Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ review: Refining the Android tablet experience

A productivity tool, or just a better Android tablet?

With Google abandoning tablet development and cancelling its future tablet releases, the Android ecosystem for tablets looks like it’s left to the wilderness. Any Android device maker will have to rely on their wits to create suitable workarounds and tools for the operating system to reimagine a coherent, seamless tablet for work and play. 

Enter the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+, which is the amalgamation of Android 10 on a tablet chock-full with Samsung’s iterative software that not only makes Android tablets a possibility, but further increases its value by making it a companion for productivity and personal use.

In essence, Samsung opted to hard-sell the Galaxy Tab S series’s productivity features, and the 12.4-inch Galaxy Tab S7+ is no different. Beneath this 5G-ready tablet is one of the latest flagship-tier processors (Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+), a massive five-figure 10,090mAh battery capacity, plus a stunning 120Hz Super AMOLED display paired with four AKG-tuned speakers. The Super AMOLED display isn't just for looks, as it also has in-display fingerprint sensor.

But Samsung didn’t stop there because they wanted the Tab S7+ to be a device that defines how we work on the go. The included S Pen got a huge latency reduction to 9ms for better response times. Multi-Active Window now supports three apps, instead of just two. Samsung Dex now works wirelessly with a Samsung smart TV. And these changes aren’t yet taking into account the several productivity partnerships Samsung has with note-taking and graphic design apps which we'll touch on later. 

If the Tab S7+ feels too big for your needs, there's the lighter and smaller, 4G-ready Tab S7 model. It has an 11-inch LTPS TFT display with 120Hz refresh rate. They pretty much pack the same hardware and components, except for a smaller 8,000mAh battery and a fingerprint sensor built into its power button. Everything else, from the processor used, to the quad-speaker setup, down to its included S Pen, is on par with what the Tab S7+ offers. Samsung really wants you to have the full productivity and entertainment experience regardless of the tablet variant you choose.

It’s a lofty aspiration. We already know the Tab S6 couldn’t be a hardcore productivity tool because it’s an Android tablet, and we were totally fine with that. Still, as a tablet user who enjoys the display and form factor for entertainment and light work, I’m sure the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ still has a place. In our review, we’ll see how the Tab S7+ fares as an improvement over the last, how it holds up in benchmarks against Apple’s tablets, along with our general experience using the device.

Design & Handling, Display & Audio

Samsung didn’t say very much about the Tab S7+’s design materials or choices, but the Tab S7+ is undoubtedly premium even at first glance. It uses a metallic finish on the rear, wrapped in an aluminium rim, and a uniform bezel around the display. It’s an industrial look with a modern stylisation that’s further expressed with a certain polish on an otherwise matte back. Evidently, it feels a lot more professional and sleek than Samsung tablets of old, which had rounded edges and curves.

What we liked most was how Samsung took the effort to make Tab S7+’s antenna lines pleasant yet generous. It stretches across both short sides, with the bands neatly framing the tablet to serve their purpose.

At 5.7mm in thickness, it’s just as slim as the previous Tab S6. The Tab S7+has considerable heft at 575g, thanks to a the larger 12.4-inch display, which is a first for Samsung's tablet lineup. It’s still lighter than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2020) by about 68g. If you liked how the bigger iPad Pro felt in your hands, the Tab S7+ would feel just at home. 

Is the design and handling perfect simply because it feels like a premium tablet? Not exactly. I question the location for the S Pen’s magnetic rest. It sits a little awkwardly below the rear camera, which introduced compromises in storing the S Pen securely and other handling constraints. We'll touch more on these in our S Pen section.

The main draw of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is its new 12.4-inch, 16:10 aspect ratio Super AMOLED display rated at 2,800 x 1,752 pixels resolution (WQXGA+) with 120Hz refresh rate. It works out to a pixel density of ~267 PPI. The display feels sharp and smooth despite its sub-300 PPI pixel density, largely due to the 120Hz refresh rate that makes for fluid scrolling and viewing. Super AMOLED panels, especially Samsung’s, tend to deviate towards warmer colour temperatures, especially when the Tab S7+ comes with Low Blue Light certification from SGS. We had no issues - the Tab S7+’s colour temperature is not overly saturated, and it was equally proficient in playing dark, gritty shows off Netflix or 1,440p @ 60 FPS music videos off YouTube.

