Last August, Samsung Philippines unveiled its latest Galaxy devices with the Z Flip5, Z Fold5, Watch6 series, and Tab S9 series.
Samsung’s flagship tablet consists of three models: Galaxy Tab S9, Galaxy Tab S9+, and Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra.
For our review, we got the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G the middle child of the brand’s new tablet lineup, but it’s also a great device that is just right for most people. It’s not too big like the Tab S9 Ultra, and it’s not too small like the Tab S9. The Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G is the right size for productivity, entertainment, and everything in between.
So, let us dive in and check out the impressive features of the Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G.
Design
The all-new Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G will be available in two likable nature-inspired colorways in Beige and our review unit in Graphite.
The Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G is slim having a thickness of 5.7mm and lightweight at 586 grams. The new form factor of this tablet makes it portable and easy to handle.
The tablet is made of the finest materials using an armor aluminum metal frame and the screen is covered by a Corning Gorilla Glass which makes it well-protected from shocks and accidental drops. It also offers a premium look and feel with the overall construction of the device.
The tablet has an IP68 rating which makes it dust-resistant and waterproof allowing it to be submerged up to a depth of 1.5 meters for only half an hour providing users with an extra layer of durability and peace of mind.
On the rear panel, you’ll find a circular camera bump consisting of two separate lens housings arranged vertically in the top right corner.
There’s also a single LED flash in line with a long groove area that’s magnetic to snap the S-pen for safekeeping and charging.
Holding the device in portrait, the power/sleep button, volume rockers, microphone, and SIM card tray are found along the right long edge side.
The pogo pins or dock connector for the optional keyboard attachment is centered on the left long edge side.
On the short sides, the bottom edge holds the USB-C port and two speakers while the top edge has another two speakers and a microphone. You get a total of four AKG speaker systems which are evenly aligned along the top and bottom, ensuring a balanced sound experience for the user.
On the front, you have slim bezels all around the display with a front-facing camera placed at the center located on the longer right side of the tablet. It has an aspect ratio of 16:10 an ideal size for watching movies and TV shows.
There’s no headphone jack on the tablet probably to focus more on the thinness of the device.
Display
The Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G has a superb display with vibrant colors, sharp details, and excellent brightness levels.
The screen offers a 12.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, a maximum 120Hz refresh rate of 120Hz, and a WQXGA+ resolution at 2800 x 1752 pixels.
You can set the refresh rate to standard at 60hz if you want to extend the battery life on the tablet.
The screen provides an extensive color gamut, featuring a default setting that encompasses 16 million potential colors.
It offers two color screen modes that are accurate – Vivid and Natural, plus a white balance slider if you need to set the temperature to a cooler or warmer display.
With the display supporting HDR10+, the device is able to produce realistic pictures and accurate colors of all popular streaming apps.
Samsung also integrates a Vision Booster feature on the Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G where the display will adjust brightness, colors, and contrast for those times when you are using it in a brightly lit environment.
To help prevent eye strain, especially when you use your phone at night or in low-light settings the tablet has an eye comfort shield feature limiting blue light and using warmer colors on the display.
I’m loving with the tablet’s display as every video content watched bursts with vibrant colors, delivering abundant details that fill the entire screen and create an immersive experience.
S-Pen
The Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G would not be complete without the S-Pen. I discovered that the S-Pen exhibited a smooth and responsive performance when used in conjunction with the Tab S9 Plus screen.
The magnet is much stronger and holds the S-Pen securely on the long groove area. At the same time, the S-Pen can be charged which is pretty convenient.
There’s a single side button to pull off air commands on the pen or double press to quickly launch the camera app.
If you love to doodle or make rough drawings, the S-Pen together with the large display of the tablet is an ideal device for art enthusiasts.
Hardware
You get a flagship chipset on the Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy octa-core processor with maximum clock speeds of 3.36GHz.
The top-tier processor is paired with 12GB RAM, Adreno 740 for its GPU, and 512GB storage expandable up to 1TB via a microSD.
