Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Review: The Best Android Tablet Overall!

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 is one of the best android tablets in the industry. It is a great tablet, and it competes with the iPad Pro. Samsung has been trying very hard to make tablets consistently, and it seems they are moving in the right direction now.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite was a massive hit for them, and it was an excellent response for Samsung. I like that they provide a stylus in the box because it is super important these days, which completes most people’s package.

In this review, we will discuss whether you should buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 or not? Because there are certain things which we like and which we do not like about this tablet. Also, when you are spending a premium price, what tablets you should consider? We will also discuss how well it compares with the iPad 2021, iPad Pro and iPad Air.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Detailed Review

Best Features

• Snapdragon 865+
• 120Hz Refresh Rate
• Samsung DeX Mode
• AKG Stereo Speakers
• 45W Fast Charging

View at Samsung

Design & Form Factor: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 has skinny bezels on the front. I like all-screen displays, but the tiny black bezels around the screen on the Tab S7 has convinced me somehow, and it looks excellent. The round edges look aesthetically pleasing, similar to iPad Pro’ design.

The edges of the Tab S7 are flat, and it is meant to be used in landscape mode because the front camera and speakers are placed in such a way. When using the tablet in landscape mode, you will notice that the front camera is in the middle of the top bezel.

On the back of the Tab S7, there is a dedicated space for the S-Pen. There is a hollow part, and the S-Pen sticks with a magnetic mechanism. It is strong, so the S-Pen does not fall or detach from there when you carry it in a backpack.

When you hold the Tab S7 in landscape mode, the right edge house dual speakers, one at the top and one at the bottom, the USB-C for charging goes in between them. The left also houses dual speakers, so the Tab S7 gets quad speakers setup.

The top edge houses volume rockers and a lock button that acts as a fingerprint sensor for unlocking the tablet. Apart from that, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 also accommodates an SD card slot for expanding storage and connectors for the keyboard on the bottom edge.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 (253.8 mm) is taller than iPad Pro (247.6 mm)
and iPad Air (247.6 mm), whereas the iPad Pro (178.5mm) and iPad Air
(178.5mm) are broader than the Tab S7 (165.3 mm), which means the Tab S7 has more vertical room, so it is excellent for browsing the web and reading lengthy documents.

The iPad Pro (5.9 mm) is the thinnest among these three tablets, and the iPad Air (6.1 mm) and Tab S7 (6.3 mm) are slightly thicker, but the difference is not quite noticeable.

The Tab S7 is very lightweight, and it is easy to carry at 1.10 lbs, whereas
the Pad Pro (1.03 lbs) and Air (1.01 lbs) weigh a little less.

Display & Viewing Experience: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 has an 11-inch TFT panel on the front. It is an LCD with an 11-inch screen size. It seems the 11-inch form factor is standard these days because it offers a decent mixture of room and sharpness on the screen. The base model iPad Pro and iPad Air also have an 11-inch display on the front.

The display has a 120Hz refresh rate, as seen on the iPad Pro. It is super smooth, and the games, movies look excellent and more immersive due to its high refresh rate. It has low latency, so the S-Pen experience is fantastic. It takes inputs with zero lag giving a natural pen-paper feel for drawing and taking notes on the screen.

It has a 16:10 aspect ratio which is excellent for most purposes. It is tall, and using it in the landscape gives a nice wide view so your movies look cinematic and you get enough space for multi-tasking. The display has a 2560 x 1600 pixels resolution, which delivers a decent pixel density of 274 PPI, higher than iPad Pro (265 PPI) & iPad Air (264 PPI).

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 has better text clarity than both iPads, which is excellent for reading. It is HDR 10+ certified, so it is perfect for watching movies. The dynamic range boosts while streaming HDR content.

Samsung claims 500-nits peak brightness for the Galaxy Tab S7, which is excellent for lit-rooms, but the brightness fails to fight against reflections in direct sunlight and outdoor use. In direct sunlight, the display seems very dull, and it becomes hard to read the contents on the screen.

It has excellent viewing angles, though, and the colors look uniform from any angle, which is impressive. It has a lower contrast ratio, terrible black uniformity, and fails to deliver deep blacks, whereas the Tab S7+ has excellent dark-room performance because it has an OLED panel.

The display on Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 is still one of the best panels we have seen, and if you have not used AMOLED displays before, this will satisfy your thirst.

Performance & Storage: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 houses Snapdragon 865+ under the hood. It is an octa-core chipset with a dedicated GPU. It has a single main 3.09 GHz core, three 2.42GHz high-performance cores, and quad 1.8Ghz efficiency cores.

As you would expect from a flagship tablet, it has excellent performance, and it scores near to the top slates in GeekBench. However, the performance is slightly slower than the other 865+ tablets because many different things matter and UI could be one of them.