Sometimes, it’s not necessary to use the entire display real estate for content, which is why there’s Multi-Active Window on the Tab S7+. The ability to run multiple apps side-by-side simultaneously is not a new feature to tablets or phones. However, Multi-Active Window on the Tab S7+ supports up to three apps in a variety of orientations. While I personally have no use for more than two apps at once, making it work with three apps is a welcome addition nonetheless. It’s great for folks who are online shopping during a Zoom meeting with your email inbox open for any emergencies (you didn’t learn this here), among other niche-use scenarios.

Getting Multi-Active Window to work on the Tab S7+, however, is not an intuitive affair, mainly due to the lack of built-in tutorials. With some help from Samsung, we discovered three ways to make Multi-Active Window work.

To get a new app combination going, you will first need to open all three apps as they are. After that, you’ll need to hit App Overview (that’s the standard Android button where you see all inactive apps at once). Using your finger, you need to hold down on an app until it pops out, allowing you to drag it to the middle of App Overview for a “drop here for pop-up view” option to appear. You will then need to tap on a thin blue line at the top of the app window to bring up a command that parks the app in a quadrant. Repeat that three times, and you’ll have three apps running simultaneously.

If you don’t wish to go through your entire App Drawer to look for apps, park them in the Edge Panel for easier access. With one app open, you’ll need need to hold and drag the app out into the quadrant where you wish to place the app window in. 

Finally, there is an option for you to ditch dragging altogether. You can opt to use tap to summon split-screen by changing the configuration via the pencil-like icon. This makes every subsequent tap on Edge Panel apps become a Multi-Active Window instantly.

We highly recommend creating an App Pair, so there’s no need to go through that song and dance every time you want to bring up the same three apps. To do so, you’ll need to tap on the three-dot icon that sits along the borders of the windows and select the right-sided App Pair icon. That will prompt the tablet to save your current layout as an App Pair in the Edge Panel, allowing you to summon the combination in the future.

Finally, Multi-Active Window is only supported on select apps, which you can figure out by editing the Edge Panel (it shows ‘all apps’ and ‘multi-window apps’). Certain online shopping and productivity apps we’ve tried do not work, so it’s very much trial-and-error. 

Apps that do support Multi-Active Window aren’t always optimised for the feature, as evident from the Google Maps window where the search bar is not easily accessible when compared to regular app mode. Multi-Active Window is also limited to a two-by-one configuration. You can’t have three apps vertically displayed at the same time - one of them will definitely take up half the screen, while the other two will share a quarter each.

Fortunately, I am not fond of using multiple apps simultaneously since the whole point of the tablet is to enjoy individual pieces of content in all its 12-inch glory. That said, my experience with Multi-Active Window is one I’d choose to keep to a minimum. It’s also a demerit to an otherwise helpful feature given its display, compatibility, and interface limitations.

The Tab S7+’s screen unlocking options are mostly unchanged since the Tab S6. The under-display fingerprint sensor returns. It’s located towards the bottom half of the display, similar to where most in-display fingerprint sensors are usually found on smartphones. The Tab S7+ (or any tablet) is too wide for thumb-unlocking to be practical - I opted to use face recognition as the primary mode of unlocking, with the in-display fingerprint as a backup should face unlocking fail. Facial recognition unlocking is really fast, and it only flounders when I’m not viewing the tablet head-on. In such instances (e.g. checking emails and notifications from the desk), the fingerprint method comes in handy with its high accuracy and response time, no matter the orientation.

It’s worth noting that the regular Tab S7 uses a fingerprint sensor built into its power button. This makes the two models a different user experience altogether given the tablet’s dimensions and the button placement, so the configuration I chose for the Tab S7+ may not be as ideal on the regular Tab S7 variant.

On the audio front, playback experience on the Tab S7+ is amazing, and Samsung knows that too. They’ve brought back their quad-speaker configuration with AKG tuning and Dolby Atmos support.

