Pros:
- Extremely lightweight (3 ounces lighter than the Samsung Tab S4)
- Faster than you would expect (about 90% of the speed of the Galaxy Tab S4)
- Price (starts at $400)
- There is a 6GB model that goes on sale at times (as low as $429.99)
- Fantastic 10.5″ OLED display with 2560 x 1600 resolution
- Comes with Android 9.0 Pie, and should get updated to Android Q, possibly Android R
Cons:
- A wifi design flaw that Samsung has refused to acknowledge
- No headphone jack
- Does not come with an s-pen or support any s-pen or Wacom stylus
Review summary:
This tablet has an incredible screen, it is extremely light, has thin bezels, and it has good performance. It is also one of the few Android tablets that comes with Android P, and one of the few Android tablets that we should see future updates for. If you look at specs, performance, and price alone, you could say that this tablet is the best Android tablet option for pretty much everyone. There is only one problem: it has a huge wifi design flaw.
I had wifi issues with 4 of these tablets in a row, so there is a high probability that there is a wifi design flaw in every model. If you have great wifi signal and you cover the corner of the tablet with your hand (in landscape mode) you will lose around 20% wifi signal, so if you have great wifi signal you may not notice this issue. If you don’t mind losing a bar of wifi and you want a great Android tablet, this tablet may be for you, but if you are afraid of losing wifi connection off and on, stay away from this tablet and go with the Galaxy Tab A 10″ (2019) or the Galaxy Tab S4.
There are plenty of rumors out there that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5 is coming soon. The Tab S5 should have s-pen support, the fastest Snapdragon processor around (the Snapdragon 855), and the Tab S5 may start with 6GB of RAM. With word that this tablet may release in the next few months, you have to ask yourself, is the Galaxy Tab S5e worth considering?
One thing to keep in mind is that the Galaxy Tab S5 will most likely launch around $650 or $700. The Galaxy Tab S4 and the Tab S5e give great performance for a much cheaper price, it may be worth looking outside of the new Tab S5 and taking advantage of a cheaper option.
Specs, design, and build quality
The Galaxy Tab S5e entry-level model comes with 4GB of DDR4 RAM, 64GB of eMMC flash storage, and a fantastic 10.5″ OLED screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600. It also comes with a 7,040 mAh battery. There is a version with 6GB of RAM, and that version has gone on sale a few times down to $429.99.
The Tab S5e is thin and light and weighs only 14 ounces. It weighs in 3 ounces less than the Galaxy Tab S4, which means the Tab S5e is 18% lighter than the Tab S4. That is very important because when I bring a tablet around, I am looking for an extremely light and portable device. I use tablets for presentations, at times without something to hold my tablet, which means the weight of a tablet is important for me. The first day I owned the Tab S5e I was so glad I picked it over the Tab S4. It was so much lighter than the Tab S4, and performance was roughly the same.
Here’s the real issue: this device has terrible build quality. Yes, it feels great, and it looks great. The Tab S5e has a plastic backing vs the Tab S4 that is made of glass, but honestly, that is a good thing in my opinion. This helps make the tablet lighter. But the big issue with this tablet is the wifi design flaw, that so many people are ignoring, in my opinion, because they simply don’t notice it.
Wifi design flaw
When I first bought this tablet, I didn’t notice any issues with wifi. My house has great wifi with 5 bars pretty much at all times, so it was easy to overlook any issues. At that time, I read this report by SamMobile article, which explained that some people were losing their wifi connection when gaming. Reading this was alarming and quickly reminded me of the iPhone 4, which had a similar wifi design flaw, but instead of
Apparently, users were reporting that when they put their hand on the bottom left-hand corner of the Tab S5e in landscape mode, they were losing a large percentage of their wifi signal. I read this and I tried to replicate the issue, and at first, I was fairly unsuccessful. I put my hand on the bottom left-hand corner and I only dropped one bar of wifi. This was odd to me, but only losing 1 bar of wifi was forgivable to me, but I quickly found out that the wifi design flaw in this tablet was a pretty bad issue.
