the device to anticipate which direction you're writing in for faster response times. In addition to an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, WiFi 6E and 5G, the Galaxy S22 Ultra has a battery that should last more than one full day on a single charge, plus it supports 45W fast charging.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra one of the first smartphones to run on a 4nm processor and has the most capable camera Samsung has ever put in a handset. The rear array includes a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 108MP wide shooter and two 10MP telephoto lenses, while the selfie cam is a 40MP shooter with an 80-degree field of view. The phone has what Samsung's calling "Advanced Nightography," which means that, thanks to its large pixel sensor, the camera can capture more light and data to help optimize lighting in both photos and video. It also supports the Expert RAW app, allowing you to save in the RAW format up to 16bit.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ and S22

Samsung

The Galaxy S22+ and S22 start at $999 and $799, respectively, and are available for pre-order today. They will be widely available February 25th and come in Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green, and Pink Gold. Those who pre-order now through February 24th have the chance to upgrade to the next storage tier when purchasing the 128GB or 256GB models. Plus, if you pre-order any Galaxy S22 handset, you can also get 25 percent off any Tab S8 model.

Let's start with the big differences between the S22+ and the S22. The S22+ has a 6.6-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a max brightness of 1,750 nits. The S22 has a 6.1-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED panel with the same 120Hz refresh rate but a max brightness of 1,300 nits. That also means the Galaxy S22+ is larger than the S22, and it also has a slightly longer battery life. Both should last an entire day, though, and the S22+ supports 45W fast charging which the S22 supports 25W fast charging.

Otherwise, the two handsets share many of the same features. Both feature Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ glass on the front and back for extra durability, plus an ultrasonic fingerprint reader for security and 5G support. The S22+ has WiFi 6E, while the S22 only has WiFi 6. Both run on 4nm processors and they share the same camera array with a bunch of new features. The main shooter is a 50MP camera, and it's accompanied by a 1MP telephoto lens and a 12MP wide camera as well as a 10MP selfie cam. New "Nightogrpahy" features are made possible by the larger sensors and Adaptive Pixel technology in both handsets, which draw in more light and capture more details even when you're shooting in the dark. There's also a new Auto Framing feature that can detect and track up to 10 people in a video, adjusting the camera's focus as you shoot.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra

Samsung

The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra starts at $1,099 and is available for pre-order today. Those who pre-order from Samsung will receive a free Backlit Book Cover Keyboard.

Samsung's new, flagship Android tablet has a 14.6-inch AMOLED display with a 2,960 x 1,848 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It runs on a 4nm processor and can be outfitted with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage; Samsung is clearly positioning this to be its competitor to Apple's iPad Pro. Not only is the S8 Ultra the most powerful tablet Samsung announced today, but it's also the one with the biggest battery — a 11,200mAh cell to be exact, and the slab as a USB-C port for charging.

The Tab S8 Ultra also supports WiFi 6E and S Pen input, and you get the S Pen in the box, which is a nice touch. The tablet also has added security thanks to facial recognition and an on-display fingerprint reader.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ and S8

Samsung

The Galaxy Tab S8+ and Tab S8 start at $899 and $699, respectively, and are available for pre-order today in Graphite, Pink Gold and Silver. Those who pre-order from Samsung will receive a free Slim Book Cover Keyboard.

The two smaller Galaxy tablets have a few things in common with the premium Ultra. They both run on 4nm processor, have USB-C ports, support for WiFi 6E and an included S Pen in the box. These models also support up to 1TB of onboard storage with a microSD card, but they only come with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage.

Otherwise, the differences between the S8+ and the S8 are mostly in size. The S8+ has a 12.4-inch. Super AMOLED screen with a 2,800 x 1752 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, while the S8 has an 11-inch LED display with 2,560 x 1,600 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The plus model also has a slightly larger battery than the Tab S8, and it includes the same on-display fingerprint reader that the Ultra does. The S8 has a fingerprint reader, but it's on the power button instead.

Catch up on all of the news from Samsung’s February Unpacked event right here!