It’s clear, loud, and immersive when we tried it with YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify Premium content, which is basically what most people would ask for in a tablet. The sweet spot in the speaker’s soundstage comes to life when you hold the tablet squarely central to your gaze at approximately 30cm away. 

UI & Software Aspects

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ uses an Android 10 operating system cloaked under Samsung’s proprietary overlay called One UI 2. If you’ve seen a Samsung Galaxy S20 phone, that’s basically the same UI in tablet form, which is relatively clutter-free and easy to navigate.

At this point, I was using 44GB of the 256GB available for all my core apps. It’s plenty, but the inclusion of a microSD card slot is still a nice touch. Fewer storage compromises mean higher productivity and reliability, and this is where iPads can’t match the Tab S7+. 

The other new software features on the Tab S7+ are important only if you are a heavily reliant on interoperability across your work and play devices. Samsung Notes now come with extended editing functions, such as importing and annotating directly on PDF documents, as well as an audio bookmarking feature to sync voice recordings and written notes. Samsung Dex now has wireless compatibility with Samsung smart TVs, and three new partnerships with productivity apps that will only go live after we publish this review. 

The three partnerships are Noteshelf, a premium note-taking app which will be completely free to Tab S7+ users, six months of the premium version of Clip Studio Paint for artists and designers, on top of additional graphic creation templates and shapes for users of poster/presentation tool Canva (three major content updates for a year).

The S Pen Experience

An important part of the Tab S7+’s user experience is the S Pen stylus, which comes with every purchase of the tablet. The S Pen got a nice upgrade with its reduced latency of 9ms (down from 96ms), which works out to nearly 10x shorter response time. Combined with the 120Hz display, it’s a huge step towards a more fluid experience in using the Tab S7+ with its stylus. The S Pen itself has a semi-flexible plastic nib, which feels similar to a soft-hair paintbrush during use. This is in contrast to the stiffer Apple Pencil stylus for iPads. As expected, making annotations using the S Pen is a breeze, and the shortcuts are readily available on display.

The only gripe we have with S Pen is their design choice in its magnetic placement, as mentioned in our Design section of the review.

Firstly, the S Pen is battery-powered, so you’ll want to have it attached and charging when possible. This means that you can only lay the tablet face down if you want it flat on your desk. You’d also usually leave the S Pen magnetically attached to the Tab S7+ during a commute, which can be rather nerve-wracking if you’re transporting the tablet by hand while on the move. One false move and off your S Pen goes rolling to somewhere else. 

They could have adopted the iPad’s style of having the stylus rest along the longer rim or even differ slightly from Apple by having S Pen rest on the shorter side of the device. It doesn’t quite fix the need for a more secure stylus placement, but it would allow users of the Tab S7+ to have a more natural under-arm grip when moving about with the gadget.

Having aired our concern for storing the stylus safely, this brings us to an important accessory for the Tab S7+ that’s sold separately - the Book Cover casing.

The updated Book Cover casing

Book Cover comes in two types - one without, and one with a keyboard and trackpad. Samsung made minor changes to the Tab S7+’s Book Cover keyboard by introducing a row of function keys (F1 to F12) and making the trackpad slightly wider than the preceding version. It’s closer to a TKL keyboard experience than before. It attaches to the Tab S7+ with built-in pogo pin connectors and magnetic strips on both ends, clipping the Book Cover securely to the tablet. 

If productivity is your main concern, the Book Cover with Keyboard is a priority purchase for the Tab S7+. The case helps to prop the device up for viewing, so it’s far more comfortable for both entertainment and work without having to hold the tablet constantly to keep at a natural tilt. The typing experience isn’t anything to shout about, but it’s still more convenient to write emails and message replies with the Book Cover. 

Also, the Book Cover comes with space to accommodate the S Pen, so you’d no longer have to worry about the S Pen dangling precariously off of the rear, or having to work your grip around the device when you can simply hide the stylus inside the case.

If we had to gripe, it would be how Samsung positions the tablet as a productivity tool more than an entertainment device, which makes the separately-sold Book Cover (priced at S$358) not so optional. Not to mention the Book Cover also nicely accommodates the S Pen securely. It would be nice to at least include a basic Book Cover with a keyboard if the tablet is meant to be the future of work, with an option to buy a premium Book Cover with better typing feedback, viewing angles, and materials instead. As it is, the Tab S7+ without a free Book Cover is a regular Android tablet with excellent entertainment experience. 

