Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 review

The Galaxy Tab A8 has been one of the crucial in style finances tablets because it arrived on the scene, so can Samsung comply with it up with one other hit within the Galaxy Tab A9? 

Effectively, the Android slate begins at simply £169 so it’s already a good bit cheaper than its predecessor was at launch. 

The 2023 A-series pill comes with a smaller display screen than final 12 months at 8.7in and quite a few downgrades to attain that extra reasonably priced value. Nevertheless, Samsung has launched the Galaxy A9+ with 11in display screen for these wanting one thing extra akin to the Galaxy Tab A8. 

So actually that is the Galaxy Tab A9- or A9 mini and the brand new dimension within the line-up whereas the Tab A9+ is the pure successor to the A8, however that doesn’t match with Samsung’s advertising and marketing, in fact. 

Design & Construct 

• Smaller and lighter 
• Three colors 
• Understated type 

At this new smaller dimension, the Tab A9 is extra akin to the Tab A7 Lite than the Tab A8. It’s a pint-sized pill that’s straightforward to carry one-handed, very similar to classics such because the Google Nexus 7. 

The A9 is simply 332g and is 8mm thick so it’s suitably svelte and doesn’t also have a tremendous chunky bezel like most finances slates. 

The feel and appear of the gadget will not be what you’d count on for this cash. It has a far greater high quality end than rivals with its largely metallic physique, clear strains and strong building.  

It’s extra like an iPad mini rival than a cut price pill on this respect and I notably just like the sensible Navy blue color on provide right here, with Silver and Graphite additionally obtainable. 

Chris Martin / Foundry

There’s little else to say in regards to the understated design aside from it’s designed to be primarily utilized in portrait orientation with the buttons on the lengthy aspect and ports (each USB and headphones) on the shorter aspect. 

You possibly can, in fact, use it in panorama mode when wanted and Samsung has put the speaker grilles on the highest and backside in order that while you do, the audio system are on the edges providing you with a stereo setup when watching content material.

Chris Martin / Foundry

At this value it’s no shock to discover a lack of waterproofing. Much more costly gadgets don’t usually have it and there’s no fingerprint scanner both. 

You possibly can setup face unlock when you like and I discovered it labored higher than anticipated, unlocking even once I wasn’t wanting straight on. It’s not as safe in comparison with a fingerprint scanner however that’s the compromise at this value. 

Display screen & Audio system 

• 8.7in LCD 
• Full HD+, 60Hz 
• Stereo audio system 

With the scale of the show at 8.7in, the Tab A9 is way smaller than the Tab A8. We’re again to the compact nature of the Tab A7 Lite right here so if you’d like one thing greater the Tab A9+ is 11in and what you may take into account full dimension. 

There are not any frills right here with an LCD panel and a typical 60Hz refresh fee, although the A9+ is 90Hz if that takes your fancy. 

Nonetheless, the show is respectable sufficient with its Full HD+ decision and cheap viewing angles, although you get a good quantity of that basic blue tint. Textual content, icons and even video look crisp. 

Chris Martin / Foundry

The primary concern I had was blurry scrolling, however that is the difficulty with a low-end 60Hz show. Even scrolling slowly on the Tech Advisor homepage sees headlines depart a ghost path behind them. 

One in every of our complaints in regards to the Tab A8 was its restricted brightness however I measured the A9 at a good 459 nits. Not an excellent determine for out of doors use in actually vivid mild nevertheless it ought to be useable in vivid however not direct daylight. It has greater than sufficient brightness for indoor use.

There’s no S Pen assist right here however that’s to be anticipated and you need to use an lively stylus if you want. 

The Tab A8 (and Tab A9+) have quad audio system however this smaller and cheaper design simply has stereo audio system. They’re on the edges when you’re holding it in panorama mode and in direction of the highest so your arms don’t get in the best way whereas holding it. 

Like many issues on the A9, the audio system are surprisingly good and have extra energy and poise than finances rivals. Completely serviceable for watching some catch-up on iPlayer or some informal tunes when nothing higher is out there. 