The brand new Galaxy S22 Ultra looks like a Note. It has a built-in S-Pen like a Note. It even has a huge, high-res display like a Note. And after I went hands-on with this thing, even though it doesn’t say Galaxy Note anywhere on the box, make no mistake, the S22 Ultra is the Note reborn.

Now I admit Samsung’s naming scheme might seem confusing at first, but it’s clear Samsung has embedded the Note’s DNA throughout the $1,200 S22 Ultra’s design and software. And with Samsung having added S-Pen support to various Galaxy S, Z Fold and Tab S devices in recent years, expanding the Note brand from a single device into more of an experience makes sense.

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

But most importantly, aside from the super-premium Z Fold 3, the S22 Ultra very much feels like the huge over-the-top handset that power users have been looking for since the Note 20 Ultra came out a year and a half ago. For starters, its angular body separates the S22 Ultra from its smaller, curvier siblings–a theme that continues to the backside of the phone. Instead of Samsung’s typical Contour Cut design, the S22 Ultra has four distinct rear cameras (wide, ultra-wide, a 3x telephoto and a 10x telephoto), not to mention a dedicated laser autofocus module.

From a pure hardware perspective, it’s a brawny camera array with Samsung once again offering its 100x Space Zoom tech (10x optical zoom plus 10x digital zoom). And when it comes to processing, the S22 Ultra steps up from the tetra-binning technique used on the standard S22 and S22+ to a nona-binning system (which Samsung first explored on the S20 series) for its 108-megapixel main cam, which combines nine adjacent pixels into one giant pixel for even more powerful low-light performance.

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

And while my short time with the S22 Ultra didn’t really let me evaluate the phone’s image quality in full, I was definitely impressed by Samsung's upgraded OIS and its new Auto Framing video feature, which was able to track my colleague Cherlynn’s face, despite her best efforts to duck in and out of the frame.

Additionally, for people who love Portrait mode shots, the S22 Ultra gets a new AI Stereo Depth Map feature that helps separate your subject from the background, which provides even more freedom to play around with bokeh and various studio lighting effects. And for both the S22 and S22 Ultra, there’s even a new Expert RAW app that supports 16-bit photos while giving you more control over settings like white balance, exposure compensation and more. Unfortunately, because the Expert RAW app isn’t available yet, we’ll have to wait until our review to test it out for real.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Meanwhile, the addition of a built-in storage slot for the S Pen really completes the transition Samsung started last year on the S21 Ultra. All your traditional S Pen apps are there, and when you’re in a rush, you can simply pop out the stylus and get to writing thanks to Samsung’s Screen Off Memo feature. And, to my surprise, Samsung has managed to make writing on the S22 Ultra feel even smoother than before, thanks to a new predictive AI system that lowers the stylus’ response time from 9ms to just 2.8ms.

At this point, any semblance of input lag has been completely obliterated, and I also noticed that Samsung’s palm rejection seems to have gotten smarter too. For me, a Z Fold3 owner, even though it's nice having S Pen support baked in on a device with an even larger display, the S22 Ultra still feels like the superior sketching and note taking device. The S Pen is always there when you need it, and you don’t have to fumble around opening the device anytime you want to jot down or sketch a random idea.

And let’s not forget the display, because instead of the FHD+ panel you get on an S22 or S22+, the S22 Ultra features a 6.8-inch QHD+ OLED screen with a variable 120Hz refresh rate. And honestly, it’s just mesmerizing to look at. Colors look almost effervescent, with peak brightness now going up to 1,750 nits in the right conditions (like outdoors in direct sunlight). And by decreasing the display’s minimum refresh rate to just 1Hz, we should see some benefits to battery life too.

Finally, in keeping with the Note line’s historically lofty specs, the S22 Ultra is packed with practically every high-end component you can think of, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 1 chip (or an Exynos 2200 throughout most of Europe and Asia), 8GB or 12GB of RAM, up to 1TB on onboard storage and IP 68 dust and water resistance. But no headphone jack or microSD slot.

Even the S22 Ultra’s battery and charging is maxed out, with Samsung including a 5,000 mAh power pack, support for 45-watt wired charging and 15-watt wireless charging, in addition to Wi-Fi 6E, 5G connectivity and an ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint sensor.

