Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ Review: What You Need To Know

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ is a 12.4-inch Android tablet that is a cheaper version of the Galaxy Tab S9+ and the successor to the Galaxy Tab S7 FE. So, it’s a 12-inch mid-range tablet that has an S Pen, a premium design, a pretty good display, and many features that otherwise premium devices have only. At the same time, it’s not cheap at 600 Dollars and one drawback is the performance. Is it to weak for its price? Well, that’s what you’ll learn in this Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ review.

Display & Speakers

Let’s start this review with a big highlight of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ and that is the 12.4-inch display. This is an IPS screen with wide viewing angles and a high resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels. The display is therefore very sharp. A great feature is that it supports 90Hz. Animations and some games therefore look extra smooth.

Compared to the Galaxy Tab S9+ and S8+, I was surprised that the display of the S9 FE+ is just as bright as the two flagships. That’s fantastic. However, we get a standard LCD here only and compared to the AMOLEDs of premium tablets, black looks more like a dark gray. This is mostly noticeable in a direct comparison, however.

Just as noticeable in direct comparison is the fact that the display of the S7 FE predecessor is a good deal worse and, in particular, darker. So, Samsung improved a lot regarding the display.

The speakers are pretty good and the sound quality is just as good as its predecessor. Although the sound of the S9+ is louder and has better bass, this is criticism at a very high level. Overall, the sound quality of the S9 FE+ is very good and I think it’s an excellent tablet for watching movies and TV shows.

S Pen: Great Mid-Ranger With Stylus

I have nothing but praise for the S Pen, which is included. Just like its smaller brother, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE, I also think the S9 FE+ is the best mid-range tablet with a pen. Just in 12.4 inch size.

The S Pen behaves just as on the more expensive S9 tablets. The pen supports over 4000 levels of pressure sensitivity, is very precise and also responds very quickly thanks to the 90Hz panel. It’s also great that the software is almost the same as on the S9 series. We get the Air Commands and the excellent Samsung Notes app.

The only disadvantage is that the S Pen actions are not supported. You can’t use the pen as a remote in PowerPoint or the camera app. This S Pen does not have a battery. But that’s also an advantage, because you never have to charge it.

Hardware & Performance

The performance is not quite as amazing. The Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ is equipped with a Samsung Exynos 1380 chipset with 8GB or 12GB RAM and 128GB or 256GB internal storage. You can also get it with 5G if you want.

In my Geekbench 5 benchmark comparison, you can see that Samsung has improved quite a bit compared to its predecessor, the S7 FE. At the same time, it’s stronger than the Lenovo Tab P12, which is a slightly cheaper competitor. The Galaxy Tab S8+ and S9+ are significantly more powerful.

We can observe the same in the 3D Mark Wild Life test. The S9 FE+ clearly ranks in the mid-range and performs really well for a 12-inch tablet. However, it is important to emphasize that the 11-inch Xiaomi Pad 6 is better, especially in terms of graphics performance – even though it costs just over 300 Dollars at the moment. In other words, almost half the price of the S9 FE+.

So, if you want a 12-inch mid-range tablet, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ is well positioned and better than the competition. But if processor performance is more important to you than a large display, it’s worth taking a look at the 11-inch competitors from Xiaomi and Lenovo.

In my gaming test, the S9 FE+ performs just like the S9 FE. And that means you can play almost any game without any problems, but not always on the highest graphics settings.

Fortnite runs pretty well if you set the graphics to “high” and the 3D resolution to 75%. Then the game is very smooth to play. The same applies to Genshin Impact, which also runs quite smoothly with high graphics settings.

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The overall performance of the system is also pretty good and multitasking is also possible, especially with Chrome and YouTube. However, it is also clear that the performance is worse than that of flagship devices. Compared to the Galaxy Tab S9+, for example, it is noticeable that you can’t use quite as many apps smoothly at the same time in Samsung DeX.

Design & Build Quality

The design of the S9 FE+ looks very premium – but hardly anything has changed here compared to the S7 FE, S8+ and S9+. It’s made entirely of aluminum, is only 6.5mm thin and weighs 628g. What I find particularly praiseworthy is that it’s protected against water and dust according to the IP 68 standard, just like the S9+.

On the sides, it has a connector for the keyboard cover, a microSD card slot and a power button with a built-in fingerprint reader. It works very well. I think it’s a shame that the USB C port is only USB 2.0 and doesn’t support external monitors. So, if you want to connect an external display, you’ll have to go for a flagship.

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There is a very wide-angle 12-megapixel webcam at the front, which takes pretty good pictures. The same applies to the 8-megapixel main camera on the back. Next to it is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, which is not quite as good, but also very solid.

Keyboard Cover

With the Galaxy Tab S9 FE+, you can use the same keyboards that Samsung also offers for the Galaxy Tab S9+. The keyboards of the S7 FE and S8+ are not compatible.

There are two keyboards. The Book Cover Keyboard Slim is a classic keyboard case – mostly a case with a keyboard built into the inside without a touchpad. The keyboard works pretty well.

Then there is the Book Cover Keyboard, which consists of two parts. A back with a folding stand, which you can also use without the keyboard. And then the keyboard, which has a touchpad this time. I think the Book Cover Keyboard is better, simply because of the touchpad and because we also get a kickstand.

Software: Android 13 with OneUI

The tablet runs Android 13 with OneUI version 5.1.1 out of the box, which means that the S9 FE+ runs exactly the same software as the S9+, S8+ and S7 FE. The fact that the S7 FE runs the same software shows how good Samsung is with updates. The S9 FE+ will be kept up to date until Android 17. That’s really great.

Well, it’s normal Android with OneUI and I don’t think I need to say much more about the software. We get the Air Commands, but also the Samsung DeX desktop mode. This turns Android into a kind of desktop operating system and it works pretty well.

Battery life

In my battery test, the S9 FE+ achieved a runtime of 8 hours. For this, I always run an HD YouTube video at maximum brightness and in this case at 90Hz in an endless loop.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ Review: My Conclusion

So, is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ a good tablet? If you want to get as much processing power for your money as possible, then no. For the same price, the Apple iPad 10 offers a much more powerful chipset and the Xiaomi Pad 6 has more power for almost half the price.

However, the S9 FE+ is an excellent choice if you are looking for a 12-inch tablet that delivers a really good overall package. A nice high-resolution and large display, a water-resistant body, features like a fingerprint reader, good speakers and the excellent S Pen. At the same time, it will receive updates for a very long time.

With its 12.4-inch display, it’s a great entertainment tablet and also the best choice if you’re looking for a large mid-range device with a stylus. However, if you need more power, it’s worth taking a look at the Galaxy Tab S9+, which I also reviewed, of course. It’s got a more stylish AMOLED display and a more powerful processor, but is also significantly more expensive.