The four built-in omnidirectional stereo speakers provide a rich and detailed sound whether you’re using the tablet in both horizontal and vertical positions. It is able to put out the right surround effect when we watch videos or listen to music with a pleasurable well-balanced stereo, good bass, mid-tones, and lots of detail.
There’s support for Dolby Atmos and also a special Dolby Atmos mode for games, which makes your gameplay on the device sound so good.
Sharing our benchmark scores of the Samsung Tab S9+ 5G.
- GeekBench 6 CPU: 2117 Single-core Score / 5640 Multi-core Score
- GeekBench 6 GPU: 9443 GPU OpenCL Score
- PCMark: 13525 Work 3.0 Performance Score
- 3DMark Wild Life: Maxed Out!
- CPDT: 1.04 GB/s Sequential Write (4MB) / 956.06 MB/s Sequential Read (4MB)
For biometrics, the Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G relies on its fast and accurate under-display fingerprint scanner near the bottom and face unlock. For extra added security, you get the regular screen lock options using either a pin, password, pattern or swipe.
Camera
The Tab S9+ 5G is equipped with a dual rear camera comprising a 13MP main camera and an 8MP ultra-wide camera. For selfies, the front camera offers a 12MP lens.
On the camera app, you have the following shooting modes ready for use – Portrait, Photo, and Video. Clicking the more options will provide you with several other shooting modes – Pro, Pro Video, Single Take, Night, Food, Panorama, Hyperlapse, and Portrait Video.
A floating zoom switch option on the viewfinder is found on the left side. You have the option to zoom in either 0.5x, 1x, 2x, or up to a maximum of 8x optical zoom.
On the opposite side of the viewfinder, you’ll find the camera settings, flash, timer, aspect ratio, motion photo, filter, shutter, rotate camera icon, and gallery icon.
Here are some photo samples shot on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G.
0.5x, Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
1x, Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
2x, Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
1x, Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
Selfie, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
Selfie Ultra-wide, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
Video recordings will be available in resolutions of 4K, 1080p, and 720p with a frame rate of 30fps. There’s a video stabilization feature which you can turn it on under the camera settings for less shaky video output.
Software
The Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G runs on the latest Android 13 with One UI 5.1.1. Samsung promises software support with four major Android updates and five years of security patches.
You have less bloatware on the device as we could only see Netflix and Spotify that are pre-installed aside from Samsung’s very own proprietary apps, Google services, and Microsoft tools.
Another pre-installed app on the tablet is Goodnotes, an AI note-taking app a useful tool for students, professionals, and anyone who prefers digital note-taking. The Clip Studio Paint app is a versatile digital art software application for creative users, particularly in the realms of illustration, manga, and comic creation.
There’s also a PENUP, it’s a social network app for people who like to draw and interact with fellow creative types.
It provides numerous additional productivity features that enhance the tablet’s overall user experience.
You have a Multi Window support that allows up to three apps to be run on the screen at the same time. You also have the option to float windows with a pop-up view. We also discovered that while not all apps support pop-up mode, the majority are compatible with the split-screen view.
It features an edge panel that allows you to swiftly launch various apps. It’s a gray tab on the right side of the screen and simply swipe left to access it.
Toggle on the Samsung DeX mode in the notification panel from the top to turn the tablet into a full desktop-like experience enabling users to connect a keyboard mouse, and monitor. In DeX mode, the tablet will be in landscape orientation, just like a Windows desktop mode that has a taskbar at the bottom, an app drawer, and a status bar.
It serves as an ideal device for accomplishing tasks on the go, especially when you’re away from home. It’s very convenient if there’s a spare monitor and mouse to connect to.
Battery
Powering the Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G is a massive 10,090mAh battery with support for up to 45W fast charging.
For our charging test, we utilized a Samsung 25W wall charger equipped with fast charging functionality. A 15-minute charge gave us an 11% on its battery after 45 minutes it went up to 52%.
It took us approximately 2 hours and 9 minutes to charge the tablet completely from 0% to 100%.
And if you’re a lighter user, involving activities like reading e-books, checking emails, updating social media apps, and browsing the web, the tablet is likely to last until the end of the day.
