Verdict
It may not look that different from its herald on the surface , but a host of upgrades to display technical school , processing might and even water opposition make the Galaxy Tab S9 one of the most capable Android tablets on the market , and unlike the more premium S9 Plus and S9 Ultra , it remains comparatively compact .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
While theAndroid tablet marketis a little strike - and - miss , Samsung fork up consistently high - quality Android tablets in the shape of its Tab S serial , and the Galaxy Tab S9 continues that trend .
The Tab S9 boasts key upgrades over its predecessor including a saltation from IPS LCD display tech to the much more luxuriousDynamic AMOLED 2X , and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processing top executive that makes it one of the most brawny Android tablets around .
Plus , the 11 - column inch presentation is the sweet smear for portability in Samsung ’s previous collection , with a more compact frame than the12.4 - inch Tab S9 Plusand the frankly massive14.6 - inch Tab S9 Ultra .
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The only enquiry is , then , is it worth getting the Galaxy Tab S9 over one of Apple ’s premium iPads ? Here are my thoughts .
Design
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 search a whole wad like theTab S8 , which is to say that it ’s the same blend of glass and aluminium that we ’ve seen from most pill over the past few years . There ’s nothing wrong with that of course – if it ai n’t broke , do n’t fix it – but it ’s one less reason for Tab S8 owners to upgrade .
To Samsung ’s quotation , this is an specially sleek - looking tablet with an aluminium chassis and rearward and angulate border that make it not calculate too unalike to one of Apple ’s recentpremium iPads . It ’s also pretty lightweight for a tab of this size at 498 g , and at 5.9 millimetre thick , it ’s comparatively fragile too .
This all translates to a tablet that ’s both easy to bind and easy to store in a haversack without taking up too much space .
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In portrait predilection , there ’s a USB - C porthole and matching speakers at the bottom , along with two more at the top for a stereo experience , with the power button and volume control along the correct - hand side .
However , the Tab S9 is n’t plan for portrait use , as testify by the selfie television camera house within the long sharpness of the lozenge . That means it ’s best used in a horizontal office , where it ’s centrally place and ideal for video calls .
One ingredient of the Tab S9 ’s design that is unexampled isIP68dust and water resistance , making it the only tablet on the market to offer such in high spirits levels of protection . The added ataraxis of mind is welcome , although you still wo n’t enamour me using the pill at the beach .
One huge welfare of the Tab S9 compare to Apple ’s iPad ingathering is that the S Pen style comes in the box , totally gratuitous of guardianship .
It proves to be a practical companion too , allowing for doodling and quick banker’s bill - taking on the 11 - column inch display , even when it ’s turn off . Its compatibility with apps like Goodnotes adds to its versatility , and the built - in pen doubles up as a camera shutter for radical selfies .
It ’s not just handy either , with an impressive 2.8ms reaction time that outshines even Apple ’s top - end Apple Pencil 2 by quite some way . It ’s still not the pen - and - paper experience you ’ll find from the likes of theReMarkable 2 , but it comes pretty nigh .
My only veridical complaint is the charge organisation ; the playpen is design to magnetically sequester to the rear of the tab for memory and charging . But this means it ’s well-off for the penitentiary to come dislodged when put in a backpack , as happened several times during the review period , and it means the tablet does n’t sit flat on the tabular array with the pen dock either .
Screen
The unconstipated Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 sports an 11 - inch showing that I feel is the sweet spot in the Tab S9 collection , with a more well portable size of it than the the like of the 12.4 - inch Tab S9 Plus and the behemoth that is the 14.6 - inch Tab S9 Ultra . It make it easier to contain and use , and facilitates well-to-do employment lying in bed too .
That does n’t make it any less utile for the bundled S Pen either ; I found the 11 - inch slating to be more than goodly enough for distinction - pickings , doodling and the like .
Dimensions away , you might struggle to tell the difference between the Tab S8 and new Tab S9 – until you turn the exhibit on , that is .
That ’s because the Tab S9 boasts Samsung ’s dynamical AMOLED 2X screen technical school , a vast raise from the IPS LCD display of its predecessor . That entail the Tab S9 is bright , more vivacious and boasts inkier Black person than the comparatively gray hues of LCD tech , and that ’s pretty much outright detectable .
That ’s all a roundabout way of saying that the Tab S9 ’s show is utterly arresting . It ’s shining enough for comfortable out-of-door use , even with a reflective screen , with vivacious colours that make David Attenborough ’s Life in Colour count spectacular , especially when take in in HDR withHDR10+support onboard .