The pre-order phase sees a free Book Cover with Keyboard (S$358) for every successful purchase of this tablet. It would be better, from a product positioning and price-point perspective, to extend this bonus beyond the pre-order promotion period so that the tablet can fully realise its productivity potential.

Camera & Imaging matters

Typically, imaging performance on a smartphone is a core experience of the user experience, so much that it gets a dedicated section in our phone reviews. However, the imaging performance on tablets is usually reserved as a means to an end, such as getting a clear view of the participant in conference calls, or for quickly snapping a dozen photos of hardcopy notes for later reference. 

On the Tab S7+ is an 8MP front camera located on the longer side of the device’s bezel. Samsung’s reasoning for moving the front camera from the typical top bezel to the side is simple: better orientation for conference calls. Instead of having to look sideways to ‘make’ eye contact with your call participants, your gaze now naturally falls on the camera when the tablet is in landscape orientation. 

It’s small, yet welcomed quality-of-life change that I felt keenly since I’ve been delegating all Google Meet and Zoom calls to my personal tablet as I clack away on my primary workstation when I WFH. It, however, is pointless if you don’t have a Book Cover to prop your device upright during a video call, which reiterates how important it is to shell out on a Book Cover to maximise productivity.

On the rear is a dual-camera setup, with a 13MP main and 5MP ultra-wide angle shooter, accompanied by a LED flash module. We’ve taken a sample image for reference below which shows that its quite a decent shooter when you don't have your phone handy to rely upon.

Benchmark Performance

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+, one of the latest flagship-tier processors with 5G compatibility you can possibly get on any mobile device. However, the Tab S7+ is of tablet class, so its natural rival is the 12-inch Apple iPad Pro (2020). We’re also pitting the Tab S7+ against its predecessor (Tab S6) and against Samsung’s very own Galaxy S20 Ultra smartphone. This will not only benchmark the Tab S7+ against one of its strongest competitors, but also clue us in on how powerful the Snapdragon 865+ chipset is, against Apple’s A12Z processor, and Samsung’s very own Exynos 990 chip - all of which are 2020 flagship processors.

Jetstream 2

To benchmark the phone’s web browsing performance, we used the JetStream 2 benchmark test on the Google Chrome web browser app. The test measures a phone’s capabilities in handling a variety of advanced workloads and executing codes. JetStream 2 is an updated version of older benchmarks, such as the first JetStream and SunSpider.

While some devices come with custom-made web browsers, We always run this benchmark test on Chrome as it gives the best indication across devices, processors, and OS platforms - whether iOS or Android. Also, we would adjust the device’s display settings to ensure that the screen doesn't turn off mid-test since this would relegate the browser's thread(s) to background processing. Where necessary, we would run multiple test instances to get a more accurate reading of scores.

Note: Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 was tested on Sunspider, a now-outdated browser benchmark.

AnTuTu

Note: as of 9 March 2020, all AnTuTu benchmarks were removed from the Google Play Store. This move likely arose from Google’s attempts to relieve the Play Store of apps that violate their policies. AnTuTu is working with Google to restore their app listing. For this review, we used the APK file that was available on AnTuTu’s website.

AnTuTu is an all-in-one benchmark that tests CPU, GPU, memory, and storage. The CPU benchmark evaluates both integer and floating-point performance, and the GPU tests assess 2D and 3D performance, the memory test measures available memory bandwidth and latency, and the storage tests gauge the read and write speeds of a device's flash memory.

Note: Our Tab S6 review did not have an AnTuTu score and the benchmark’s website does not keep a record of the Tab S6’s performance.

Geekbench 5

Geekbench CPU is a cross-platform processor benchmark that tests both single-core and multi-core performance with workloads that simulate real-world usage. Geekbench 5 scores are calibrated against a baseline score of 1000, which is the score of an Intel Core i3-8100.

Note: the Tab S6 score reflected in the graph was taken from Geekbench 5’s records, and not from our previous tests.

