SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab Active5 Wi-Fi 8” 128GB Android Tablet for Industrial, Field Work, Advanced Security, Rugged Design, US Version, 2024, SM-X300NZGAN20, Black Green

I use this in my Yamaha RMAX2 for GPS maps while riding. The military rated dustproof, waterproof and shock proof qualities were the first features that got me. I put a 1 TB micro SD card in it and can record all my routes and maps, as well as throw a ton of mp3s on there for areas where even the SXS's FM radio wont pick up. I thought this would be more useful than a GPS-specific unit and I wasn't wrong. I haven't submerged it or washed the SXS with it mounted in it to test it's waterproof rating, no sense in tempting fate since this is my personal tablet and not a "test review".Also I work as a construction inspector and when I need to pay for a repair area I can take a pic with the camera and use the stylus to write the dimensions for the area on the picture. Then use Samsung Notes to complete the report and add the pic, and upload as a pdf file. I opted for the non-cellular version, choosing to use my phone's wifi hotspot when needed which is rarely. I have also used it to zoom in on a pdf plan detail and take a screenshot, write a note on the screenshot and send it to the contractor, and screenshot specifications for the contractor related to whatever work they're performing. I upload them to a Google Drive folder so anyone I send a link will have access.I like the fingerprint reader and the glove-sensitive touch display but my only gripe would be the screen looks smallish since it doesn't go end to end, corner to corner like a cell phone. A 10 inch would have probably been nicer in that regard but I don't think it would fit in the mount on the SXS and would probably be too big to tote around on the jobsite without worrying about dropping it all the time. This will slip right in my inside coat pocket. Overall I would recommend this tablet, I've found it very useful.

I bought this Galaxy Active5 to upgrade an older tablet I had that didn't have 5G connectivity. Also, I like a smaller tablet for portability, and there aren't that many good 8-inch Android tablets around anymore.Connecting my Active5 to my carrier, T-Mobile, was seamless. I just put the nano-SIM from the older tablet into this one and it got online immediately with very fast data speeds. The data speed you get is going to depend somewhat on the carrier and your location, but compared to my 5G phone on the same carrier, this tablet gets stronger signals and faster data speeds. There could be a variety of reasons for this, such as this tablet might have bands that are more compatible with the cell sites near me, or it may have a better internal antenna than my phone.The processor is also impressive in how quickly it responds. This is probably a function of other things too, such as the amount and speed of RAM, but the user experience is snappy. Much better than any other device I've owned.I was also impressed right off the bat by the quality of the display. Very bright, easy to see in the sun, sharp and clear. When looking at the specs before I bought this tablet, I had wished it had an organic LED display, but this one looks as bright, crisp and clear as any OLED display I've seen. Another thing that is good in this respect is that the automatic brightness feature on this tablet seems to work better than most, so you've always got the brightness you need and you don't notice that it's changing while you're looking at it.The sound is not bad but I don't consider that a strong suit of this tablet in the same way as the features mentioned above. I wish it had two speakers, but I can't really complain about the sound because it is reasonably loud and the audio quality is fairly good. If you're going to do a lot of music listening or gaming, you're probably going to use earbuds or headphones anyway.The battery will last all day with light to moderate use, but this is a rugged tablet and most users probably don't care if it's a little chunky, so I don't know why Samsung didn't give it a bigger battery. On the plus side, the battery is user replaceable - a major advantage. To replace the battery you have to take off the outer case then peel the back off the tablet. You can do it in a couple minutes and it requires no tools, but I can't see many people wanting to go through this rigmarole every day, as you would if you carried spare batteries to extend the tablet's runtime. Plus, eventually things might not fit back together right if you keep taking it apart and putting it back together. So, it's excellent that the battery can be replaced by the user, but I would only do it now and then. I think the use case they are envisioning of this tablet is somebody who is based in a vehicle and has charging readily available. You see this also in the option you have to externally power this tablet with no battery at all. But if you're thinking of throwing your Active5 in your backpack and going camping for a weekend, you're going to need a way to charge it while you're out unless you don't use it too much.The only other thing I can think to mention is that with this tablet you get the Samsung version of Android, which is a little different in terms of the feel you get compared to other devices I have that are more stock Android. Of course, it's still an Android device and the nice thing about that is you can customize it very easily by downloading the apps you prefer and tossing whichever standard ones you don't like.It's not cheap and I wish it had a bigger battery, but the Active5 is a quality tablet that seems like it will hold up for many years. It's also a high enough spec device that it's still likely to be workable four or five years from now, which you can't always say about something less expensive that's already behind the times when you buy it. And, the replaceable battery also extends the lifetime of this tablet by eliminating a common reason people replace a device that's still otherwise viable. Viewed in these terms the price does not seem unreasonable for what you're getting here.

This did not (for me) function as a standalone device.I was enamored with the idea that I could have a standalone tablet as my phone, and cut a phone out of my daily devicesAn inability to get the device to function on its own on any network (at&t, verizon, tmoble, mint, etc) quenched that idea fastThe way customer support made it out to me, it would work "standalone" but it would route all calls and texts through "my real phone" first then through the tablet -- an absolutely braindead concept if that is actually the caseIt could have simply been my incapability at play here, but at least from my experience spending a full day trying to get it to work on literally any carrier in the USA, this device will not work on its own without resulting to gimmicks or a virtual game of telephoneAn absolute shame because it's a wonderful tablet