Is Samsung's ecosystem worth it in 2026? Here’s my advice after going all-in

[smokin]

Can Samsung's ecosystem actually make your life easier?

Sorry I missed out s25ultra as I was shooting and composing this thread with it 😅 

Ecosystems matter more than ever. Companies sell products and services that are meant to work best when used together. An ecosystem like that should be beneficial to us, not just the companies that make them, as having hardware and software that work together seamlessly can save a lot of time and frustration every day.

Samsung makes every sort of smart device you can think of, but what benefits do you actually get from pairing multiple Samsung products together, and is it even worth it?

Galaxy Watch

I’ve been using Samsung’s wearables since the Tizen days, and they’ve only gone from strength to strength since switching to Wear OS in 2021. A Galaxy Watch will work with any Android device, but there are some features that you only get if you have a Samsung phone.

There are three health features that you miss out on without a Samsung phone, too. Blood pressure monitoring, ECG readings, and Sleep Apnea detection. These are features that will be more important to some people than others, but speaking from personal experience, I can say that health metrics can matter more than you realise. The only reason I was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea, where my breathing would stop up to 20 times an hour, is because my Galaxy Watch detected the drop in my blood oxygen.

Galaxy tablets

I use a Galaxy Tab S10 Plus, and it only gets better when paired with other Samsung devices. When you get a phone call on your Samsung phone, it’ll pop up on your tablet so you can answer the call and have your conversation using the tablet’s mic and speakers. If you’re already on a call, you’ll see the duration of the call and the name of the contact on the tablet, and you can switch which device you use to talk whenever you want.

Whether you use Samsung’s keyboard or the vastly superior Gboard, your clipboard is automatically synced between nearby Samsung devices that are signed into the same account. I have two-factor authentication enabled on all my accounts, so being able to copy a one-time code on my phone and then paste it into the app on my tablet saves a lot of time.

One of my favorite features that’s only enabled when you have a Samsung phone and tablet is called “use phone as toolbar.” Catchy name aside, it’s something that both my wife and I use all the time. When you’re in Samsung Notes, and you have a Samsung phone logged into the same account, you get a button that sends all of the brush, tool, and color controls to the phone’s screen, leaving your tablet display uncluttered so you can draw or annotate more easily. I’d love to see this come to Samsung’s dedicated drawing app, PENUP, but it’s already useful enough in Notes.

Having my photos automatically sync without having to do it myself saves a lot of time.

If you like more control over your photos, Expert RAW has long been a favorite app on Samsung phones. What you might not realise is that the app also gets better when you have a Samsung tablet. In the Expert RAW settings menu, there’s a toggle called “Auto share to PC or tablet.” In that menu, you can connect the app to your Samsung computer or tablet so that any image taken in Expert RAW is automatically sent to the other device via Quick Share. I’ve used this a lot lately. Adobe Lightroom is the photo editor I use on Android, and I prefer using it on my Tab S10 Plus’s big screen alongside the S Pen, and having my photos automatically sync without having to do it myself saves a lot of time.

Galaxy Buds

The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are my favorite earbuds, no matter what phone they’re connected to, but they’re even better when they’re a part of an ecosystem. The first thing I notice immediately when using my Buds 3 Pro with a Samsung device is the sound quality. Samsung uses its own codec called Samsung Seamless Codec (SSC) to deliver higher fidelity audio, and it makes a big difference if you’re listening to music in a high enough quality. The earbuds don’t sound bad when you use them with other devices, but the SSC is noticeably better.

More importantly, Galaxy Buds are smarter when you use them with a Samsung phone or tablet, thanks to smart device switching. You can be listening to music streamed from your phone and, without manually reconnecting, start playing something on your tablet or PC, and your earbuds will pause what was playing on your phone and switch connections. It would be nice if Samsung enabled this feature on anything that had the Galaxy Wearable app downloaded, but for now, it’s exclusive to Samsung products.

