Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE Review By Brad Colbow

This is the Samsung Galaxy tab, s7 Fe? This is a more budget-friendly version of Samsung's 12.4-inch android tablet from last year. What makes this so appealing its being able to get this big of a screen at a discounted price? But how is it letting's check it out? Hello? My name is brad. I review tech for creative professionals, I'm going to be taking a look at this particular tablet today from the point of view of an illustrator. So I'm not really going to touch on everything that the tablet can do just hit. Those major high points that I find interesting now in order to do that, I'm going to be comparing this a lot to last year's Galaxy Tab, s7 plus, which was Samsung's first 12.4 inch android, tablet and a device. I loved a lot because I think, in order to understand the value what Samsung's doing here, we do have to put it against it's larger, or, I shouldn't say, larger, it's more expensive and more speed out brother, quick note over on my website, where I compare all of these devices.

I did recently add an android page just for tablets that I have reviewed so if you're doing some research- and you just want to find everything in one place check that out, I picked out the 5g model, which is a little more expensive than the base level Wi-Fi bottle. The main reason. Why is because the Wi-Fi model is not yet available here in the US, where I am? If we are looking at that Wi-Fi model, though we're talking about 140 difference between this and the s7 plus. Now this is a 12.4-inch screen. This to me is the appeal of this device when we're talking about drawing and illustration the more room that you have, the more luxurious the product feels to use, and that's definitely the case here.

For example, if I want the largest Apple iPad, I have to buy the most expensive Apple iPad, so in general I love the idea that they're taking the largest size and scaling it down at a lower price point, even though the price isn't that much lower yet so that 12.4-inch screen has a 16 by 9 aspect ratio, and this is a TFT lcd. Now this is not the best display out there, but it's not bad. It looks pretty good. I can definitely tell it's not nearly as good as the AMOLED display on the s7 plus, unless you're looking at them. Next to each other, you're not going to necessarily notice the brightness or the color difference the, even though the difference is definitely there.

I think where you're going to notice the difference the most is in drawing angles. Now I don't want to say that the drawing angles on the Fe are awful they're, just not as good as they are on the s7 plus. If you're looking at a straight on, looks beautiful, but if you have it tilted down, you are going to notice a difference. If you like, move forward or tilt your head to the sides, the color's going to shift on you a little. The resolution is the same as the s7 plus we have 2560 pixels by 1600 pixels.

Another big difference in the screen is that this only has a 60 hertz refresh rate instead of 120 hertz, refresh rate, so you're going to see that if you're looking at them next to each other, you might miss that if you have that on your phone personally, I don't think it's that big a deal, but it really depends on the person they scaled down. Some other specs as well, for example, the AKG speakers, there's only one on each side instead of two. I can definitely tell there's a difference, but I will say it still sounds perfect. The base model Fe comes with four gigabytes of ram and 64 gigabytes of storage. However, if you jump up to the 128 gigabyte model, that's going to go up to six gigabytes of ram.

And lastly, if you want eight gigabytes of ram jump up to the 256 gigabyte model, there's also a micro SD card along the side. So if you do want more storage, you can add it in yourself. This is the same battery as the s7 plus, and it also has fast charging with the included USB charger. There's also an 8 megapixel camera around the back and a 5 megapixel camera around the front that 5 megapixel camera on the front also does 1080p video. So if you're into video calls, you have that going for you, and also it's centered in landscape mode instead of in portrait mode.

So if you like, using your laptop or your tablet that way, instead you're not gonna, have that weird side. Eye thing like you do on some iPads and, of course included here is the s pen. I really should have said that earlier in the video. That is the reason I'm reviewing this thing. The Fe and the s7 plus look almost identical on the outside, but the Fe has a plastic shell and not an aluminum glass back.

The main tell is the s7 plus has a wide angle lens camera along the back, so what they ended up. Cutting from this device were more of the things that went inside it than the things on the outside of it. For example, the processor in this isn't going to be as powerful as what you're going to find on that s7 plus. So, if you're looking to use this for games, that sort of thing, maybe the plus is the way to go, but from what I found from just drawing and using it on a day-to-day basis, the processor was more than capable for what I needed it to do. Something I totally missed, but Zack from android digest pointed out to me was that the processor on the 5g model is different from the Wi-Fi model, and it's not different in a good way.

It's not as good and if you're paying more, you would expect that the 5g version would at least have the same processor or, if anything, a slightly better one, so maybe stay away from the 5g version. I also have a keyboard case that I got for the s7 plus that works here as well. I've said in other videos, I wasn't necessarily a particularly big fan of that keyboard case. The keyboard itself is fine typing on it is fine, it was the mouse and the cursor seemed to be kind of laggy. Sometimes it would take time to wake up.

Also, the keyboard case doesn't snap into place. It's not held in place by magnet, so it seems kind of wiggly when you're carrying it. It feels cheap when you attach it to a really premium device. Samsung also has a new keyboard cover that they've rolled out for this device. I don't have one because well, I'm kind of cheap, but that one doesn't have the trackpad.

So if you take the trackpad away, that probably is going to remove a lot of my complaints about the old keyboard case. Let's talk about the s pen, because this is really the reason I really enjoy Samsung products. The s pen is a fantastic stylus to draw with the main thing that I'm looking for in any kind of pen is just one. How smooth are the lines? The lines here are very smooth. Two, I want to see how the pressure reacts.

