AMOLED there’s a beefier processor, too, a 3.1 GHz dual-core Core i5. It’s paired with either 4GB of RAM and 128GB of flash storage, or 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Both Galaxy Book will have LTE Cat 6 as an option, alternatively, you will be able to make do with the WiFi a/b/g/n/ac (MIMO) and Bluetooth 4.1 both share.
Galaxy Book, and that’s only compounded when you add the detachable keyboard. Samsung will be bundling it as standard in the box, and it’s a decent ‘board overall. Hard plastic keys have a good 1.5mm stroke; the Galaxy Book 10 version has 17.4mm pitch keys, while the Galaxy Book 12 scales that up to 19.05mm. Both support three levels of backlighting, get all their power from the tablet, and have a trackpad.
If you’d rather, though, Samsung includes the latest iteration of its S Pen stylus, too. That now recognizes 4,096 levels of pressure, and has a narrower 0.7mm tip for more precise use; it’s been given a rubberized coating, to feel more like a pen on paper. While it doesn’t fit into a silo in either Galaxy Book, the S Pen is now non-cylindrical so it won’t roll across the table; there’s a clip for your pocket or bag.
Samsung uses Wacom’s technology so the S Pen is battery-free. Unusually, though, the Galaxy Book recognizes pen tilt: Samsung has cooked up special support for that, initially only in Adobe Photoshop, where Wacom used to save it all for its own Intuos graphics tablets and the like. Samsung tells me it’s open to working with other software companies to broaden tilt support, though right now there’s no plans for an open API.
Even if you’re not an artist, there are plenty of ways to use the S Pen. Microsoft’s OneNote supports it for digital note-taking, for instance, or you could annotate PDFs or other documents. There’s also Samsung Flow, which allows you to connect an Android-based Galaxy phone – like the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 – and manage messages from your Galaxy Book, automatically tether for internet access, and see when someone is calling (though not, it’s worth noting, answer the call – Samsung claims users weren’t a fan of holding calls through their notebook or tablet).
Standard across both is a 13-megapixel camera on the rear (the Galaxy Book 12 gets an LED flash, too) and a 5-megapixel front camera. A microSD slot handles cards up to 256GB in size, and there’s a fingerprint reader too. The Galaxy Book 10 measures in at 261.2 x 179.1 x 8.9 mm and 645 grams, while the Galaxy Book 12 is 291.3 x 199.8 x 7.4 mm and 754 grams.
What’s the Galaxy Book competing against? Samsung would, unsurprisingly, prefer you to think of it as being in a category of its own: it’s a “truly distinguished device,” the company told me. Of course, that’s not how tablet or 2-in-1 buyers actually think.