Chris Martin / Foundry

We’re simply speaking about private listening right here, the A9 gained’t fill a big room for a celebration. It’s additionally good to see a 3.5mm headphone jack so that you don’t should faff round with Bluetooth headphones – superb when you’re contemplating this as a child’s pill. /im

Specs & Efficiency 

• Mediatek Helio G99 
• As much as 8/128GB 
• Bluetooth 5.3 

Finances tablets can arrive with chipsets from quite a few years in the past however the A9’s MediaTek Helio G99 is from 2022 and had mid-range degree specs just like a Snapdragon 695 (discovered within the Tab A9+). 

We don’t have to delve into the specs too far nevertheless it’s an octa-core chip with some respectable speeds on provide at an environment friendly 6nm course of.  

On the entry-level value you solely get 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, however that is to be anticipated. Should you can afford an additional £40 then these double to eight/128GB and may very well be nicely price it. 

Chris Martin / Foundry

Nevertheless, there’s a microSD card slot for including storage cheaply and I used to be pleasantly stunned by the efficiency on provide from the lower-spec mannequin. 

The Tab A9 isn’t lightning quick. It’s important to have some persistence at near £150 and so booting up takes some time, animations could be a bit jerky generally (primarily swiping between the Google Uncover feed and residential display screen) and extra advanced duties can take just a few seconds. 

Like a variety of gadgets, although, it settles down after it’s been on some time and the Galaxy Tab A9 is able to operating two apps side-by-side completely nicely and may even deal with video games like Asphalt 9 so I maybe underestimated it primarily based on earlier slates this low-cost. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 benchmarks

Should you’re an off-the-cuff consumer, which is what the A9 is geared toward, then it should suffice so long as you don’t attempt to do an excessive amount of on the identical time. If you wish to run a variety of demanding apps then I’d suggest getting the mannequin with 8GB of reminiscence. 

The characteristic not obtainable on the Helio G99 in comparison with the Snapdragon 695 is 5G. Nevertheless, you will get a 4G LTE enabled Tab A9 when you do need knowledge on the go. Nevertheless, this instructions a £50 premium vs the Wi-Fi-only choice which appears a bit steep. 

Cameras 

• 8Mp rear digital camera 
• 2Mp entrance digital camera 

Sadly the Galaxy Tab A9 needed to fall flat on its face finally and it’s within the images division the place it does. Though that is the very best place for the pill to undergo, when you ask me. 

Pixel counts of 8Mp on the rear and 2Mp on the entrance don’t actually matter when each wrestle to seize something remotely respectable. 

Chris Martin / Foundry

The Galaxy Tab A9 rear digital camera struggles with nearly all the things together with focus, publicity, white steadiness and color accuracy. Granted the lighting situations weren’t nice in my testing as a result of wintery climate so in an outside summery setting, issues ought to be a bit of higher. 

I’d really fairly low-cost tablets like this didn’t have a rear digital camera and extra invested within the entrance digital camera which is prone to get extra utilization for video calls and the like. 

The entrance digital camera right here gives extraordinarily low-quality pictures and Samsung even bravely gives a portrait mode which is frankly terrible. 

It’s considerably inevitable with a pill this low-cost however there you may have it, solely use the cameras on the Tab A9 when you completely should.

Battery Life & Charging 

• 5100mAh 
• Adapter not included 
• 15W charging 

At 5100mAh, the battery contained in the Galaxy Tab A9 isn’t a lot greater than many smartphones however this can be a skinny and compact pill. And it’s what you do with it that counts. 

With six out of the eight processor cores being effectivity cores, the Tab A9 does fairly nicely for battery life. It achieved a strong 12 hours and 18 minutes in our typical PCMark battery take a look at at a brightness of 200 nits. 

In actual life, it should rely on what you intend to make use of the A9 for and at what brightness and many others. In my private utilization, I noticed an hour of streaming video eat simply over 10% of the juice. 

