Samsung’s “Fan Edition” devices trim the fat of full-fledged Galaxy devices and offer a good device at a great price. The Galaxy Tab S9 FE fits that mold perfectly, resulting in a tablet that can do everything well in a superior build, which is all you probably ever need.
The Android tablet market is dominated by Samsung, and it has been for quite some time. There are some competitive honorable mentions, like Lenovo’s Tab Extreme, but that’ll set you back quite a bit, and offers a work-centric experience that many users just don’t need.
For the casual user, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9 FE is the perfect option. It’s a “Fan Edition” device, which means it offers the quintessential Samsung experience with a couple of corners cut. But with the Tab S9 FE, all that comes down to is a device built specifically for the general user in mind, and that includes me.
For comparison, I have an iPad Pro and love it. It does everything I need it to and more. But the “more” part is completely wasted on me. I don’t need good graphics performance for gaming; I have cloud gaming. I don’t need video editing prowess because I don’t edit content on mobile devices, let alone tablets.
And yes, it’s iPadOS, so it’s proven to run well. But let me tell you, as someone who doesn’t prefer Samsung’s One UI over stock Android, I think One UI shines brightest on larger screen devices like the Tab S9 FE.
Build & Design
Samsung’s Galaxy tablets have evolved over the years to fit a gorgeous design language. The Tab S9 FE takes the same design as the Tab S9 – the Galaxy Tab it was based on – and changes almost nothing.
The entire device is encased in an aluminum chassis. The Gray colorway looks sharp and gives the Tab S9 FE a very sleek profile. The edges are sharp but not pointy, and the antenna lines that run across the rear edges give the S9 FE an attractive silhouette.
The bottom of the tablet – if you’re holding it in landscape orientation – has a three-pin connection point with two milled slots to provide your keyboard with a bit of friction beyond what magnets will do. The top has a volume rocker and power button with a fingerprint sensor, as well as a magnetic area for the included S Pen.
Both sides of the device hold speakers, while the right has a USB-C port, and the left adds a SIM tray for connectivity.
If you were to put the Tab S9 and Tab S9 FE next to each other, there’d be a slight size difference, with the latter being slightly thicker – by 0.6 mm. The Tab S9 also has a dual-camera setup, while the Tab S9 FE carries a singular lens. I’ve never found myself using tablet cameras for anything other than scanning documents, and even that is few and far between.
In total, there are two Tab S9 FE models, the base and Tab S9 FE+. The S9 FE+ is bigger and offers a more robust screen and battery. The size of the smallest one fits in the hands easily and offers the most manageable portability. In combination with the build quality of this “budget” device, the Tab S9 FE is a physically superior tablet, even at its lower price point.
Screen
One of the corners that Samsung has trimmed away is the screen. It’s relatively large, at 10.9 inches up to 90 Hz, but it’s a TFT LCD panel. That panel type started to fade away a few years ago when OLED became easier and cheaper to access. LCD panels are not bad, but they don’t get the same black-light performance.
Now, those are the facts. I think that after using an IPS or LCD screen for some time, you forget about its limitations in some ways. The panel on the Tab S9 FE is perfectly acceptable and gets the job done 100% of the time. Would I prefer an AMOLED display? Yes, of course. But if it had one, this would be the Galaxy Tab S9 review, and the price point would be higher.
I did find that the Tab S9 FE had a little trouble with adaptive brightness, where it would always be a little dimmer than I wanted it to be, but that’s easy to work around. Overall, the quality and performance of the display are good, and I have had no issues with it beyond general panel quality.
Software & Performance
Out of the box, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE runs One UI 5 based on Android 13. One UI 6 should make its way to the tablet within the next few months, but as it is, One UI 5 offers a fantastic large-screen experience.
Not much is different if you’re familiar with One UI on Samsung’s Galaxy phones. It has the same settings page, Quick Settings panel, and notification system. However, I feel like Samsung’s One UI fits a tablet better than it does its phone. It feels more natural and easier to navigate, and multitasking is easy to use after shrinking apps to half of a screen.
If you do have a Galaxy phone, you can take advantage of Samsung’s ecosystem with Quick Share between devices. If not, Nearby Share works great between Android devices.
Internally, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE comes in a 6 GB/8 GB RAM configuration with either 128 GB or 256 GB of storage. An Exynos 1380 processor is paired with that, which isn’t something you’ll find in high-end tablets, but it gets the job done.
That combination of specs doesn’t scream performance, but in practice, the Tab S9 FE operates perfectly fine for everyday use. Like any mid-range device, it stutters here and there. But overall, I’ve been really pleased with its performance. It’s something I wouldn’t mind using as my go-to tablet, foregoing 90% of features I don’t find myself using on other tablets.
One feature I enjoy having access to is the included S Pen, which operates exactly how you’d expect. I like using this version, but I would’ve wanted a slightly stronger magnet to connect it to the sides of the device. Where it sits, it’s easy to knock off with no effort.
Battery
The Tab S9 FE has an 8,000 mAh battery, while the Tab S9 FE+ carries a 10,090 mAh cell. With that, I could get around 16 hours or a little more, depending on my use. That, in combination with a pretty fast charging time, I had no issues where I was in danger of running out of juice throughout the day.
Interestingly enough, the Fan Edition Tab S9 carries only a slightly smaller battery, which is a big thing to note. Samsung’s FE devices generally have similar or even better batteries than the original phone or tablet they’re based on, which is something many users would prefer.
Final thoughts
The Galaxy Tab S9 FE starts at $449 for the 6 GB model, which is what I used. That’s the bottom tier of the “budget” FE lineup, and I still very much enjoyed using the tablet. I’d imagine if I were using the 8 GB Tab S9 FE, I’d have less to say about stuttering issues, and in that case, I’d have almost no negative about the device.
Even with an LCD display, Samsung has managed to cut minimal corners and offer up a device that works well for most users. You likely won’t be able to edit video or play graphically intense games, but with specific workarounds like cloud gaming and the tablet necessities, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE is probably enough for you – especially at $450.
Buy the Galaxy Tab S9 FE
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