Pulling at the end of last year, Samsung surprised us with the Galaxy S20 FE. It was a phone that collected some of the best sections of the S20 and S20 +, but that provided an optical telephoto and, in addition, a Qualcomm SoC instead of the Exynos on duty.
It was, as we told you in our analysis, a really attractive mobile and It seems that the strategy of the name ‘FE’ has caught on well among users, so much so that the South Korean company now launches the Galaxy Tab S7 FE.
It is a tablet that cuts some sections that stood out in the original Tab S7 -analysis- to offer a very round product at a more attractive price. And, after a few weeks working and, above all, consuming multimedia, We tell you if the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE is worth it.
Galaxy. Tab S7 FE | |
---|---|
Screen | 12.4 “LCD panel | 2,560 x 1,600 pixels | 16:10 ratio | 243 dpi density | 60 Hz |
Processor | Snapdragon 750G |
RAM | 6 GB |
Storage | 128 GB |
Battery | 10,090 mAh | 45 W load | 15W charger included |
Cameras | 8 Mpx rear + 5 Mpx front |
Connectivity | 5G | Wi-Fi 5 | Bluetooth 5.0 |
Size and weight | 284.8 x 185 x 6.3 mm | 608 grams |
Accessories | S-Pen |
Price | 649 euros |
Analysis sections of the Galaxy Tab S7 FE:
Before talking about the design, and starting with the analysis, we must say that although the name suggests a ‘cheap’ tablet, it is a device that we find right now for about 649 euros. And yes, it is cheaper than the original S7, but not as cheap as, surely, some users expected.
However, we are talking about a tablet with enormous dimensions due to its 12.4 “panel that we only see in tablets like the S7 itself or the iPad Pro.
That said, let’s talk about design, since we are before a very well finished tablet with an aluminum body that is unibody. This means that the rear and the frames are made of the same piece of aluminum that curves at the rear sides.
It is a unique body that gives an excellent feeling in the hand and that makes me miss, and a lot, the touch of those mobiles of not so many years ago that had aluminum backs.
Profile is extremely slim at just 6.3 millimeters And that, together with its weight of 608 grams, makes it a really light tablet despite its panel size.
We have symmetrical frames of reduced dimensions that play their role in allowing us to support the thumbs without covering the screen and, as I said, we will be able to spend hours with it in our hands without making it uncomfortable.
The speakers are, if we hold it horizontally with the camera facing up, at the top of the left and right sides. We only have two, but the sound is powerful, as we will show you later. The important thing is that you are not going to cover them with the palm of your hand.
On the different sides and on the camera module, which protrudes a bit, we have different microphones, the button panel is in the upper area and, also there, we have the slot for the SIM and the microSD, as well as a magnetized area for the stylus that is now included in the box.
In the lower area we have the three pins to connect a keyboard that we have not been able to test, but that expand the creative possibilities of the tablet.
The cutouts in the panel do not affect the experience too much
In the design we do not see obvious changes compared to its older sister, but the terrain of the screen is already something else.
On the panel there is an obvious cut in both screen type and refreshment, but we must say that the experience is good with what we have, which is a 12.4 “LCD with some very Samsung colors.
We lose the AMOLED of the Tab S7Yes, but I think the range offered by the S7 FE is really good for consuming content.
It may lack a bit of contrast, something that becomes evident when we raise the brightness above 50%, but speaking of brightness, you will have no problem seeing the content in any situation thanks to an average of 448 lux with a deviation of 19.9 lux.
And the palette in front of us is … what it is. Samsung is not the most generous, not even in its AMOLED panels, when it comes to color modes and customization of white balance and those image adjustments, but here we don’t have any kind of display setting, just some of accessibility like the high contrast.
And another cut has to do with the refresh rate of the panel. From 20 Hz we go to 60 and here, and taking into account that there are cheaper tablets, such as the MatePad 11 -analysis-, with 120 Hz, we believe that Samsung could have done something more.
120 Hz may not, but for these 650 euros I think 90 Hz would have been the right choice, especially considering that the SoC that integrates the Tab S7 FE could move games at that frequency and, in addition, everything would go a little smoother.
Before moving on to the heart, let’s go with the sound. As I said, we have two speakers, but what speakers.
The sound has a volume that could be louder, but in general it is quite round.
It sins of having poorly defined treble when we turn it up to 100% and the bass is somewhat saturated, but to consume content it is spectacular.
An SD 750G that performs well and offers DeX for productivity
The original S7 featured the Snapdragon 865+, a processor that is still a real beast even with the SD 888 on the market. However, Samsung has decided to go down a notch to mount a processor of the current upper-middle range.
Its about Snapdragon 750G, a chip that offers 5G connectivity and that offers 2 cores at 2.2 GHz and six at 1.8 GHz. There are two configurations of RAM and storage, 4 GB + 64 or 6 GB + 128, which is what we have, and the GPU is the Adreno 619.