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

But for me, the most encouraging thing about the S22 Ultra is that after not getting a new Galaxy Note last year, Samsung’s latest top-of-the-line handset combines the best of both the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines. You get a massive 10x optical zoom paired with a built-in S Pen and basically non-existent input lag in a refreshingly boxy body. Not only does the S22 Ultra have the specs you want, but it looks the part too. Sure, Samsung may have skipped a year, and the name might seem a bit awkward at first, but in the S22 Ultra, the spirit of the Note is very much alive.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra starts at $1,200 and is available for pre-order today with official sales slated for February 25th. And for those who pre-order, Samsung is offering a free upgrade to the next storage tier, $200 of credit on Samsung.com, and a 25 percent discount towards the purchase of a new Galaxy Tab S8.

Catch up on all of the news from Samsung’s February Unpacked event right here!

You’d be forgiven for thinking the newly announced Galaxy S22 looks a lot like last year’s phone. It does. But after being able to go hands-on with the S22 and S22+, it’s clear that, as with many things, it’s what’s inside that counts. And for 2022, Samsung has packed in some major upgrades for the S22’s display, performance and cameras that really separate it from last year’s device.

Now, before we move onto the new tech, some of the S22’s design tweaks include an updated range of colors (black, white, green, and pink) and the use of a new material created from recycled fishnets–which Samsung employed to make the phone’s key bracket, with additional post-consumer recycled material also used in the S22’s speaker module and side buttons.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Elsewhere, both the S22 and S22+ feature flat–not rounded–displays made from Gorilla Glass Victus+, a chassis constructed out of Samsung’s Armor Aluminum alloy, a 40-megapixel center-mounted selfie shooter and three rear cameras: a 50MP wide, 12MP ultra-wide and a 10MP telephoto with a 3x zoom. So not a huge change, but it’s not like the S21 needed a complete revamp anyway. At the same time, it’s important to note that at 6.1 and 6.6 inches, respectively, both the S22 and S22+ have slightly smaller screens than their predecessors. And before you get your hopes up, none of the new S22s have a headphone jack or an SD card reader.

Instead, Samsung concentrated on improving a number of the S22’s most important components. So while the S22 and S22+’s FHD+ screens still top out at 120Hz, Samsung decreased the lower limit of their refresh rates to just 1Hz (down from 10Hz) to help save on power even more. Meanwhile, both phones got significant brightness upgrades, with the S22 capable of hitting 1,300 nits in direct sunlight, while the S22+ goes even higher, peaking at 1,750 nits. Frankly, Samsung has been making the best mobile displays on the market for years, and even though I only had a short time with the new S22s thus far, the S22’s brightness is quite impressive even compared to other premium handsets like the iPhone 13.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

That said, perhaps the biggest display innovation on the S22 is Samsung’s new Vision Booster feature. By using the ambient light sensors built into the phone, Vision Booster adjusts screen settings like contrast and color saturation to make content easier to see both outdoors and in low-light environments (like watching a movie on your phone before bed). But I should mention that because Samsung’s demo area didn’t have a lot of super bright or dark environments, Vision Booster is something that’s definitely going to require some more in-depth testing to properly evaluate.

On the inside, in addition to 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage, the S22 also features Qualcomm’s 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip (or an Exynos 2200 for most folks outside of North America). That said, there are some important differences in specs between the S22 and S22+, as the S22 tops out with 25-watt wired charging, a 3,700 mAh battery and Wi-Fi 6, while the S22+ gets 45-watt wired charging, a 4,500 mAh battery, slightly faster Wi-Fi 6E, and UWB (ultra wideband) communications. Both phones feature 5G, 15-watt wireless charging, ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint readers, IP 68 dust and water resistance and the same resolution cameras in front and back.