3DMark Sling Shot Extreme

3DMark Sling Shot is an advanced 3D graphics benchmark that tests the full range of OpenGL ES 3.1 and ES 3.0 API features including multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback. The test also includes impressive volumetric lighting and post-processing effects. The test’s Unlimited mode ignores screen resolutions.

Benchmark Performance Analysis

While the benchmark scores are nowhere similar to iPads, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ has a marked improvement over its predecessor. We attribute this to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ chipset and we look forward to the performance of smaller devices with the same processor. As a whole, the Tab S7+ is excellent for browsing, gaming, and running multiple apps with minimal lag and load times.

Battery Life

Our standard battery test for mobile phones has the following parameters:

• Looping a 720p video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
• Constant data streaming through email

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 packs a whopping 10,090mAh battery capacity, larger than its regular Tab S7 (8,000mAh) and the preceding Tab S6 (7,040mAh). Before we get too excited at a five-figure capacity, remember that the Tab S7+ also comes with a large 12.4-inch display, which usually consumes power rather unforgivingly.

Relatively speaking, 9.5 hours of uptime via our testing is a good score for the Tab S7+. Heck, it's the longest lasting tablet among the few in our chart. The iPad Pro (both 2020 and 2018 models) clocked about half the uptime, while the previous Tab S6 also came nowhere near. You would, however, find that smartphones like Samsung’s very own Galaxy S20 Ultra and Oppo’s Find X2 Pro getting better uptimes instead. The display size of a mobile device plays a huge role in how long your battery lasts. If battery life is more important than the size of your portable screen, you might want to stick to smartphones. 

In the box with the Tab S7+ is a 15W travel adapter. If you wish to take advantage of the tablet’s 45W fast-charging capabilities, you’ll have to purchase its 45W charger separately. 15W may be faster than a regular sub-10W mobile device charger, but it’s a pity when you have to fork out more moolah after already paying for the best Samsung tablet currently available. 

Fortunately, we had a wired 65W fast-charging adapter lying around, so we tried that out instead. Upon plugging the device to the adapter (which was directly connected to a wall socket), the Tab S7+ would put up a prompt saying that it recognises it’s in fast-charging mode. It doesn’t specify how fast it was charging, though. With our off-brand fast-charger, the Tab S7+ went from 0% to 50% in 50 minutes, and it took a little more than two hours to go from 0% to 100%. Those are acceptable charging speeds for a device with over 10,000mAh capacity.

If we really wanted to pick on the Tab S7+, it would be the lack of wireless charging and the provision of a 15W adapter in the box instead of a 45W version. The battery’s uptime and charging are otherwise above average for the tablet class, and it is certainly sufficient for extended personal entertainment or light productivity use cases. 

Conclusion 

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is, without a doubt, a worthy flagship-tier Android tablet. The display is sexy, the audio quality is great, the note-taking functionalities are fluid, and everything works smoothly if you use it, vanilla style. There’s no question in owning the Tab S7+ if you already have a habit of using tablets for entertainment and light productivity, like how I do. The inclusion of the S Pen is not a new bonus, but it still impresses me that Samsung includes the stylus without fuss, and the reduced stylus latency plus heightened display refresh rates are wonderful for my needs. The Tab S7+ also earns brownie points for its ease-of-use for basic things like unlocking, flitting between apps, and general browsing experience, befitting of a flagship-tier mobile device.

As a productivity tool, the Tab S7+ (and Android tablets in general) do not meet the mark, with some reasons attributable to Samsung, and others because of the inherent operating system it runs on.

For starters, the optimal productivity setup requires several separate purchases, such as the Book Cover with Keyboard (which costs an additional S$358) and existing use of free and premium cross-platform productivity apps. If you’re working off the cloud, like using Gmail and Google Docs or the Microsoft Office suite of tools, the additional productivity accessories help immensely. If you’re looking at running full, Windows-based apps and programmes with no compromise to software functionality and compatibility, any Android tablet (not just the Tab S7+) isn’t quite the right purchase. 

