Tablets aren’t dead. While a certain company named after a fruit is clearly ahead of the pack, Samsung is showing  they are also making strides in the slate department with the introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6.

Creativity and Productivity

The primary problem for tablets has always been — what purpose do they serve? Are they just simply oversized smartphones made for media consumption? The answer has been moving more and more towards creativity and productivity.

The Galaxy Tab S6 comes with an S Pen that now attaches magnetically to the device for easy storage and charging. They’re also adding a feature called Air Action that lets you take selfies, videos, or scroll through content even when the tablet is not within your arms’ reach. Could this be a feature that we’ll see on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10? We’ll find out soon.

The tablet also has a new version of Samsung DeX. It instantly transforms the tablet into a PC desktop experience. The Galaxy Tab S6 can be paired with a dedicated Book Cover Keyboard that instantly launches the DeX feature so you can seamlessly move from tablet to desktop.

Power and Performance

The Galaxy Tab S6 is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip — a staple on today’s mobile flagship devices. Coupled with a 10.5-inch Super AMOLED display and quad speakers tuned by AKG, this tablet is also a promising media device.

Mobile gamers will be pleased to know that it has a new Game Booster feature with AI capabilities for lag-free gaming. There’s also a Game Launcher that lets players chat live with other gamers thanks to Samsung’s exclusive partnership with Discord.

While we don’t recommend taking this out in public for photos, it does come with a new dual camera with one being an Ultra Wide lens. There’s also an on-screen fingerprint scanner — another staple feature on today’s flagships.

Pricing and Availability

The Galaxy Tab S6 will be available on September 6, in Mountain Gray, Cloud Blue and Rose Blush. The Wi-Fi edition will be available to pre-order at Samsung.com on August 23 and available in stores on September 6 starting at US$ 649.00.

If you pre-order or buy the tablet before September 22, the Book Cover Keyboard will be available at a 50 percent discount. There will also be an LTE edition of the Galaxy Tab S6 and it will be available later in 2019.

It’s no secret that technology is supposed to make life better. We look for our GadgetMatch so we can be more efficient and more effective at what we do. Some gadgets, more than others, also are able to have a more meaningful impact and transform lives. Take the iPad for example.

SingHealth, the largest public healthcare cluster in the country, has started a pilot program to make things easier for inpatients at Singapore General Hospital (SGH). SingHealth nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, Office for Service Transformation and IT specialists from Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS) developed the app MyCare, which enables inpatients to access their individual care information on iPads anytime by their bedside in the wards.

The application also comes with interactive features including a messaging function for patients to ask questions about their care plan or to put in specific requests for water, pillow and housekeeping services. Patients can also use MyCare to access educational videos and care tips.

“Digital technologies can improve the way we communicate information to patients and their caregivers and empower them to be partners in their own care. MyCare is designed to allow patients to refer to their care plan and medical information at their convenience, throughout their hospital stay. This will help to reinforce traditional face-to-face communication between our care teams and patients,” says Professor Ivy Ng, SingHealth Group CEO.

The program is currently being tested at two SGH wards comprising 51 beds. Upon admission, the nurse activates MyCare by scanning the patient’s identity tag and confirming patient’s personal details. To safeguard patient confidentiality, every patient is assigned a unique password that must be entered each time to access their information on MyCare. Patients can also choose to grant access rights to their caregivers.

If a patient wishes to keep medical information such as diagnosis and test results confidential, he can do so by setting an additional password to secure the medical information. Upon discharge, the patient’s record will be deleted from the iPad to ensure no historical data is available. This is enabled by iPad and iOS’ built-in privacy and security features that do not allow sharing of sensitive data without consent.

The pilot, which is part of SingHealth’s care transformation efforts, was announced in conjunction with the annual SingHealth Nurses’ Day celebrations, graced by Mr. Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Health.

SingHealth Group Chief Nurse Tracy Carol Ayre says the idea to develop MyCare came from their nurses as part of ongoing efforts to empower patients. The company plans to progressively roll out the program across SGH, Changi General Hospital, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and National Heart Centre Singapore by 2021.

Earlier this month during the company’s annual developer conference, Apple introduced a number of updates for its mobile, tablet, and laptop operating systems. While developers and risk takers already have access to these yet-to-be-finalized updates, the general public is yet to try them out.

Today, those who would like to experience the new iOS 13, iPadOS, and macOS Catalina can now download the public beta. Like always, nothing is final; but, these public betas are close to what Apple will formally launch in the coming months.

For users to be able to download these updates ahead of anyone else, they have to sign up for Apple’s Beta Software Program. After installing the first public betas of the said software versions, users will keep receiving follow-up beta builds until the final release, which should come in Q4 2019.

iOS 13 in dark mode | Image credit: Apple

With the release of the public betas, Apple aims to catch more bugs and make sure the software works great before it’s rolled out to a broad audience. Beware of the small errors the public betas might have, but they should be just minimal.

For iOS 13, Apple is making a pretty big leap. The updated version of its mobile operating system features a much-awaited dark mode, Sign In with Apple, swipeable keyboard, and cooler Memoji avatars. It also has an updated Maps app and photo tools in the gallery. Siri is promised to be better as well.

iPadOS | Image credit: Apple

The new iPadOS is probably the best update we saw for the iPads. It’s still based on iOS, but it finally lets Apple’s tablets to fully utilize the home screen with visible widgets and delivers desktop-like experience.

The MacBook’s macOS Catalina will bring new apps that’ll replace iTunes and it’ll let Mac users download and run iPad apps from the Mac App Store. Also, the iPad can now be used as a second screen.

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