Then, we compare the performance in benchmarks of this chip against the last generations of Samsung and the last two Huawei tablets:
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE | Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 + | Galaxy Tab S6 | Huawei MatePad 11 | Huawei MatePad Pro | |
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Processor | RAM | SD 750G | SD 865 Plus | SD 855 | SD 865 | Kirin 990 |
Geekbench 4 Single | 2,549 | 4,486 | 2,126 | – | 3,896 |
Geekbench 4 Multi | 7,839 | 12,907 | 8,279 | – | 11,985 |
Geekbench 5 Single | 539 | 937 | – | 920 | 760 |
Geekbench 5 Multi | 1,925 | 2,720 | – | 3,234 | 2,943 |
3D Mark (OpenGL | Vulkan) | 2,349 | 6,862 | 5,431 | – | 5,514 |
AnTuTu | 386,684 | 480,586 | 357,280 | 622,457 | 447,061 |
PC Mark | 8,480 | 12,237 | 7,842 | 8,628 | 8,581 |
It is logical that it is below, but as you can see, there are some tests where the 750G is above the Snapdragon 855, something that is not bad at all and shows where the 700 range is currently.
Of course, there are some cuts beyond power, since we do not have Wi-Fi 6 or NFC, which, on the other hand, is not as useful on a tablet as on a mobile.
Benchmarks are not everything and what matters is the union with the software. Here I can only say that the tablet behaves wonderfully in any situation and that, although it is not a waste of speed and power in some moments, it does the job. We have Android 11 with the latest patches and the OneUI 3.1 layer with Knox protection.
Multitasking is fast, we will be able to edit heavy photos in RAF without problem with apps like Photoshop Express, we will be able to play titles like Genshin Impact or Call of Duty with good image quality and day-to-day tasks are a piece of cake.
Galaxy Tab S7 Tab FE | |
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Sequential write | 180.31 MB / s |
Sequential reading | 706.71 MB / s |
Random write | 18.25 MB / s |
Random read | 15.73 MB / s |
Memory speed | 5.24 GB / s |
The tablet is ideal for consuming content, but in those heavier tasks it also behaves very, very well. And then we have Samsung DeX integrated, something that we can activate on the tablet itself or when connecting the Tab S7 FE to a monitor via HDMI.
That most typical desktop of a computer is activated in which we can quickly access several simultaneous applications in windows and where the tablet continues to perform wonderfully.
I miss that the memory is UFS 3.1 faster to open apps earlier in this mode, but the performance is good.
What’s more, Samsung includes the S-Pen in the box, which serves as a pointer in some situations in which we need precision, it will allow us to take notes or draw easily, it has some specific actions in OneUI and it remains anchored on the upper side thanks to its magnets.
As I say, at all times and in all kinds of tasks, the experience is very good and yes, in some specific things you can see that the hardware is not the pointer, but it will satisfy the vast majority of users.
Now if we talk about cameras and microphones, we must say that the micros are competent when it comes to picking up our voice, but the cameras are testimonial and they are there because they have to be.
The maximum video quality is 1,080p30 and it would have been nice if it was 1,080p60, at least, and in terms of photographs we have ‘normal’ results for a tablet.
And on the other hand, you have to comment on the unlocking method. We do not have a fingerprint reader, something that tablets, except those of Apple, curiously, have forgotten.
We rely on the typical pattern, the pin, or a photo facial recognition that works when it wants. It is quite erratic and the truth is that many times, most, we will end up putting the pin.
It is somewhat strange considering that Samsung does not have the fastest facial recognition on their phones, but at least it works well on those devices and here we find a totally different experience.
Huge 10,090 mAh battery with a ridiculous charger
Samsung hasn’t been shy about stuffing a huge battery into its Tab S7 FE. It is a 10,090 mAh ‘battery’ that manages to measure up on a day-to-day basis by offering about five days of use if we use it as a tablet.
This means several hours of video, social networks, an occasional game, music, editing a photo with Photoshop Express and consulting the network.
The figure is reduced if we try to use it to work with Samsung DeX, since we will have for two days, but of course, here we are making more intensive use of the device.
In the synthetic tests we have a result of 7 hours 22 minutes of screen with 100% brightness, something that is not bad at all if we consider that, as we saw in the section on the screen, the maximum brightness is considerable.
What I don’t like so much is the load. Although the tablet supports a power of 45 W, but the charger included in the box is 15 W. And yes, it takes forever to get 100%. Specifically about three hours.
The ‘fans’ who can afford it will not regret it
In the end, we are facing a tablet in which Samsung has been able to measure very well what it maintains, what it eliminates and where it continues with a good level, but with somewhat more modest specifications to be able to go down from more than 1,000 euros for the Tab S7 to less than 700 for this FE model.
The most obvious change is that of the panel technology, since an AMOLED screen always shines with its own light thanks to its interpretation of colors, but the panel we have in our hands has good colors (although with less contrast) and, above all , a brightness at the height of what we expect from a device from the South Koreans.
It is not that powerful, we do not have NFC and the audio is not so great, but in the end we have a good-sized tablet that defends itself in all kinds of apps and games and that it is a joy both to consume multimedia and to create.
Yes indeed, You must be very clear that you want such a large tablet, because they are still 12.4 “between the hands. If that size suits you, go ahead because it is a highly recommended purchase.