This is partly why I do not care for hardcore productivity in my tablets, and I see them for what they are - a more enjoyable mobile experience that offers a display that smartphones cannot match. If you want a deeper understanding of why Android tablets are not ideal as portable workstations, you can always refer to our sentiments found in the Tab S6’s review here.

Its productivity features are also somewhat hobbled by Samsung’s implementation. For instance, Multi-Active Window is a nice tool to achieve several tasks at once, but the steps required to get there can be frustrating given the lack of tutorials built into the Tab S7+. I believe these hiccups can be resolved with a future firmware update. Magnetic attachment of the S Pen is a good idea, but their placement feels odd. Having a convenient placement for the stylus locked behind an additional purchase (Book Cover) doesn’t feel as accessible as opposed to how Surface Pro X manages this.

So, it is it still worthwhile?

Another point of contention is the street price of the Galaxy Tab S7+ models. Starting at S$1,598 for a Wi-Fi model, the first question we asked ourselves was its relative value when pegged to a full-Windows ultra-portable device - the Wi-Fi capable Microsoft Surface Pro 7, which starts at S$1,388. If productivity, portability, and price were of equal concern, the Galaxy Tab S7+ pales in terms of the operating system, software compatibility, and cost.

However, a tablet or detachable notebook shouldn't be judged on the main device alone, since the accessories form an essential part of the productivity experience. Another blow to the Galaxy Tab S7+ is the Book Cover with Keyboard (S$358), which is also more expensive than the Surface Pro Signature Type Cover (S$249). Both feature Function keys and a PC-like keyboard layout, making them equals in productivity, but not in price.

Where the Galaxy Tab S7+ has the advantage is its complimentary S Pen (usually worth S$138). For the Surface Pro 7 the Surface Pen is an additional outlay of S$148, because it's not included. So that gives us:

• Galaxy Tab S7+ (Wi-Fi) and (free) S Pen + Book Cover with Keyboard = S$1,956
• Microsoft Surface Pro 7 + Surface Pen + Type Cover = S$1,785

Which is ~S$170 more for the Tab S7+ combo, on Android 10 instead of Windows 10. So if an Android tablet was meant to be a sidekick to your PC or workstation laptop, it's more cost-effective to consider a singular device like the Surface Pro that can also double up as your workstation or a creative and easy to use productivity tool in tablet-only mode. Plus, a wider set of creative and productivity applications are at your disposal without limitations.

Meanwhile, the 12.9-inch Apple iPad Pro starts from S$1,499 (for the 128GB edition and just S$150 more for the 256GB version) and has its own iPadOS and apps that are purposefully designed for the iPad, as well as the ease of which it works within the Apple ecosystem of products. Add on the Smart Keyboard Folio for just S$299 and the optional Apple Pencil at S$189, that brings the total sum to S$1,987, which is about on par with Samsung's Galaxy Tab S7 and its accessories. While we now see why Samsung has pegged its price at this level, its proposition and usability within its ecosystem (or the lack thereof) is different from Apple's products and how they work together.

If the Android ecosystem is the main reason why you're looking at a Galaxy Tab S, consider instead the regular Galaxy Tab S7 (Wi-Fi version) that starts at S$998. Its Book Cover with Keyboard is also cheaper (at S$318), so you can enjoy some productivity and the use of an Android tablet at a lower overall cost (S$1,316). As such the Tab S7, not the S7+, manages to retain its important niche at being both a great sidekick for both fun and work, and yet costs much less than rival options from Apple and Windows-based detachable/convertible notebooks that offer a more deep-seated app ecosystem to call the shots and peg themselves at a higher price.

For reference, here are the prices for the Galaxy Tab S7 series, along with its accessories.

With that said, the incremental, practical upgrades on the Tab S7+ do refine the overall Android tablet experience. While it’s not a productivity whiz, tablets still have their purpose in the workplace if you’re creative enough with how it’s used. As an entertainment device and a second device to your smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ makes an excellent companion and an excellent Android tablet. 

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I shall go finish up bingeing The Umbrella Academy on Netflix using this tablet, since I was watching the series while testing the Tab S7+ and its amazing speaker configuration.

Read Next: How to pre-order the Galaxy Tab S7 and Tab S7+ in Singapore