Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e

Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e Overview Features Qualcomm SDM670 Snapdragon 670 (10 nm) chipset Octa-core CPU (2x2 GHz performance cores, 6x1.7 GHz efficiency cores) 10.5" AMOLED display (2560x1600 resolution, infinite:1 contrast ratio) Adreno 615 video chipset 64GB internal eMMC storage with 4GB of RAM or 128GB internal eMMC storage with 6GB of RAM Other 13MP main camera, 8MP front camera 4k at 30fps recording mode for main camera Single USB-C 3.1 port, Bluetooth 5.0 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi (SM-T720 and 725 models) LTE 4G support (SM-T725 model only) 4 speakers, AKG/Harman tuning Li-Po 7040 mAh rechargeable battery, 18W fast charging capable Android 9 to Android 11 supported

Best purpose

Due to the great OLED screen but quite low performance of other components, at least compared to the potential of such a device in this format, the tablet is best suited for reading, browsing the internet and using video sharing such as YouTube or social sharing websites. GoogleEarth navigation is not as smooth as expected. The low CPU performance does not bode well for demanding 3D games, but less graphically intensive applications are fine. Augmented reality applications are probably fine, as the display's contrast is advantageous and response times are not expected to be very high on such devices.

Durability and Repair-ability

The build quality seems good, with reasonably sturdy materials. No high hopes for impact survivability as the front glass has no special reinforced glass design other than a typical mid-range smartphone. As is typical with all tablets, there is no way of easily replacing the internal battery. A protection cover is essential and a smart one, that also holds its closed position, along with automatically triggering the screen on and off is recommended.

Greatest features & flaws

Features	Flaws
Great OLED screen with unbeatable contrast	Blue colour rendering less than perfect
Slim design	Slow chipset and CPU as with most tablets
Reasonably good camera image quality	Insufficient battery capacity/power efficiency for whole day operation
Good sound reproduction capability	Mediocre to poor wi-fi performance

Review

A midrange tablet released in 2019. The highlight of this model is the always enticing OLED screen, with perfect display uniformity, contrast and visual comfort.The screen has also a high resolution and pixel density. Unfortunately, despite the release date of this model, the screen does not feature any HDR10 capability and colour reproduction is slightly disappointing for blues, as they look closer to purple. This is typical of older OLED display technology. Vertical screen scrolling can be slightly annoying due to colour motion blur effect, as updates are slower than expected. However, the contrast and uniformity of the display make the visual comfort close to perfect in most circumstances.

The chipset is, clearly, the major design issue. As with most tablets, and especially so for Samsung ones, the CPU specifications are way too conservative. In general, poor performance can be more readily accepted on smaller screens, like ones of mobile phones, but tablets should have much better CPUs as they drive bigger screens, were any slowdown is that much more noticeable. Moreover, as tablets are expected to have longer usability time, poorer performing CPUs also tend to use up more of the battery's capacity. However, Samsung is not the only manufacturer to blame for this approach as most Android tablets do not have better CPU/GPU and chipset combinations.

The tablet's responsiveness is decent, albeit laggy in some instances, especially when browsing the internet or using more demanding applications. The 4GB RAM configuration feels outright obsolete considering the screen and potential of the tablet, but it is, again, in line with other manufacturers' poor design decisions. A tablet with such a high resolution screen should have 6 and 8GB RAM configurations to ensure better response, especially when the rest of the configuration is not fast enough. 4GB RAM configurations are somewhat minimal even for midrange phones.

The battery capacity is another disappointment. As the CPU and screen are not particularly energy efficient, reasonably intense operation of the tablet is unlikely to reach a whole day without recharging. The camera performance is decent for a tablet, in-line with average expectations for such a device, as cameras usage is not particularly concerning in this scenario. The sound capabilities of the tablet are notable, with the sound system tuned by AKG/Harman, but they are still not as good as on upper-midrange Samsung mobile phones from the S series.

The wireless performance of the tablet is nothing to be excited. Although the tablet supports Wi-Fi 5 or 802.11 ac standard, networking performance is significantly lower than expected for a typical upper market tablet and transfers may be slightly slower than on similarly equipped mid-range phones. This means that watching 1080p60fps video clips may be quite difficult in some cases.

The included software installation has about the same issue as most tablets: not enough applications can be uninstalled to reduce the impact of unnecessary ones using CPU and RAM resources, dragging down the system performance. Other than that, the Android and OneUI 3 experience is pretty typical. Android 11 runs decent on 4GB RAM configurations.