Chris Martin / Foundry

Charging will not be very quick at simply 15W and Samsung doesn’t provide an adapter within the field, only a primary USB-C to USB-C cable. 

Utilizing a 15W Google charger, I discovered the Galaxy Tab A9 charged a measly 7% in 15-minutes and 15% in 30-minutes. A full cost will take just a few hours which could be a ache. 

Software program & Apps 

• Android 13 
• One UI 5.1 
• 4 years of safety patches 

Like a variety of Android gadgets, the Tab A9 doesn’t include the most recent model of Google’s working system however Android 13 remains to be respectable and the slate ought to obtain an replace to 14 earlier than too lengthy.

As typical, Samsung provides its One UI excessive and its model 5.1 right here. After all, it’s just like Galaxy smartphones. 

Chris Martin / Foundry

The sting panel will be summoned by swiping in from the correct aspect of the display screen the place the gray line is and this provides you fast entry to your favorite apps and you’ll choose from different panels together with climate, instruments, duties, clipboard and extra. 

Samsung additionally gives a taskbar on the backside of the display screen so when you may have an app open the navigation buttons being positioned on the far-right leaves areas for app icons (favourites and recents) in addition to shortcut to all apps. 

By way of apps, it’s a well-known state of affairs the place Samsung pre-loads the gadget with a good whack of software program. This features a suite of Google apps after which Samsung’s personal so there are duplicates/decisions (relying on the way you take a look at it) of issues like app shops and picture libraries. 

It additionally comes with apps like Microsoft Outlook, Netflix and Spotify. Fortuitously, you possibly can uninstall something you don’t need which could be crucial when you’re shopping for the cheaper 64GB mannequin. 

By way of longevity, the Galaxy Tab A9 will get 4 years of safety updates. Samsung doesn’t specify what number of new variations of Android the gadget will get however I might estimate will probably be three years price, with solely flagship fashions just like the Galaxy Tab S9 Extremely getting the four-year assure. 

Chris Martin / Foundry

Value & Availability 

The Galaxy Tab A9 is out there now and you should purchase it from Samsung with costs beginning at simply £169, getting you a Wi-Fi solely mannequin with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. 

There are three extra SKUs on provide if you’d like extra reminiscence, storage and LTE connectivity. 

• Wi-Fi, 4/64GB – £169
• Wi-Fi, 8/128GB – £209 
• LTE, 4/64GB – £219 
• LTE, 8/128GB – £259 

You too can purchase it from the likes of Argos, AO, Very, John Lewis and Amazon. 

On the time of writing, the Tab A9 will not be obtainable within the US. 

Take a look at our chart of the very best finances tablets for extra choices such because the Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE Oppo Pad Air and Nokia T21.

Do you have to purchase the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9? 

There are some downsides to the Galaxy Tab A9 however total, it’s a particularly spectacular gadget contemplating its bargain-basement beginning value. 

The design and construct is much better than you’d count on for under barely above £150 and the A9 has typically higher specs and efficiency than the worth would recommend. 

A vivid display screen and fairly good stereo audio system imply the A9 will make for couch or journey companion or perhaps a child’s pill. 

There are some inevitable downsides however ones that most individuals can reside with at this value – gradual charging and garbage cameras – as Samsung has targeted its efforts on greater precedence areas. 

Some worth is misplaced when you’re choosing a 4G LTE mannequin because the £50 premium is a bit steep however when you’re in search of a compact and competent pill, the Wi-Fi solely fashions make the Galaxy Tab A9 probably the greatest finances tablets you should purchase.

Specs

• Android 13, One UI 5.1
• 8.7in, FHD+, TFT LCD, 60Hz
• MediaTek Helios G99
• 4/8GB RAM
• 64/128GB storage
• microSD card slot (as much as 1TB)
• 8Mp predominant digital camera
• 2Mp front-facing digital camera
• Stereo audio system
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• 4G LTE (optionally available)
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Headphone jack
• USB-C port
• 5100mAh battery
• 15W charging
• 211 x 124.7 x 8mm
• 332g
• Launch colors: Graphite, Silver, Navy