I went to work and went upstairs, where I typically only have about 2-3 bars of wifi. I tested the wifi in that room by placing my hand on the bottom left-hand corner in landscape mode, and I quickly lost wifi connection. This was extremely troubling to me, and when I did more research, I came upon the app called “wifi signal strength meter”. I downloaded this app on my tablet, and the results were surprising.
If I had between 80% and 100% of wifi, and put my hand on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen in landscape mode, I would lose 20% of wifi signal strength.
If I had between 30% and 50% of wifi signal strength, and put my hand on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen in landscape mode, I would lose anywhere between 30% and all of my wifi signal strength. With less than 50% wifi signal strength, I experienced frequent disconnections when holding it as I should in wifi mode.
Yes, sometimes to duplicate these issues I had to make some attempts to hold it a little tighter or in a few different places, but simply put: this is a wifi design flaw that Samsung MUST acknowledge.
So I went to Best Buy
I went to Best Buy and downloaded the same wifi signal strength meter app on all of their Galaxy Tab S5e models (I believe there were 3).
In the picture above, I simply put my hand in the top left-hand corner of the tablet (in landscape mode, I would have to put my hand in the bottom left-hand corner). As you can see, when I first put my hand in the top left-hand corner, I had 84% signal strength.
As you can see in the picture above, by putting my hand on the corner of the tablet, I lost 24% signal strength. I experienced the same exact results at Best Buy that I did at home: with great signal strength, I would lose around 20% or 30% wifi signal strength. If there was bad wifi signal (50% or under) I would lose 30% wifi signal strength, or lose connection all together!
The Verge, SamMobile, Android Authority, and others have all reported on this issue. As of today, Samsung has not responded. This was the favorite Android tablet I have ever owned, and even though using an Android tablet as a laptop is not normally advisable for productivity, it was so good as a tablet that I got rid of any laptop options to use it. This tablet on paper and even with experience is an absolutely joy to use, but I just couldn’t bear to use it any longer knowing that I could have wifi disconnections when using it. Unless your gaming or your in a bad wifi area, you may not even notice, so this tablet may be an option because it is such an amazing option, but considering the fact that I had this issue with a total of 4 models, I am assuming this is a wide-spread issue and it bothers you, you may want to wait for another option or grab the Samsung Tab A 10.1 2019.
Screen and display quality
Now that we got the tough part out of the way, let me tell you why some of you should buy this tablet. Consider the fact that Google Docs frequently auto-saves, so losing connection for a moment won’t be a big deal for you. If you don’t game online or do things that a disconnection would affect, this may be the tablet for you. If you have great wifi signal and wouldn’t have 50% or less of wifi signal strength, this tablet may be for you as well.
With all of that being said, one of the best things about this tablet is the screen. The Tab S5e has a 10.5″ OLED display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution. To get a similar display in a Chromebook you would maybe be spending $800 or more. It is good to compare Android tablets to Chromebooks because Chromebooks can now use Android apps. Tablets are typically more for media consumption than laptops or Chromebooks, so you will typically get a far better display with a similarly priced tablet but less performance. This is the case with this tablet. Compared to a Chromebook like the Asus C434 or the HP Chromebook x360, you will get a much better display than any Chromebook under $600.
The screen is bright, and while I haven’t been able to find the specific nits, it’s not a worry as the screen is very bright.
Performance
How you feel about the performance of the Tab S5e depends on your expectations. If you expect it to perform like recent flagship phones like the Google Pixel 3 or the Galaxy S10, you will be disappointed. The base model of the S5e comes with 4GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 670.
To give you perspective, the Snapdragon 670 is the same processor that comes in the Google Pixel 3a. The Snapdragon 670 will give you about 90% of the performance that you get in a Snapdragon 835, which is the processor for the Galaxy Tab S4 or the one generation old Google Pixel 2. For most people, 4GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 670 will be more than enough. I personally noticed no difference in performance between the Tab S5e and the Tab S4, and the 4GB of RAM is more than enough for most people. Unless you have like 20 tabs open at once, you shouldn’t notice much of a performance difference between this version and the 6GB version.