For example, I don't want to see that blow out on the pressure curve like when you're halfway, drawing a circle or trying to do a smooth transition, or anything like that. If you've ever been using a brush with opacity and all of a sudden, you press a little harder and all of a sudden way too much paint comes out. You know what I'm talking about. This pen does very well in both of those categories. The other thing that I'm always looking at when I'm using one of these is palm rejection and in general, most apps will let you toggle on extra palm rejection.

So that's not going to happen. Occasionally you are going to get marks and things like that on the canvas. So a lot of people do like to toggle that off it's not quite as good in the palm rejection category say the Apple Pencil, but it's definitely good enough quick note, unlike the s7 plus, this is just a standard s pen, which means there's no Bluetooth, connectivity or remote control, features or functions or gestures here, and when we're talking about drawing the one thing that you might miss here is that extra refresh rate, which is going to give you less lag on your pens, not a ton, but you are going to notice it if you're looking at these two devices next to each other, I don't think most people are going to be looking at these devices next to each other. Honestly, I think the 60 hertz refresh rate is absolutely fine. It's nice to have more, but you don't need it.

The s pen has a rubbery tip hard plastic. Styluses tend to slide around on glass screens like this. What the rubber tip does for you is. It gives you more control. It does take a little of time.

Getting used to it doesn't feel natural, and I would not recommend putting any kind of screen protector on this at least a textured one, because that's really gonna wear down this soft tip quickly. The pen does magnetically attach along the back it stays put. That is a good magnet. It also magnetically attaches along the top. That's not a particularly great magnet.

That's going to fall off, so if you attach it on the top or along the side, whatever you want to call that and slide it to it into a bag, your pen is going to fall off. You might lose it now whenever we're talking about an android tablet, if you're looking at this versus windows or an iPad, or something like that, the big thing that I always point to are the apps. Now there are some apps on android nowadays that I absolutely love, for example, clip studio one of my favorite drawing and painting apps out there. It is available for android. There is a monthly subscription price.

After I think it's a three or six months, you know trial period, which you can get it and try it out for free. But if you're really invested in drawing it is fantastic, there are some free apps out there Huron made their own app. I just started using it again after not using it for months and wow they've made some improvements here. Huron sketch is a free app. That is really, really good.

If you have an android device, it's free. I think you should download it and try it. I think they've done a great job here, and it's its cool to see what they're doing it's still missing. Some key features like you can't use, masks yet and things like that, maybe you can- and I haven't dug into it enough, but I couldn't figure it out on the first try, but either way I love where they're going with that, especially for a free app another one. I really like is infinite painter, there's Inez paint x, that's free, infinite.

Painter has some in-app purchases, but it's still a very good app. There's sketchbook made by Autodesk another perfect app. If you sign up for an account there, that is also free. One thing I hear about a lot in the comments, so I'm going to mention it here is a feature I never use, which is called DEX, which allows you to take your Samsung phone or your Samsung tablet and basically plug it into a monitor and use it. As you know, a desktop computer conceptually, I like the idea carrying it out.

Personally, I don't find a lot of use in it, but a lot of people who do absolutely swear by it. So now that's a thing. Another thing that Samsung has added is the ability to screen share with windows, computers, which basically is like an extra screen or an extra monitor that you can use. Besides your laptop, even a lot of the drawing functionality of the s pen works there and if you don't, have a touch screen computer or monitor boom. Now you do off to the side alright.

So what do I think about the Samsung Galaxy tab? S7 Fe? Overall, I think it's a great product but- and you all feel the butt coming on here. I think the price is a little too high, for example, last year what Samsung did around this time? Maybe a little earlier in the year? Are they released a product called the tab? S6 lite? It was one of my all-time favorite Samsung tablets, not because it was the best Samsung tablet, but because it was the cheapest Samsung tablet, but the things they cut weren't the things you absolutely needed right, the processor wasn't the best. The screen wasn't the best the materials it was made out of weren't the best. However, the drawing experience was just as good as their expensive tablets and oftentimes. You could find it on sale for under 300 after it was released and finding something that good at that price.

It's really hard to justify really anything else in that price range that comes near it, maybe the Apple iPad, but that was about a hundred dollars more once you had in the ad in the Apple Pencil, so the tab, s6 lite was phenomenal and what I was hoping the Fe would be this year's version of that, and in many ways it is right. They removed a lot of the features they got that price down, but I don't think they got it down far enough holding into my hands and feeling it and using it. It does feel a lot more premium, especially like the build materials that they've used compared to the s6 light, but at the end of the day, all you care about is the drawing experience and being able to get a 12.4-inch tablet versus a nine point, whatever inch tablet, that's a really nice jump up, like I said at the beginning of the video Samsung, tends to discount their products over time, and I think if they can get the price of this product down to, I don't know under five hundred dollars down to four hundred dollars heck. If you could get this for four hundred dollars, a twelve point, four-inch tablet for four hundred dollars. That is an amazing deal heck even at five hundred dollars.

Getting something at this size, I think, is definitely justifiable right now. I don't think the price is there right now. I think you might be better off spending that extra money and going up and just getting the s7 plus or what we might see is them release next year's version, the s8 whenever that's gonna, come and hope that the s7 plus goes on sale then either way. Furthermore, I think this is a perfect product and I have no problem recommending it. It's just the price, that's holding me back a little.

I don't think the price per value is quite there yet. I think it will be in the future when this gets discounted, so maybe hold off for a few months and see where this goes. So that's all I got for today. Do you have any questions about the Fe edition of this tablet? Let me know down below in the comments. Thank you all for watching, and I'll talk to you.

In a couple of days you.

Source : Brad Colbow