The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is the company’s answer to Apple’s iPad Pro and Huawei’s MatePad Pro. Despite not having the “Pro” moniker in its name, the Tab S7+ is more than capable in taking these two tablets head on. So let’s not waste any more time and get right into the specs.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ – Specifications
| Model | Galaxy Tab S7+ |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ |
| GPU | Adreno 650 |
| RAM | Up to 8GB |
| Storage | Up to 256GB (microSD expansion up to 1TB) |
| Display | 12.4-inch 2K Super AMOLED 2800 x 1752 120Hz Refresh Rate |
| Camera (Front) | 8MP Main |
| Camera (Rear) | 13MP Main 5MP Ultra-Wide |
| Connectivity | USB Type-C Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.0 Wireless DeX |
| Battery | 10,090mAh 45W Super Fast Charge |
| S-Pen | Bluetooth enabled, Lithium Titanate Battery: Up to 24 hours of battery standby time. Pressure levels: 4096, Pen tip diameter: 0.7 mm, IP68 |
| Biometrics | Fingerprint (On-display) |
| OS | Android 10 |
What’s In The Box?
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+
- S-Pen
- Keyboard Cover
- USB Type-C Cable
- 15W Charger
- SIM Pin Ejector
- Quick Start Guide
Design
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is a beautiful tablet that is both thin and lightweight, making it ultra portable despite its large size. Rather than having curved edges, Samsung decided to go with a flat edge instead. And because of this, it gives the tablet a more comfortable grip for my large hands. The all-aluminium body it has encompasses a premium feel, and it’s unmistakably one of the best looking tablets I’ve seen in a while.
On the left, you’ll find a microphone with two speaker grilles. On the right, there’s a USB Type-C port with two more speaker grilles to make up the quad-speaker system. On the top is where the SIM port, power button, volume button, and microphone is located, while the bottom has the magnetic port for connecting accessories like the keyboard cover.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is also packed with magnets all around, for you to attach the S-Pen and keyboard cover. On the rear, you’ll find the dual-camera system which consists of a 13MP main sensor, and a 5MP ultra-wide angle sensor.
Right beside the camera, is where the S-Pen is kept via magnet. Apart from there, you can also place the S-Pen on the top of the tablet too. In charge of video calls (or selfies?), is an 8MP sensor on the front.
Display
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ has a 12.4-inch Super AMOLED display that is capable of 2K resolution (2800 x 1752). Even with the high pixel count, Samsung still managed to pack in a 120Hz refresh rate. On top of getting bright, vivid, and crisp visuals, everything looks smoother and even feels faster.
Navigating around OneUI on the Tab S7+ is made a lot more fluid thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate. Without it, the entire experience would’ve been a whole different story, but more on that later.
Of course, the 12.4-inch display is wrapped by rather large 0.8mm bezels on all four sides. That effectively increases the tablet’s footprint, but Samsung makes up for it with the tablet’s weight and thinness. It didn’t feel too big, even in my hands, and I found it to be just the right size for daily home and work use.
Oh, on top of that, you can also use the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ as your PC’s secondary screen.
User Experience
As mentioned above, the entire user experience on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ was made more pleasurable thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate. Couple that with the S-Pen and OneUI features, the Tab S7+ can easily be a laptop replacement for your daily home and work use. When it comes to launching an app, it’s fast, responsive, and I have never once experienced a hanged or lagged screen during my time with the device.
The Tab S7+ also works really well if you own a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 or S20 series device. With the “call and text with other device” feature, you can pair your smartphone with the tablet. From there, all notifications will be synced, even your texts and phone calls. So when someone calls you on your phone, you can take the call right from your tablet. If you were using the Galaxy Buds Live, the TWS earbuds can even detect which device you’re on, and quickly switch over to it for you to have the call.
DeX
When I said the Tab S7+ can be a laptop replacement, I meant it, and it’s thanks to the new and improved DeX feature. I’ve ditched my work laptop for almost two weeks now and have transitioned over to the Tab S7+ full time. The main difference between this tablet and my work laptop is the touch screen and the flexibility I have with my other devices, my Samsung Galaxy Note 20 5G in particular.