With that being said, if you really want a device for “productivity first”, I wouldn’t recommend this tablet. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend the Tab S4 either. If you really want an Android tablet that will be productivity first and entertainment second, I suggest waiting for the Tab S5. It should have a Snapdragon 855 which should be better if you plan to use more of a traditional laptop experience.
Unfortunately, when you use any Android tablet with Google Chrome, you are using a “mobile version” of Chrome. In most cases, this isn’t a big deal, but it does hinder certain people depending on what they are doing.
Compared to the Tab S4, I will repeat that performance will be similar. The only real downside with performance between the Tab S5e and the Tab S4 is gaming. From my research, the GPU, the Adreno 615, is roughly a 30% to a 50% worse than the GPU in the Tab S4, which is a Adreno 540. It still games relatively well, and for the most part, I didn’t see the Tab S5e having many issues with games like Fortnite or PUBG. If gaming is more important to you than a light and thin tablet, there are often deals on the Tab S4 to bring it down to $450 or $500, but if you prefer a nice light speedy tablet for videos, web browsing, and streaming music, the Tab S5e is still a great option and honestly it’s not really bad with gaming either.
Battery life
The Tab S5e comes with a 7,040 mAh battery, and it does not disappoint. This battery should last for a full workday for you. With Hulu, Spotify, web browsing, and more, I was able to get around ten hours of battery life out of this tablet. For most people, this means the tablet will last for a full day no problem. This device has fast-charging and did charge up fairly quickly and I had no issue getting back to work after a quick fast-charge session.
Other features
This tablet does not come with the Bluetooth keyboard case, and I wouldn’t recommend purchasing it. Key travel just doesn’t feel good with the keys and the keyboard feels cramped. With the keyboard looming around $100 I would suggest finding a cheaper option.
My favorite Bluetooth keyboard for the price is the Logitech K380, which can be found for $29.99. It has circular keys, but it has good key travel and feels good to type with.
This tablet does come with DeX mode which is a good option if you are wanting a desktop-like environment. I wouldn’t recommend DeX mode without using a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, because DeX does not give you a very good tablet experience. If you want a tablet experience, stick to Android.
One issue with DeX mode is that all apps are not optimized for DeX mode. I also found that certain mouse or keyboard features I got used to in Chrome OS or Windows did not work. I will repeat it again: This is a great tablet for entertainment first and productivity second. No, DeX mode is not half as polished as Chrome OS, but it is good to have both Android and a secondary OS available, and in my time with it,
Good bang for your buck?
So, is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e a good deal? I would say it depends.
If you have 50% wifi signal on a regular basis, or you do a decent amount of online gaming, I wouldn’t recommend you buy this even if it cost $200. Since Samsung sent most, if not all of these models with a wifi defect if that wifi defect would affect you there are better options out there.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 can be bought for as little as $229. In the past, the 3GB version with 128GB dropped to as low as $289. Even though their processor will have worse performance, from my research the performance is much better than previous Tab A models. If you want a mid-range tablet with little issues, the Tab A 2019 is a much better option in my opinion since you can save yourself the trouble of buying a defective tablet.
If you need a powerhouse Android tablet, I would recommend either buying a Chromebook or waiting for the Tab S5. Chromebooks have access to Android apps, and Chromebooks like the HP Chromebook x360 14″ frequently go on sale, and the Chromebook x360 comes with 8GB of RAM and an i3 processor. The Chromebook x360 is heavier, but it has incredible performance. If you want a smaller lighter model, the Asus C434 is a great option, and you can normally find it for a good price too. It is smaller than the HP Chromebook x360 and looks absolutely gorgeous with those small bezels.
Don’t get me wrong, this tablet may be the sweet spot for some users. If you have great wifi and wouldn’t mind losing 20 or 30% signal based on how you hold the device, this is a great device for $400. Before I found the wifi design flaw, this device was going to be my primary device for a long time. It has an amazing screen for reading, is extremely light and portable, and it has great performance for the money. For some people, this will meet the mark, but in my opinion, if you actually care about the wifi issue, you do best to go to a cheaper Tab A 2019, a Chromebook, or simply wait for the Tab S5.
Click here to view the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e on Amazon.
Have a different opinion or any thoughts? Feel free to share them and comment below!