With Google’s Android 12L racing to the finish line, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 reminds us the real issue with Android tablets isn’t the interface.
Android tablets have usually fallen behind iPads and Windows tablets when it comes to offering good tablet experiences. With Android 12L, Google is taking that particular bull by the horns. The update will roll out to Pixel phones starting next month, but Samsung’s recent announcement of the Galaxy Tab S8 casts a shadow over what should be a revival for Google’s tablet ambitions because it shows that the problem with Android tablets isn’t really with the interface. To quickly recap, Google last year announced Android 12L, an initiative the company is using to make Android a better experience on tablets and foldables. The company will continue this work through Android 13 and has hopes for app developers to step in line and create apps that would work better with Android going forward. The big issue here is that Android 12L is redundant for the most part — and the Tab S8 is a reminder of that. Android 12L, as far as focusing on bigger screen devices goes, amounts to pretty much a user interface revamp. There’s a new multi-pane interface for the lock screen and the notification center, and there’s support for a dock for productivity scenarios. But none of this actually fixes problems that exist for users. If you’ve done any shopping for Android tablets recently, you’ll notice that companies like Samsung that actually sell Android tablets have pretty much always had their device software competently tablet-optimized.
