Imagine this scenario: It's 2024. A man convicted of 34 felonies (and rape!) gets elected president of the United States of America.
As soon as he is installed he starts turning the US into a banana republic at breakneck speed.
Apple bends the knee, donates 1 million dollars for his inauguration and presents a weird golden plaque to the new Fuhrer to appease him.
I know, it sounds wild and unbelievable, but here we are.
I was so disgusted I decided to break my Apple habit. I've been a user since Apple switched to Intel back in the aughties and have steadily increased mine and my families armada of Apple gadgets since. I've gone through several generations of Macbooks, Mac minis, Airpods, iPods, iPads, iPhones, Apple TVs and have branched out to Homepods and even an Apple Watch.
But enough is enough, I decided I wanted to go european first.
Since I had little knowledge of Android and getting a new iPad was top on my list I knew I had to try an Android alternative, unfortunately Tablets seem to be a blind spot in Europe. I couldn't find any alternatives that looked enticing. Luckily Samsung, hailing from a functioning democracy, is around. I decided to try something cheap to get a feel for if I could live with it.
So I got myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+, it was under $200 and has performance somewhere in the range of an iPad 7/8. This turned out fine, Android has actualy come a long, long way on Tablets and the build quality, while not as premium as Apple stuff, was more than acceptable. When I was still doing Apple I had my sights set on a really big iPad as my next one. Seeing as I found Android acceptable I soon found a promo for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, a ridiculously huge 14.6 inch tablet, there was an exchange program where you got $200 off when you turned in your old tablet which, as you can imagine, didn't bother me. So for just a sliver under $1000 I got an incredible, huge, Samsung tablet and in this price range you better believe the build quality is every bit as good as Apples. In fact, everything about this tablet I would argue is as good (and pricey) as Apples iPad Pro range.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra - a few months in.
When you hold the tablet in portrait mode it feels like a magazine, i'm still amazed at how thin it is (5.4 mm or 0.21 in), and yes, it's thinner than the new iPhone Air! Samsungs Android skin had a bad rep back in the day but One UI 7 and 8 are simply a great experience, you need to learn some new gestures and muscle memory from the iPad will work against you for a few weeks but it's not too bad.
Tip: if you don't want to create a Samsung account when you first set it up, don't connect it to any network and you can skip that part.
I use my tablet mostly for casual gaming, reading and shopping and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra does this admirably and I use roughly the same apps that I used back in my iPad days and they mostly look and feel same-ish.
Since the screen is absolutely huge it's important that it's good and I can confirm, it's a great AMOLED panel delivering 120Hz, its plenty bright and colorful.
You get a pen with it but I’ve never used it. (Sorry.)
You are still tied to Google and the Play store though which is a shame, this haunts all android devices though and is not unique to Samsung device per se.
Things to figure out before you rush out and buy one
It's absolutely huge, do you really need a tablet this big? I just use it at home, mostly for reading and have no need to lug it with me, if you're even thinking of carrying it with you at least try one out at a store before buying. You also get a moment to marvel at how thin the thing is, it’s stunning.
YMMV, if you come from an iPad I suggest trying a (much) cheaper option to see what you think about Android before taking the plunge no matter where you stand on the issue of size.
 Final thoughts
I plan to get at least 5 years out of this tablet (Samsung says they’ll support it for 7) and hope that european manufacturers will have picked up the slack by then so I can choose something homegrown. Maybe something with plain old Linux on it instead of Android so I can quit Google too?
Note that I'm not making my other family members go through this transformation, it's my choice and they can make their own should they wish.