With prices starting at just 230 dollars, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 might become the most popular Android tablet of the year. Compared to its predecessor, it has a faster processor, a new display, four speakers, and up-to-date software. But it is lacking most premium features. In this review Galaxy Tab A7, you learn everything you need to know about the Galaxy Tab A7.
Contents
Design and hardware
Unlike recent Samsung tablets like the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite or the S7 and S7+, which cost hundreds more, the Tab A7 looks pretty bland. My review unit’s dark gray metal frame lacks the shine and sleek lines of its more expensive stablemates, which is understandable given the lower price. That said, you can opt for snazzier color options like silver and gold, which might make things more interesting. The Tab A7 has a more premium build than Amazon’s plastic tablets, too, and the Tab’s display bezels are half the size of the Fire HD’s. To be fair, though, the Fire HD 10 starts at just $150 (that’s with ads; it’s $165 without).
Headphone jack hold-outs will be glad to find one on the Tab A7’s impressively thin edge, along with a microSD card slot, power and volume buttons. There’s also a USB-C port at the bottom, but sadly it charges at USB 2.0 speeds. (More on that in a bit.) There’s no fingerprint sensor here; you’ll have to rely on the 5-megapixel front camera for face unlock as the only biometric login option. There’s also an 8-megapixel sensor on the back if you really want to shoot slightly sharper pictures with your tablet. Frankly, despite weighing just 1.05 pounds, the Tab A7 feels surprisingly premium and sturdy for the price.
Four Speakers
This tablet is pretty well suited for watching movies in general because it has four speakers – two on both shorter sides. I think that’s fantastic because one of my few complaints with its predecessor was that it had two speakers on the same side only. But this time, you can hear a stereo separation.
Compared to pricier tablets like the iPad Pro and Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, especially the bass is not as strong and it doesn’t sound as pleasing. But for an inexpensive tablet, the sound is good.
Stylus Support: No S Pen
The Galaxy Tab A7 does not support the S Pen. So, I can’t recommend it if you want to write down handwritten notes. Yes, you could get a generic stylus for capacitive screens which are fine for little children that just want to draw a bit for fun. But compared to an active pen, they’re terrible and if you’re an artist or want to write down notes, you’ll be disappointed.
This shouldn’t be a surprise because no tablet in this price range supports an active pen, I’m not blaming Samsung at all. But people asked me hundreds of times which pen I could recommend for the predecessor. And the answer is: There is none and I did try several different kinds of pens.
Software, performance, and battery life
If you’ve used a Samsung phone in the past few years, you’re pretty well prepared for the Tab A7. It’s running One UI over Android 10 (Samsung couldn’t tell me when or even whether to expect an update to Android 11, so I wouldn’t hold my breath there), and Samsung’s signature tweaks like Edge panel app shortcuts and app windowing make all the more sense on a larger screen. I don’t think 10.4 inches is quite large enough to do desktop-style productivity work (certainly not with a measly three gigs of RAM), but it’s nice to be able to float media controls or a chat window over your social media feed or whatever.
You’ve probably heard that Android’s tablet apps aren’t very good, and that’s more or less as true as ever. Compared to iPadOS, there just aren’t as many Android apps that are adapted for large displays. Some, like Gmail and YouTube, do make use of the extra space to show additional information, but plenty are content to clumsily blow up the standard mobile experience to fill the screen. That sucks, but it’s not an indictment of the Tab A7 in particular, and considering you’ll probably be spending most of your time with this device watching video or reading, it’s not a particularly big deal here.
Cameras
This is a budget tablet. Its cameras are bad.
There’s a five-megapixel shooter on the back and an eight-megapixel on the front, and photos from both are just really not good. They’re almost universally grainy and washed out. Personally, that doesn’t bother me at all, but if you’re liable to use your tablet for a lot of video calls or to take quick pictures of your kids or pets between social media browsing sessions, it might be worth it to you to spend more on something with better imaging.