When I need to work, I just switch on the ‘Dex’ mode to have a more familiar Windows style desktop. During my downtime, I’d just switch back to the normal tablet UI for better casual navigation.
The new ‘DeX’ mode is really something. Sure, we’ve seen Windows style desktops on tablets before, but none have made it as polished as the Tab S7+ has. Turning on DeX mode, you’re greeted with a splash screen, then transported to a whole different workspace with desktop icons and a taskbar on the bottom. The taskbar also has convenient buttons to provide you quick access to useful features you’d need on the daily basis – start button, navigation buttons, quick screenshot button, and the notification tray.
Apps open up in window form, can be minimized to the center of the taskbar, and also maximized at will. It’s the familiar Windows experience, but furbished with Samsung’s OneUI enhancements, and the power of Google’s work apps. Working from home and having my work stored on the cloud, I for one, have switched over from Microsoft Office to Google Office apps, so this a major plus for me.
S-Pen
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ also comes with an enlarged S-Pen, which frankly, is a lot more comfortable to hold than the smaller ones found on the Galaxy Note series. Not only does it have all the features from the Note series, both the S-Pen on the Note 20 and Tab S7+ can be used interchangeably on each device.
After using the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G, I could really feel the higher latency on both the Note 20 5G and Tab S7+. As opposed to the Note 20 Ultra’s 9ms latency, the Note 20 5G and Tab S7+ does feel slightly slower when it comes to S-Pen writing/drawing input. That being said, it is still faster than some other tablets with a stylus in the market today.
The S-Pen can be attached to the tablet in two positions – one on the top, and one right beside the camera (where it’s meant to be). It attaches to the tablet via a magnetic connection, and when placed beside the camera, it pairs with the device (initial pairing) and charges the S-Pen at the same time.
But because of this placing, the S-Pen acts as a “kickstand” to elevate your tablet’s viewing angle. But at the same time, it’s more prone to dirt and scuffs from whatever surface you’re putting it on. Which brings us to our next topic of protection, the keyboard cover.
Keyboard Cover
The Keyboard Cover for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is one of the best I’ve used on a tablet. It’s a great add-on to the “laptop experience” on the Tab S7+’s DeX mode, and it’s packed with features and keyboard shortcuts that let you do more in less time.
Instead of just a one-piece design where the back casing is combined with the keyboard, Samsung went and split the back casing and keyboard cover into two. That way, if you don’t want to use the keyboard, you’d still have the protection of the back casing.
Speaking of the back casing, I think it’s one of the best designed case for a tablet. There’s a solid kickstand on the bottom half of the case that lets you adjust the tablet’s viewing angle to almost flat. And on the top, there’s even a special storage for where the S-Pen would be, and it can be opened just like the kickstand. With this protective case, you’d be protecting the S-Pen and the tablet, and you can fully adjust the viewing angle to almost any angle you’d want.
As for the keyboard cover for the Tab S7+, it is designed in a way that it reduces the need for you to go back and forth to touch the tablet’s screen. How? By adding a trackpad. It does have a shorter design, but it’s smooth and can be touched or clicked on. It even has a multitude of touch gestures like two finger scroll, three finger tap to go back, and four finger slide down to go home, and more.
Also, one thing I noticed about the trackpad is when you’re scrolling, it has a bouncing effect. For example, if I’m scrolling down and my finger stops, the screen bounces back up a little. This does get a little annoying, because it requires even more scrolling to reach the bottom. So Samsung, if you’re reading this, please fix this in the next firmware update.
As for the keyboard itself, the key travel distance is just right for its size, and typing is comfortable with a nice tactile feedback. However, some keys are squeezed to fit into the rectangular layout. I’m okay with the arrow clusters being compacted, but the positioning of the ‘\’ and ‘Enter’ keys are just really wrong. The inverted slash should have been right below the backspace key and the Enter key should’ve been larger. Because of this, I’ve been typing ‘#’ a lot whenever I want to send a message.
Apart from that, the top function keys are filled with useful shortcuts such as navigation controls, brightness control, media functions, a “Settings” shortcut, and most importantly, the “DeX” shortcut.