It all comes down to how you use your tablet, if you intend to engage in extensive gaming or binge-watch your favorite episodes throughout the day, anticipate the need for more frequent charging.
What We Like
- Design and Build Quality
- Superb AMOLED Display
- Vision Booster
- Fastest Flasghip Chipset
- Sound Quality
- S-Pen with Air Commands
- Useful Pre-Installed Apps (Goodnotes, Clip Studio Paint, etc.)
- Less Bloatware
- Samsung DeX
- 5G Connectivity
- Software Support
- Expandable Storage
- IP68 Rating
What We Want
- Headphone Jack
- Included Charger In The Box
- Pre-Applied Screen Protector
Conclusion
It’s wonderful to watch videos and browse social media apps on the massive display of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G. Plus, it is greatly paired with a quad-speaker system for a great audio experience.
Due to the substantial size of the tablet, handling and operating it with two hands may initially pose a challenge. However, with time, you will likely become accustomed to it, as we did after a couple of days.
Applications on the Tab S9+ 5G open swiftly, and browsing various websites is exceptionally responsive. Moreover, the gaming performance on this tablet is impressive, making it a recommended choice for gaming enthusiasts.
With the seamless integration and responsiveness of the S-Pen, it’s a good tool for both productivity users and creative enthusiasts.
With Samsung’s DeX, you can turn this tablet into a desktop-like mode and nicely paired together with a wireless keyboard, too.
The 13MP main camera of the tablet can capture excellent photos shot during well-lit environments with a lot of fine detail, wide dynamic range, contrast is likable, lesser noise, and nice reproduction of colors.
The 8MP ultrawide does a good job of capturing subjects for a wider field of view. The detail is good and the colors are less saturated.
The photos from the standard front-facing camera are also great during daylight or when you have bright ambient lighting. Selfies are well-exposed, have good details, and less noise. You also get an ultrawide front camera that takes superb selfies or groupie photos with a super wide field of view.
In general, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G emerges as a strong competitor in the tablet market. The tablet offers a nice design, vibrant display, powerful hardware specs, and other several features that improve the user experience.
For us, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G delivers a premium tablet experience, we would definitely recommend this device, and a noteworthy choice whether for personal entertainment or work.
Full Specifications – Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G
- Price: PHP78,990.00
- Color: Graphite and Gray
- Display Size:4-inch
- Resolution: 2800 x 1752 (WQXGA+)
- Technology Display: Dynamic AMOLED 2X
- Color Depth: 16M
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
- CPU Speed:36GHz, 2.8 GHz, 2 GHz
- GPU: Adreno 740, 719 MHz
- Rear Camera: 13 MP + 8 MP AF with Flash
- Front Camera: 12 MP
- Video Resolution: UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) @ 30fps
- RAM: 12GB
- Storage: 512GB
- External Storage Support: MicroSD (Up to 1TB)
- Network: 2G GSM, 3G UMTS, 4G FDD LTE, 4G TDD LTE, 5G FDD Sub6, 5G TDD Sub6
- USB Version: USB 3.2 Gen 1
- Location Technology: GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
- Wi-Fi: 11 a / b / g / n / ac / ax 2.4G+ 5GHz + 6GHz, HE160, MIMO, 1024-QAM
- Wi-Fi Direct: Yes
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth v5.3
- Bluetooth Profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, DI, HFP, HID, HOGP, HSP, MAP, OPP, PAN, PBAP, PBP, TMAP
- PC Sync: Smart Switch (PC version)
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, RGB Light Sensor
- Dimension:4 x 285.4 x 5.7mm
- Weight: 586 grams
- IP Rating: IP68
- Battery: 10,090 mAh
- Internet Usage Time(LTE): Up to 10 Hours
- Internet Usage Time(Wi-Fi): Up to 10 Hours
- Video Playback Time: Up to 16 Hours, Wireless
- Audio Playback Time: Up to 154 Hours, Wireless
- Talk Time (4G LTE): Up to 90 Hours