Galaxy laptops

The biggest surprise I’ve had during my dive into Samsung’s ecosystem is how much of a difference it’d make having a Galaxy Book laptop. I picked up a Galaxy Book4 Edge recently, and it’s quickly become my favorite computer to work from. I’ve always liked Windows, but the software and features Samsung sprinkles on top make it even better.

Samsung Multi Control is its take on Apple’s Sidecar. With your Samsung phone or tablet connected, you can control it with your mouse and keyboard. As you can see in the photo above, you can move and orient the device so that the Galaxy Book knows where it is in relation to the laptop and any external monitor you have. I was especially impressed with how well this works with the Fold 7, as the UI in the Multi Control app changes to show which Fold 7 screen you’re using.

Multi Control isn’t to be confused with using a Samsung tablet as a wireless display for Windows itself, which you can do with any Windows PC. Instead of copying the Windows desktop onto your mobile device, Multi Control has you navigate the phone’s UI and apps from the laptop. It’s perfect for quickly replying to messages or, even better, dragging and dropping photos and files.

There are a lot of ways to share files between a Galaxy Book and a Samsung phone or tablet, but none of them are redundant. Multi Control, as a I mentioned earlier, does let you drag and drop files, but that’s only convenient if your mobile device is in a stand and positioned so that you can use it with the keyboard and mouse. Storage Share and Quick Share are what you’ll be using more often. Storage Share allows your mobile device’s storage to show up in Windows File Explorer. So, without the need to touch your device, you can move files easily as though it were plugged into the computer.

So, why do you need Quick Share? Well, I use it to send files to the laptop when I’m not at my desk. If I’m in another part of the house, taking a photo for an article, as an example, I can leave my computer running in my office and use Quick Share to send the photos and files I need without going back to the office.

You can use Galaxy Buds with any Windows PC — Samsung has made the Galaxy Buds app, and a few other Samsung apps, available through the Windows Store. It’s never been worth doing in my experience, though. Every Windows PC I’ve tried with my Galaxy Buds has had the same problems: severe latency, connection issues, and the tendency to steal my buds’ connection away from my phone, even when I’m not using the computer.

The Galaxy Book4 Edge I’ve been using hasn’t had any of those issues. Unlike non-Samsung computers, this has access to Samsung’s SSC, mentioned earlier, which improves quality and reduces latency. I’ve had no issue with lip syncing on YouTube, and even gaming with my Galaxy Buds 3 Pro has been great.

To control my earbuds, I haven’t been using the Galaxy Buds app. Instead, I’ve been using a “Nearby Devices” shortcut on my taskbar, which serves the same purpose as the button with the same name in One UI’s Quick Settings page. It’s a hub for all of your connected Samsung devices, and it’s how you initiate many of the functions I’ve spoken about today.

The included Samsung apps are another highlight. Samsung Pass, for example, is a solid password manager that can sync between all of your Samsung devices and makes logging into all of your accounts easier and more secure. I don’t use it because I have to switch to so many non-Samsung devices for work, but if that weren’t the case, I would definitely consider it.

The app I was most pleased to see was Samsung Notes. It can be downloaded to any Windows PC, but some features don’t work as well, and having it pre-installed is more convenient than having to deal with the Microsoft Store. Whenever I have to read a PDF or take notes at a product briefing or for an article, Samsung Notes is my go-to. Having it on your computer means that everything syncs through your Samsung account, so all of your content is right where you need it.

Is it all worth it?

I think so. All of the Samsung products I have work best together, and the features offered are ones that I use every day, for work and play.

How many Samsung devices do you use?

[ZK0007 · Accepted solution]

Very informative 🙏

[smokin]

😊 thanks

[TimonN · Accepted solution]

Great post as always.
Detailed with real life tips 👏

[smokin]

🙏thanks brother 🙏❤

[foxonlyy · Accepted solution]

You got a strong fuel from Samsung

[smokin]

🔥🙏

[mZoOnY]

Thanks for sharing 👍🏼

❤