The GPU performance is excellent, though. It is better than the expensive S7+ because our current contender has a lower screen resolution. It demands less power, making the Tab S7 perform well while gaming.

The Tab S7 is one of the best tablets for gaming and it efficiently runs most games at the highest settings. It consistently delivers 60 FPS at the highest settings while playing Asphalt 9. PUBG runs at 40 FPS graphics set at the highest settings. Moreover, some supported games run at a whopping 120FPS. We played the Airline Commander, and it was consistently running at 120FPS without any stutters.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 scores slightly less than S7+ on Geekbench, which is great. The Tab S7 scores 910, Tab S7+ scores 932 on a single core, whereas the iPad Pro outperforms both with its 1706 single-core score.

The multiple-core scores are excellent, and the Tab S7 scores 3000 and the Tab S7+ scores 2840, whereas the iPad Pro scores a whopping 7128. Also, the latest iPad Air with its 4206 score is faster than both the Samsung flagships

Hence, the Tab S7 has decent performance, and it is better than the expensive Tab S7+. These scores show that the iPad Pro is 30-35% faster than the Tab S7.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 comes with 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage options, and it also offers a microSD card slot for expanding the storage up to 1 TB, which is excellent.

Camera & Video Recording: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7

The tablets are not meant for photography. Still, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 has a decent camera setup. It houses dual cameras that consist of a wide lens and an ultra-wide lens. The primary sensor is 13 MP, and it has an f/2.0 aperture. It performs great, but it needs extensive lighting to get a clear picture. Otherwise, the photos look noisy in the dark.

The ultrawide camera is excellent for taking wide photos. It is a 5MP lens with an f/2.0 aperture. The ultra-wide does not have much clarity, and the colors do not appear natural. The front camera is 5MP, and it is excellent for video-calling. However, the selfies look washed out, and the colors look faded, making it a not so great tablet for taking selfies.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 supports 4K video recording at 30fps. It supports HDR, and you get panorama as well. However, Samsung should have offered 4K video recording at 60 fps because the 30fps does not seem smooth.

Speakers & Audio: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 houses dual AKG speakers on both sides, and they are Dolby Atmos certified. It is very loud, and it sounds adequate for listening to music and watching movies without headphones. It does not have rich bass, but it produces sufficient sound for a tablet.

The Tab S7 is 88.4 dB loud, higher than the iPad Pro’s 78.5 dB. Our current contender does not have rich bass, but it is excellent for listening to music in most average-sized rooms.

Battery Life & Connectivity: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 packs a big 8000 mAh battery under the hood that easily lasts 13 hours on Wi-Fi while doing everyday tasks. It reaches 15 hours screen-on-time while reading and browsing the web, which is excellent for an 11-inch tablet.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 has a single USB Type-C port for charging and other requirements. It is great because now it will support plenty of USB accessories. However, it misses out on the 3.5mm headphone jack, and I have no problem with it because it reduces clutter.

One UI & Samsung DeX: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 comes with Android 10 out of the box, but it is upgradable to Android 11. Samsung has its skin over the Android, and it is called One UI. It is excellent. The user interface is super easy and much more mature than before.

It supports DeX, which Samsung introduced in 2019, and I like it because it converts any display into a computer. It supports video wirelessly or with a wire. The Dex has some great features. It has a multi-tasking mode to tile up three Windows side-by-side so you can work on them simultaneously. It gets a dock at the bottom, with all your most accessed apps and a couple of shortcuts.

The Notes app on the Tab S7 is excellent for note-taking. It delivers a great experience, and it also supports audio notes. It lets you take quick notes and enables you to edit PDFs, presentations, and word files right there.

Accessories: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 comes with S-Pen within the package, which is excellent. It is a ready to use tablet for note-taking and digital painting right out of the box. It is super-smooth, and the 120Hz refresh rate display makes it much better. It has excellent accuracy and latency that help deliver a pen-paper feel.

Samsung has made a keyboard cover for Tab S7, and we highly recommend it to business professionals or anyone who types a lot. It adds flexibility to the already portable Tab S7. It costs $200, which is excellent considering the Apple’s Magic keyboard for iPad Pro that costs $100 more. You can also consider one of these cheap bluetooth keyboards for Tab S7.

The keyboard cover comes with a trackpad that is great for browsing through the web and long documents. It gives protection to the screen and doubles up as a stand for the tablet so you can have that laptop-like feel.

It has a dedicated cover for S-Pen on the back that holds the stylus from falling. Moreover, the keyboard has function keys on the top to easily access all your favourite and most used features. The best thing is that it works well with the DeX.

Apart from that, we recommend getting the Multiport Adapter from Samsung because it works well with the Tab S7. It has dual USB ports, a single HDMI port, a USB Type-C port, and an Ethernet port.

If you deal with USB accessories or would like to connect an external display to use with DeX, this Multiport Adapter from Samsung is an excellent buy because it serves its purpose very well.