Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE review

Hey what's up guys will be here for gsm

arena Samsung has come out with a new

tablet the galaxy tab s7 fe or fan

edition

rather than being a sequel to last

year's tab s7 or s7 plus this one is

supposed to combine their fan-favorite

features into a new package so why get

this one instead let's find out in our

full review

the new galaxy tab s7 fe looks very

similar to Samsung's 2020 flagship

tablet the galaxies have s7 plus both

have a unibody made from brushed

aluminum and the same size screen at

12.4 inches

On the other hand, the fe feels just as premium as

the flagship 2. it's balanced solid and

stylish and the flat sides add a bit of

grip the backside is a bit of a

fingerprint magnet but it's not a huge

deal

the tab s7fe sets out to mix features

from the tab s7 and s7 plus into a new

package but somehow you end up with

quite a few downgrades compared to

either one let's start with the front

screen

like I mentioned earlier the tab s7fe

has a 12.4-inch display but this one is

a TFT LCD not an AMOLED like the s7 plus

it is a bit larger than the regular tab

sevens LCD but you don't get a high

refresh rate it's just 60 hertz here

this means that movements like swiping

and scrolling on the tab s7 fe is less

smooth than on last year's tabs still

this display is pretty good the

resolution is 2560 by 1600 or 243 PPI

plenty sharp for tablet black are

quite deep for an LCD and while you

don't get color settings they are

accurate out of the box and brightness

is good we measured 430 nits with the

manual slider which boosts up to 520

nits in auto mode when out in the bright sun

another downgrade from last year's

models are on the audio front you get two

speakers here instead of four they're

still tuned by akg though and have Dolby

atmos support they earned a good score

on our loudness charts and the quality

is rich enough but notably less so than

the quad-speaker models

continuing with things that are missing

on the fe let's talk about the

fingerprint reader, you don't get one

here even though the tab s7 has a side

mounted one and the s7 plus has one

under the display, you do still get face

unlock which is fine but less secure

next on the list is the chipset rather

than a flagship-grade Snapdragon 865

plus which you got even on the regular

galaxy tab s7 here you get a mid-range

snapdragon 750 g unfortunately when it

comes to performance the difference is

night and day here while the 750g is

enough to run a mid-range smartphone it

doesn't seem to pack quite enough punch

for smooth performance on a larger

a device like a tablet

sure it'll get the job done but you may

encounter a hiccup or two when

multitasking or using the deck's desktop

mode the gaming experience also isn't

great though heavy games will run okay

if you turn down the graphic settings we

will say that thermal management is

good here and you get 5g

connectivity if you opt for that in the

features package

another thing that's different on the

tab s7 fe is the bundled s pen it's

passive not active so the tab he doesn't

have a charging bed

and finally, the cameras also get a

downgrade compared to the original

models you miss out on an ultra-wide and

an led flash and the main cam is lower

res too basically all you get on the

back here is an 8-megapixel camera with

autofocus

still during the day the camera produces

pleasant photos with good result detail

low noise and stellar dynamic range we

like the foliage rendition and while the

colors are punchier than the reality they're

not over the top

at night photos are pretty good all

things considered the balance noise

the reduction doesn't smear the detail and

you get good color saturation and

exposure

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE review

there is night mode support and it

restores some blown highlights and makes

for a slightly better exposure the

the difference isn't huge though

selfies are taken with a 5 megapixel

front-facing cam and they're great they

are detailed with a natural rendition

and you get good contrast low noise and

accurate colors

unlike the tab s7 and s7 plus there's no

support for 4k video recording the 1080p

video quality is excellent though with

good sharpness and detail nice colors

and excellent contrast and dynamic range

alright I think we've covered what's

different on the tab s7 fe what's left

is pretty similar namely the software

experience and the battery life and

charging speed the interface is

samsung's one UI 3.1 over android 11 and

in the default tablet view, it looks like

a typical Samsung UI

just like a Samsung smartphone you get

edge panels to keep your important

shortcuts in

this large screen begs to be used for

multitasking the tab s7 fe can have up

to three apps open simultaneously two

within a split screen and a third within

a floating window

there is a second interface

available called dex mode it provides

more of a desktop-like experience with

apps opening into minimizable and

resizable windows

dex mode works even better if you attach

a keyboard like a book cover

specially made for the tab s7fe key

travel is very nice and is a pleasure to

type on but the book cover is sold

separately and doesn't have a trackpad

there's also a wireless dex mode which

is used to connect the tablet to a

monitor or a pc you can cast media or

use the tablet as a second screen or as

a touchpad for input

of course, the tab s7fe has a stylus

support and although the bundled s pen

is passive, not active you still get most

of the functions of last year's tab s7s

taking notes with the pen is quite

straightforward and smooth notes are one

of the apps that support low latency

and it feels like you're writing on real

paper

samsung's text recognition is quite

powerful converting your handwriting

into text even if your writing is on the

sloppy side

the pen up app is used for drawing and

coloring it works quite well and has

plenty of options

and you get the ar doodle function where

you can draw on your face and make funny

scenarios

the only functions you miss out

on are the wireless air actions but you

can get those features on the tab fe if

you buy an s pen pro separately

moving on to battery life the tab s7 fe

has a 10 090 milliamp-hour battery

capacity one of the few upgrades over

the regular tab s7 it's the same size as

the tab s7 plus and battery life is

quite similar too

there's also support for 45 watt

charging but just like last year's

models you only get a 15-watt adapter in

the box with it we were able to charge

from zero to just 18 in half an hour

so that's the Samsung galaxy tab s7 fe

you get a solid aluminum design a large

LCD screen and large battery loud and

good sounding speakers good performance

from the camera and plenty of software

features together withs pen support

it's a good tablet but when you take the

previous models into account it's hard

to justify getting it unless you're

specifically after 5g connectivity

the feis going for about the same price

as the regular tab s7 and while it does

have a bigger screen and battery a lot

of the other features have seen some

major downgrades the galaxy tab s7 fe

would have been a lot more attractive if

it was offered as a cheaper alternative

to last year's model but for now unless

the price goes down or you're a 5g fan

the fan edition is hard to recommend