Other returning feature admit a120Hzrefresh rate that makes everything from swiping and scroll to gambling tone that little turn liquid , with the power to drop down to 60Hz to save assault and battery life whenever potential . The power to only drop down to 60Hz rather than 90Hz , 72Hz , etc is a little disappointing , though avowedly it is n’t noticeable in twenty-four hour period - to - Clarence Day use .
All in all then , this is a spectacularly premium 11 - inch display with vibrant colours , plenty of detail and impressive HDR performance that ’ll serve both binge - take in Netflix and gaming well .
Cameras
As telling as the Tab S9 is , it does n’t do much to further the tv camera experience on tablets – and for upright reason . I have in mind , who actually wants to take photos on a pill ?
Samsung has become all - in on a individual 13MP primary camera on the rearward , gross with an LED photoflash for secure measure , along with a single 12MP Chrysophrys auratus on the front .
Interestingly , selfie camera technical school is one of the key area where the Tab S9 differs from the top - end S9 Ultra , with Samsung ’s top - end option offering dual principal and ultrawide cameras to better admit big mathematical group video merging or demonstration .
As such , while the selfie camera of the Tab S9 does an admirable job of render detailed selfies for video chats , it does n’t have the option to expand the horizon as much as the top - end pad . How much this affects your video Call , however , will depend on what you ’re doing . For most , it likely wo n’t be a dealbreaker .
turn to the rearward 13MP camera , expect a solid experience with adequate detail and vivacious colours with photos taken in brilliant daytime , though do n’t require that to understand to low - lighter environments , miss the wide-eyed aperture or pixel - binning technical school call for to entrance light in darkness . Still , it ’ll more than answer for the periodic snap of a text file for scanning or utilisation in a mixed - reality app .
television is equally restricted liken toAndroid smartphonealternatives , capped at 30fps no matter of whether you ’re show at 1080p or 4K.
Performance
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 , along with the rest of the Tab S9 collection , boasts the title of the most powerful Android tablet on the market .
Why ? It ’s down to the inclusion of the same customSnapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxychipset as the flagship Galaxy S23 range . copulate with a humongous 8- or 12 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of storage , it ’s essentially an overclocked 8 Gen 2 with a gamey central processing unit clock speed and an extra GPU kernel to eke out the very best performance possible from the chipset .
As a solution , not even unconstipated Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Android lozenge ( of which there are n’t many , admittedly ) can concord a cd to what the Galaxy Tab S9 can offer – something back up by both genuine - earthly concern enjoyment and synthetic benchmark tests , the latter of which you could see the result of here :
It ’s not quite as riotous as theM2 - enable iPad Proin benchmark , but then again , no Android tablet are .
As for real - man use , the Tab S9 navigate through whatever I could think to throw at it . While it unsurprisingly deal introductory tablet task like scrolling through Instagram and TikTok or browsing the web in Chrome with ease , it was also capable of high-pitched - end gaming .
I run for both Call of Duty Mobile and Diablo Immortal with top - end nontextual matter enabled and had a solid 60fps experience across both , with no discernible lag or stuttering even after 30 minutes of gameplay . That top - end nontextual matter performance should also translate to a speedy editing and interpretation process for mobile creatives , though without memory access to LumaFusion , it ’s not something I could personally quiz .
The fleck is pair with other flagship - layer element including Wi - Fi 6e and Bluetooth 5.3 , and if you opt for the slightly more expensive cellular model , you ’ll gain admittance to 5 gramme connectivity too . The latter is a veridical boon as Apple ’s iPads are yet to move to 5 G , allow for fast internet swiftness that enable on - the - go work and even cloud gaming .
Software
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 come withAndroid 13running Samsung ’s heavily customised OneUI 5.2 on top . The update toAndroid 14is indeed plan , but at the time of writing , it ’s yet to happen on the flagship tablet .
So , with that say , what ’s the OneUI 5.2 experience like on the Tab S9 ? It ’ll in all likelihood depend on how conversant you are with Samsung smartphones and tablets , because it ’s quite far from the Malcolm stock Android experience you ’ll recover on the Google Pixel Tablet .
That ’s unmistakable in a numeral of ways , from the stylised notification shade to the sheer number of Samsung - branded app equivalents pre - loaded on the tablet , from Samsung web browser to Samsung Health , going as far as to slay some Google equivalents during a information transport from another lozenge . That ’s a spot of a cheeky move there , Samsung .
It ’ll belike take some getting used to if you ’re not an zealous Samsung fan , though it is n’t as dreadful as other skins like Honor ’s MagicUI and Xiaomi ’s EMUI . Everything still make sense ; it ’s just laid out a little other than .
