Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra review

introduction

The next flagship Galaxy tablet is here and it’s huge! The Tab S9 Ultra is among the largest tablets on the market and packs in everything Samsung has to offer in 2023 in terms of design, screen, hardware and pen input.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is actually part of a trio of tablets (S9, S9+, S9 Ultra), which differ in size and number of cameras. They all feature OLED screens, newer hardware, aluminum unibodies, and bundled S-Pens.

Thus, the Tab S9 Ultra is based on a 14.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen and runs on the more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip for Galaxy. It’s wrapped in a classic aluminum unibody, rated IP68 for dust and water resistance.

This tablet has the most cameras of the Tab S9 generation. It has a 13MP primary camera and an 8MP ultrawide one on the back. And then it packs a standard 12MP and a 12MP ultrawide imager on the front. The latter is responsible for the controversial screen notch.

The spec sheet is complete with four powerful speakers, a large 11,200 mAh battery, 5G connectivity, a microSD expansion slot and a UD fingerprint scanner. There’s also a bundled, IP68-rated S-Pen that charges magnetically on the back of the tablet. The Tab S9 Ultra ships with Android 13, One UI 5.1, and DeX support.

The specifications of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra in brief:

• Body: 326.4×208.6×5.5mm, 732g; Glass front, aluminum frame, aluminum back; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 minutes), stylus, 2.8ms latency (Bluetooth integration, accelerometer, gyroscope).
• Screen: 14.60″ 2X Dynamic AMOLED, 120 Hz, HDR10+, 1848×2960 ​​px resolution, 14.42:9 aspect ratio, 239ppi.
• Chipsets: Qualcomm SM8550-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4 nm): Octa-core (1×3.36 GHz Cortex-X3 and 2×2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 and 2×2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 and 3×2.0 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 740.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM; UFS; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
• Operating system/software: Android 13, a 5.1 user interface.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 13 MP, f/2.0, 26mm, 1/3.4″, 1.0μm, AF; Ultra wide angle: 8MP, f/2.2.
• Front camera: Wide (main): 12MP, f/2.2, 26mm; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.4, 120˚.
• Video Capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 4K at 30 fps, 1080p at 30 fps.
• Drums: 11200mAh; Wired 45W.
• Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi 6e; BT 5.3, dual SIM (nanoSIM, eSIM).
• Various: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers (4 speakers); Samsung DeX wireless.

We think the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra packs in everything a tablet should offer nowadays. In fact, we could have saved ourselves a camera or two, and we would have said it anyway.

Unboxing of the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra

The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra’s packaging is incredibly thin, and there’s a reason for that: it only contains the 5.5mm tablet, an S-Pen, and a USB-C cable. There is nothing else in the box.

The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra supports 45W fast charging, so if you want to take advantage of it you’ll need to purchase a Samsung or third-party USB-PD/PPS fast charger.