But the phone’s cameras are clearly where Samsung invested much of its resources, which makes sense now that the Galaxy S line is facing increased competition from handsets like the iPhone 13 and Pixel 6. On the S22, the most important camera upgrade is the phone’s new 50 MP wide-angle camera, which Samsung claims features pixels that are 23 percent larger than before to draw in more light in dark environments. Then, to boost its “Nightography” features even further, the S22 uses a four-to-one pixel binning technique that combines four adjacent pixels into one big pixel for additional low-light sensitivity.

And for those who want extra help capturing crisp videos, Samsung also added a new Auto Framing feature that can track up to 10 subjects at the same time while adjusting the camera’s focus and framing, with a new Advanced OIS tossed in to help iron out any bumps or shaking. During my hands-on session, while I didn’t have multiple people to stick in front of the S22’s cameras, the phone still did an impressive job of locking onto my colleague Cherlynn’s face, even as she bobbed and weaved throughout the frame. And I didn’t even have to tap the phone’s screen to lock on to her face.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Alternatively, if you love shooting portraits, the S22 also employs a new AI Stereo Depth Map process that can more easily distinguish the difference between your subject and the background for enhanced bokeh and studio lighting effects. And new on the S22, Samsung’s Portrait Mode works on pets too.

When it comes to software, the S22 comes pre-loaded with One UI 4.0, which is based on Android 12. This means you get all of Google’s recent security upgrades including notifications when apps use the phone’s mics or cameras and the new Privacy Dashboard, along with extra home screen customization options and more. And to make storing things like digital IDs, credit card info, and travel documents on your phone a bit easier, the S22 has a new secure storage feature called the Samsung Wallet. There’s even a new live sharing feature in Google Duo that lets S22 owners stream videos to other people on the call similar to Apple’s SharePlay feature in iOS 15. Unfortunately, neither the Samsung Wallet or live sharing in Google Duo were available for testing, so stay tuned for more updates on those.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

On top of that, for the entire S22 line (including the S22 Ultra), Samsung is stepping up the length of its software support to four generations of Android updates. So while Samsung’s software support still isn’t quite as extensive as what you’d get with an iPhone, it’s longer than basically anything else in the Android world.

But what might be the best part about all of this, is that despite all the software and hardware upgrades, starting at $800 and $1000, the S22 and S22+ will cost the same as last year’s Galaxy S phones.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

In a lot of ways, the S22 feels like the “tock” to the S21’s “tick.” Last year, Samsung rolled out a fresh new design, and now Samsung is following that up with a bunch of upgraded tech. Sure, the outside of the phone may have not changed a ton, but the updated colors look good, and coming from someone with a Phantom Green Z Fold3 that actually looks gray 99 percent of the time, the new green on the S22 is much richer and way more satisfying. And while we’ll need time to put the S22 through its paces, Samsung investing so much time and effort in the phone’s new cameras really shores up the biggest weakness of last year’s device. So even though it’s too early to hand anyone the crown for the best phone of 2022, the S22 feels like a thoughtful sequel to an already strong base.

Pre-orders for the Galaxy S22 and S22+ start today with official sales beginning on February 25th. And for those who do pre-order, Samsung is including a free upgrade to the next storage tier and $100 worth of Samsung credit (or $150 for the S22+).

Catch up on all of the news from Samsung’s February Unpacked event right here!

A new Note wasn’t the only thing missing from Samsung’s lineup last year. The company also didn’t release an update to its Galaxy Tab S series, which is a shame because it’s arguably the best premium Android tablet line around. (Or rather, the only one left standing.) The Tab S7 was launched in 2020, and it featured impressive hardware that was held back by limited software. With Android 12L on the horizon promising to improve the tablet experience, though, it seems Samsung is ready to deliver a capable 2-in-1 again: Today the company unveiled the Galaxy Tab S8 series today, which includes the Tab S8, S8+ and the Tab S8 Ultra.

This is the first time Samsung is making a tablet with the “Ultra” name; that branding is normally reserved for its S-series phones and accordingly, the S8 Ultra has some high-end specs to match. According to Samsung, it features the “world’s only 14.6-inch Super AMOLED display on an Android 2-in-1” as well as “our smoothest writing experience yet,” courtesy of an upgraded S Pen. At a recent demo session in New York (held in accordance with COVID 19 protocols), I was able to briefly check out the three tablets.