Performance
Instead of using the Exynos 990 CPU on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+, Samsung went and equip the tablet with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 865+ processor. The performance on the Galaxy Tab S7+ is undoubtedly one of the best on a tablet, making it a truly flagship tablet. And the best part is, even after long hours of use, it doesn’t heat up the slightest bit.
Here are some of the benchmarks we’ve run on the Tab S7+, using Geekbench 5 and 3DMark:
GeekBench 5
3DMark
Gaming
You must be thinking, gaming on a 12.4-inch tablet? Why not? Think about it. All your games would have a much bigger canvas, allowing you to see more content. And because it’s a 2K screen, visuals would look so much better and clearer. Gaming on the Tab S7+ is an absolute pleasure and I found myself gaming more than I am working. Performance is fast, and the visuals are really colourful.
In Clash of Clans, your entire base can be seen in just one glance, and you’d have more control area over where you want to plant your troops. Paired with the S-Pen, you’d have pinpoint accuracy on where to drop them.
In Arena of Valor, the visuals are expanded and with the 120Hz refresh rate, you’d get to conquer your lane with smooth, detailed visuals. If you’re a casual gamer who plays games like Rummy Pop, it’s as if you’re at the gambling table yourself being dealt cards by the banker.
Camera
The camera system on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is decent. You’re not going to take much photos on a tablet, but if you ever need to quickly scan a document, the 13MP main sensor can capture all the details you need. The 5MP ultra-wide sensor is also useful if you’re doing a recce and need a wide shot of the location you’re at.
For the 8MP front camera, it’s a decent performer for those video calls and online conferences in this new norm. It does tend to get overexposed, but participants in the call can still definitely see you clearly.
Samples
Audio
Packed with a quad-speaker system, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ holds a really strong punch when it comes to audio. It may not have a surround sound effect, but the four speakers onboard can get really loud. The highs are bright, but the mids is where the tablet’s speakers excel. Vocals come out clear and detailed, with crisp notes. As for the lows, the bass is adequate as it has this nice clean tone to it.
Watching movies on the tablet is an immersive experience, thanks to the combination of the large Super AMOLED display that supports HDR10+ and the quad-speaker system.
Battery
The 10,090mAh battery on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is no joke. It took me a while to kill this thing’s battery, and that’s saying a lot. From when I started using it about two weeks ago, I’ve only had to charge the tablet three times. Using it as a work device on the daily, my tasks include:
- Zoom Calls
- Writing Articles
- Social Media Scheduling
- Content Creation (Canva)
- Checking/Replying Emails
During my downtime:
- Play Games
- Watch Netflix
- Online Shopping
- Social Media Surfing
- Edit Photos (Snapseed)
The Tab S7+ actually supports 45W fast charging, but the box only comes with a 15W charging adapter. With the 15W charger, it took about 3 hours to charge to full. So, to charge it faster, the next time I charged it I used the fast(er) charger that came with the Note 20 5G. From zero to full, it took about 1 hour 45 minutes.
If you’re wondering, I edit photos taken with the Galaxy Note 20 on the tablet because of the larger screen.
Conclusion
Samsung is really focusing on its very own ecosystem with its latest products. From the S20 series, to the Note 20 series, the Buds Live, and also the Tab S7+. Of course, this includes the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold2.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is an impressive flagship Android tablet that can be used for almost anything. If you’re an entertainment junkie, a gamer, a corporate worker, or all the above, the capable Tab S7+ does it all and will cater to your every need.
Priced at RM4,599, honestly, it might seem expensive. But when you factor in all the performance, the advanced S-Pen, inter-device flexibility, and of course the freebies you’re getting, it’s an all-in price that’s getting you a whole lot more bang for your buck.
- 1 unit of Keyboard Cover (worth up to RM999)
- 1 unit of Microsoft Office 365 Single user license (1 year) (worth RM269)
- 1 unit of Samsung 128GB MicroSD Card (worth RM139)
- Complimentary 6-month Clip Studio Paint subscription (worth RM221)
- Complimentary 4-month YouTube Premium Subscription (worth RM72)
- Single claim 1 day pass to Colony Sdn Bhd (worth RM60)
