Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Family Review: Easier Choices
- Reviews of tablets
Samsung's high-end tablets are more desirable than ever, and this year they're waterproof. Here's a guide to choosing the right model for you.
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If you're interested in getting a high-end Android tablet this year, Samsung has made your decision easier than ever.
With the 11-inch Tab S9, the 12.4-inch Tab S9 Plus, and the massive 14.6-inch Tab S9 Ultra, this year's Galaxy Tab S9 tablet lineup is pretty similar. You can make a decision based on your money. have. spend it and the screen is the right size. They share the same display technology, the same processors, the same color options, the same design, the same accessory options, and basically the same specs across the board.
Compared to last year's Tab S8 series, there are two obvious upgrades for the S9s: a new Qualcomm processor that promises to be slightly faster (although speed and performance were never an issue with last year's tablets) and IP68 water and dust resistance. Like most modern smartphones. This means you can use these pills by the pool or in the bath, or maybe you won't have to worry about life's little mishaps at the coffee shop, or if your child surprises you with something while you're filling the bottles. I'm not aware of any other non-resistant tablet, Android, iPad or otherwise, with this level of water resistance, so Samsung's models are a legitimate differentiator, and that's a good thing.
I think if you're reading this, you already know why you want to buy a Samsung tablet, but in short, if you're investing in a phone in the Samsung ecosystem, headphones are a good alternative to the Apple iPad line. or any other product. They use the same software as the phones, so you can easily transfer files between devices, reply to text messages on the tablet, or use the same apps on both. When you have a set of Galaxy Buds, you can seamlessly switch between your phone and tablet, depending on what you're using. It's very similar to how the iPad integrates with the iPhone, AirPods, and the rest of Apple's ecosystem, and I delved into it in my review of the Tab S8 and S8 Plus last year.
Samsung's high-end tablets are great multimedia consumer machines with stunning OLED displays and great speakers. Movies, TV shows and games look great. If all you want to do with a tablet is watch movies, you can't do much better than these, although you can get a great experience for less money than Apple, Lenovo or OnePlus. i want to do
The fact is that these tablets are expensive. This year, Samsung raised the price of each model by $100, so the cheapest Tab S9 starts at $799.99, the mid-range Tab S9 Plus starts at $999.99 and up, and the big boy, the Tab S9 Ultra, is getting more expensive. 1199.99 USD. . All still in the box (now waterproof) with the S Pen, but keyboards and other accessories can easily cost hundreds of dollars. Unfortunately, Samsung doesn't include chargers, although they do support 45W fast charging and will take a standard phone full charge.
I've been testing all three models for a few weeks now and have recommendations for who owns each model. I've also included some competitive options below for each size.
a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin [&>a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-white"> Galaxy Tab S9 for tablets
Of the three sizes available, the 11-inch Galaxy Tab S9 is the best for everyday tablet tasks. I'm talking about simple productive things like watching videos, reading books, taking notes, playing games, and emailing. sending emails. It is the only one of the three that is very convenient to hold in the hand for a long time, and due to its small size, it is inconvenient to use it in one direction.
I also like this size for taking handwritten notes with the S Pen, which is my favorite pen for this. Samsung Notes is a full note-taking app that comes with the tablet and can be synced with Microsoft OneNote. Additionally, the Android ecosystem is gradually getting more features that we're used to seeing on the iPad. Goodnotes, a long-time iPad favorite for note-taking, has been available for free on the Tab S9 series for a year now, and Nebo has recently been using it for great note-to-text and cross-platform syncing. .
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In previous years, you had to buy bigger Samsung tablets to get the best screens, but that's no longer the case; The Tab S9 now comes with the same 120Hz OLED display as its sibling, just smaller. Combined with the Tab S9's four Dolby Atmos-compatible speakers, it delivers a great movie-watching experience.
My main gripe with the Tab S9 is that Samsung kept the 16:10 aspect ratio, which makes the Tab S9 more square than something like the 11-inch iPad Pro or the OnePlus Pad. The Tab S9 is about the same width as those tablets, but you lose half an inch or so of screen height, which makes browsing the web much more difficult and makes things look seriously cramped.
You can multitask on the Tab S9 with Samsung's wide range of split-screen options, and you can even enable DX mode on the desktop if you want, but the small screen size makes it a little difficult unless you keep it close to the base. . Apps are not a tablet to replace a laptop or do heavy productivity work.
a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin [&>a]:shadow-underline-blurple-1"> Options:
- Apple iPad Pro 11 or iPad Air , the same size and possibly cheaper. It has a better selection of apps, but the screen isn't as nice, and it doesn't have a stylus.
- OnePlus Pad . more expensive, better aspect ratio, but not good and good screen.
- Google Pixel tablet . it's cheaper and comes with a handy speaker/charger, but doesn't have as good a screen and speaker, and isn't as fast as the Tab S9.
a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin [&>a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-white"> Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra. Anything to get the job done
There's only one reason to consider the massive Tab S9 Ultra. you plan to use it instead of a laptop for work? This requires pairing it with a keyboard case. Samsung offers trackpads ($350) and ($200) to add to the tablet's already expensive price. Between $1,400 and $1,500, you're looking at a well-equipped MacBook Air.