The S8 and S8+ are very similar to their predecessors, with smooth metal bodies, slim bezels and attractive matte finishes. They’re thin, light and well-built, and at first glance reminded me of the iPad Pro. Both models come in about the same sizes as the S7 series, with the S8 sporting an 11-inch LCD and the larger model using a 12.4-inch AMOLED panel.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

I was particularly impressed that the Ultra model was as sleek as it is despite having such a big screen. As is usually the case with Samsung devices, the displays are bright and colorful. All three Tab S8s also have panels that refresh at 120Hz, and come with improved selfie cameras. The S8 and S8+ now feature 12-megapixel sensors up front, while the Ultra model gets an additional wide-angle camera.

With that setup, the Ultra also offers some new camera features that Samsung debuted on the S22 phones today. There’s what Samsung calls “intelligent framing,” which is basically like Apple’s Center Stage. When enabled, the Tab S8 Ultra can detect people in the scene and adjust framing or the level of zoom to keep them in the shot. It automatically accommodates more people when it recognizes more faces, or tries to keep the subject you select in the middle. During my hands-on session, the S8 Ultra was as adept as the S22 Ultra at keeping my coworker Sam in the shot as he moved around the space.

The Ultra also has an “enhanced mic mode” that lets you choose between three types of noise cancellation, thanks to its three-way microphone. Samsung also said it added AI that will distinguish between human voices and background sounds to help with minimizing distracting noise in your calls. None of the demo tablets were set up for calls, so I didn’t get to test either of these features during our hands-on. I’d rather check out these (and the camera updates) in the real world for a better idea of their performance, anyway.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

The S8+ and S8 Ultra also come with upgraded S Pens that Samsung says “uses a prediction algorithm for ultra-low latency.” During my brief time with the S Pen on an S8 Ultra, I found the writing experience smooth and responsive. But without a side-by-side comparison with an older model, I can’t say for sure if there’s a significant improvement. I did notice that the palm rejection seems much better, at least in Samsung’s Notes app. I deliberately left my palm on the screen while writing, and that no longer left little marks all over the page like it would on previous Galaxy tablets.

Thanks to its larger size, the S8 Ultra’s companion keyboard case (which costs extra) has more room for a nicely spaced layout. I quickly typed a few short messages and URLs, and had no issue with oddly sized or ill-placed keys. I did struggle to keep the Ultra propped up on my lap with the case’s built-in kickstand, though, but at least it was sturdy enough to offer various viewing angles on a desk.

When a product is as mature as the Tab S series, it’s hard to imagine what else Samsung could bring to the table. There are the typical incremental updates, like a new 4nm processor here for all three Tab S8s (the same as the one in the S22 phones). But the best hardware and specs in the world would mean nothing if the Tab S8s continued to be held back by Android’s flaws. The good news is, not only is Google working on improving the tablet experience with 12L, but Samsung is also making its own tweaks.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

The Tab S8s feature “an improved multi-window mode,” offering new layout options for up to three windows at once. The company also worked with Microsoft to simplify the process of setting the Tab S8s up as a second screen for your PC, so you can case your laptop’s content over, which can be handy if you want to use a pen to quickly sign PDFs, for example. The new tablets will also support live sharing in Google’s Duo video chat app, making it easier to collaborate with your teammates. And because these are Samsung devices, sharing things like photos and files from your Galaxy smartphone to the Tab S8s is simple as well.

With my limited hands-on time , I wasn’t able to check out all these features (things like Duo and the second-screen for Windows weren’t available, either). So we’ll need to get these devices in our hands for more in-depth testing to know if a Samsung-meets-Google version of Android on a 14.6-inch tablet will make a good laptop substitute.

If you’re already sure you want a Tab S8, you can pre-order them today. The S8 starts at $700, the S8+ at $900 and the Ultra at $1,100, and those who pre-order will get free keyboard cases thrown in. But as always, I’d suggest waiting until we can do a full review before spending hundreds of dollars on an Android tablet.

Catch up on all of the news from Samsung’s February Unpacked event right here!