Thankfully , Samsung direct the lozenge experience more earnestly than other Android manufacturer , with a handful of lozenge - specific features on the Tab S9 . That let in an iPad - esque toolbar at the bottom of the tablet that displays shortcuts to late used apps , as well as the ability to launch the app rocket launcher from anywhere within the osmium – ideal for split up - screen multitasking .
The split - screen multitasking capabilities can go two apps side - by - side with a third present in a floating window , taking your message consumption to the next spirit level . But while the Snapdragon chipset can handle this with absolute informality , just how well an 11 - in panel handgrip exhibit that many apps on projection screen equate to the 12.4 - inch and 14.6 - in displays of the Tab S9 Plus and Tab S9 Ultra is debatable .
It has n’t fixed one of the core matter with Android tablets in general , however . App support is still polish off - and - miss among some democratic Android apps , particularly when it comes to landscape aspect proportion living . As a result , some apps will appear a little odd or outright refuse to be used in landscape mode .
Samsung should be praised for its long - terminal figure package hope . While its smartphone aggregation has of late been outdone by Google ’s upgraded commitment to 7 OS rising slope with thePixel 8 , there ’s no such promise in the land of tablets . That means that Samsung ’s promise of four OS upgrades and five years of security department patches are still among the best you ’ll find on the Android grocery , taking the tablet through to Android 17 .
Battery life
As you might expect from a gravid - screen pad that can put up a decently sized 8400mAh stamp battery within its thin chassis , the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 offer superb battery liveliness that wo n’t allow for many people wanting more .
pair with an vim - efficient exhibit that can adjust its refresh charge per unit depend on what you ’re doing and the power - friendly Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset , I found that I ’d twinge about a calendar week ’s Charles Frederick Worth of economic consumption out of the tablet before sputter for a charger .
For circumstance , that ’s around 1 - 2 hr of daily economic consumption on apps like Instagram , Facebook , TikTok , Netflix and the occasional email in Gmail , with pretty solid standby times between each use .
To help visualise things , the Tab S9 drained 7 % electric charge over an hour of Netflix HDR playback , while a 30 - minute gaming school term determine a standardised drain of 6 % .
When it does finally need a top - up , the Galaxy Tab S9 can saddle at a rather rapid 45W – the collar is that the load brick does n’t come in in the boxwood , so you ’ll have to supply your own 45W ( or higher ) charging brick to get the most out of the charge experience .
While I did n’t have an official Samsung 45W battery charger to hand , I did have a 100W GaN courser that should redeem the maximal charge on offer from the tablet . Using that third - party courser , I saw decent addition of 52 % in 30 minutes , with a full charge comply in a decent 1 hour and 27 moment .
It ’s not quite the speedy charging of the mid - rangeOnePlus Padand its 67W fast armorial bearing potentiality , but rather astonishingly , it ’s notthatfar off either .
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Should you buy it?
The Galaxy Tab S9 boasts impressive flagship - story technical school , from display to processing power , that delivers one of the best Android tablet experiences around .
Samsung has made wave by bringing previously iOS - undivided apps to Android , but there are still plenty of apps that do n’t fully support the tablet form broker – a stark comparison to Apple ’s flawless iPad app integration .
Final Thoughts
Of the entire Galaxy Tab S9 collection , I think the regular Tab S9 tender the honeyed spot ; it ’s bounty without being too expensive , and the 11 - inch display is big enough to well watch films , doodle with the S Pen and even get a bit of work done , while still being summary enough to easily stack away in a rucksack . You simply ca n’t say the same about the even largerS9 PlusandS9 Ultra .
Elsewhere , the Tab S9 does n’t represent the large upgrade compared to last year ’s Tab S8 , but the upgrades it does have – like raise Dynamic AMOLED 2X show technical school , IP68 dust and weewee resistor and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy world power – make it one of the most capable Android lozenge on the market justly now .
You certainly wo n’t witness anything on Android more powerful , though it does still lag behind the frankly unbelievable processing power of Apple ’s top - endiPad Pro M2 .
For most people , the Tab S9 will deliver everything you call for from a pill – though it does digest from the same way out as every Android tablet manufacturer ; app supporting . Most of the democratic apps are accounted for , but even now , some refuse to adulterate up in a horizontal rotation . That merely does n’t pass off with Apple ’s iPad collection .
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How we test
FAQs
No , despite support for 45W fast charging , you wo n’t get a charging brick in the box .
With a unique IP68 dust and water resistor rating , the Tab S9 is better equipped than most other pad on the market .
Yes , you ’ll get an S Pen in the box at no spare cost .
Test Data
Full Specs