But if you make that promise, you'll be surprised how much you can do with this tablet. This is all thanks to Samsung's free DeX feature, which mimics the desktop environment of Windows or macOS, but runs Windows as if it were running Android.
In previous years, DeX came with a lot of annoying limitations, which made me very skeptical. But now Samsung has solved many issues like app compatibility, windows and input and I can use DeX to do most of my work without any problem.
Compared to Apple's Stage Manager feature on the iPad, DeX feels separate. I can open as many windows as I want and place them anywhere and as many as I want. I can have multiple browser windows, multiple Google Docs windows, and activities like music or video while I work. I have keyboard shortcuts (though not enough of them and not enough programs), as well as support for trackpad and mouse gestures. I can still use the tablet screen and connect it to the big screen and expand everything to the big screen.
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The Tab S9 Ultra's 14.6-inch screen is bigger than laptop screens and looks better to boot. The large size gives me the space I need to spread out my work and I don't have to constantly move between programs and windows. Samsung's built-in apps, most Google apps and the Microsoft Office suite take advantage of the larger screen size with optimized layouts and features. Other apps like Slack, Threads, and indeed most Android apps that are optimized for large screens so they don't look silly on tablets work fine in existing DeX windows, allowing them to use only phone-sized layouts :
There are still some glitches here, like sometimes not being able to select text in the navigation button in Google Docs, and the Ultra doesn't always remember my window position when I go back without using the tablet for a few minutes. But it really shines as a small portable mouse and lets me do a lot of things that frustrate me on other tablets.
The Tab S9 Ultra, on the other hand, stinks at other tablet tasks. It's too big and heavy to hold in your hand for long periods of time, and its dimensions make it difficult to fit on an airplane tray table or in small bags. This often happens when I'm in portrait mode and want to read a book or article. It takes up a lot of space on my desk when I use it to take handwritten notes during meetings.
Samsung doesn't offer cellular connectivity options, so that's only half of what makes it the best laptop ever. (This option is strangely and unfortunately limited to the Tab S9 Plus.) I used the Tab S9 Ultra as a hotspot for my phone on the train, and the connection was slower and more reliable than the iPad I was able to connect directly. to . 5G or LTE network. When using the Tab S9 Ultra in DeX mode at full tilt, battery life is also shorter than a laptop, averaging five to six hours before needing a charge.
Overall, the Tab S9 Ultra feels like it's going through an identity crisis; does it want to be a great media and entertainment tablet? Or does it want to become a productivity killing machine? I think I'd have to lean towards the latter, but Samsung still has some work to do to get this task right.
a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin [&>a]:shadow-underline-blurple-1"> Options:
- Apple iPad Pro 12.9. better selection of apps, lower price, brighter screen, faster processor and mobile options, but not as flexible as desktop mode.
- Lenovo Tab Extreme . same size and quality screen and speakers, same price as Tab S9 Ultra tablet, includes keyboard and stylus. But the desktop mode pales in comparison to DeX, and the CPU isn't as powerful.
a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin [&>a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-white"> Galaxy Tab S9 Plus: One pass
The mid-sized, mid-priced Galaxy Tab S9 Plus combines the worst aspects of the larger Tab S9 Ultra and the smaller Tab S9, but offers a better experience than the two. It's just average.
The 12.4-inch OLED screen looks great, but it's not as wide as the Ultra's 14.5-inch screen, and it's a bit awkward to hold in your hand or use in portrait mode. Since the standard Tab S9 comes with an OLED display this year, you don't need a spring to get the Plus model.
One thing the Tab S9 Plus has over the other models is a cellular option, which I think every tablet should offer (and every iPad is an option). But here too, Samsung is deceiving. it only sells carrier options for AT&T, Verizon and UScellular. If you're a T-Mobile customer, sorry, but you won't be able to get the unlocked version in the US.
Mobile is definitely a big area, and given that the Tab S9 works better as a tablet and the Tab S9 Ultra as a productivity machine, it's hard for me to see why most people would buy the Tab For the S9 Plus. .
a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin [&>a]:shadow-underline-blurple-1"> Options:
- Apple iPad Pro 12.9 . better selection of apps, brighter screen, faster processor and mobile options. Although a bit more expensive.
- OnePlus Pad. less than half the price, slightly smaller and with a lower screen resolution, slower processor and less powerful software.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about Android tablets this year is that you don't have to buy a Samsung. Thanks to the efforts of newcomers like Google and OnePlus, there are more Android tablets than ever, many of them more powerful and more expensive than Samsung's Tab S9 series.
But if you do decide to flip one of the Tab S9s, you'll be getting a very capable tablet with a great display, great speakers, and tons of features. Just go small or large and skip the middle row this year.
Photo: Dan Seifert/The Verge
