Tech Review: Galaxy Tab S5e is among the better options to the iPad range of Apple

Samsung is one of the names often associated with Android tablets. Though there aren’t too many great and reliable Android tablets available today, Samsung has been unveiling some great options to take on Apple’s popular iPad line up for years.

The new Galaxy Tab S5e is an interesting mid-range Android tablet from the Korean giant that offers a plethora of features, including Dex mode, keyboard and mouse support, but without costing a bomb. But does it deliver enough? Let’s try and find out.

The first thing you would notice about Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S5e is how slim it is. With just 5.5mm thickness and 400 gram in weight, the tablet is comfortable to grip and carry around. The 10.5-inch AMOLED display, with a resolution of 2560x1600, looks sharp, has good contrast for viewing images and videos, and does not struggle under direct sunlight.

You can attach the tablet to the keyboard using the pogo pins on one side (in landscape orientation). The keyboard from Samsung (currently available for Rs. 3,500 with the S5e) is quite light and sturdy to carry and type on.

The keyboard itself, though, isn’t quite like that of a regular laptop’s, is a bit better to type on than Apple’s previous generation Smart keyboard. Switch the tablet to Dex Mode from Settings, and you get a familiar PC like desktop with support for keyboard shortcuts such as Alt + Tab to switch between apps. This switching between Dex and regular mode can take 6-7 seconds.

Talking about the performance, the Tab S5e is equipped with a Snapdragon 670 chipset along with 4 GB of RAM. The performance for day-to-day tasks is smooth and responsive, switching between apps is quick, but if gaming is something you’re looking to do, especially graphic-intensive games like Fortnite or PUBG, you should probably not look towards this tablet as the chipset isn’t quite capable of handling these games at their highest graphic settings.

Otherwise, tasks like watching high quality videos, navigating between YouTube and Netflix -- all work just as you would like. Oh, and it does support Widevine L1 for streaming over Netflix in HD.

The tablet has four AKG speakers on the top and bottom, so you can have Dolby Atmos surround sound whether the tablet is being used in landscape or portrait mode. The speakers are pretty loud and clear, and do a good job for TV shows and movies when you’re not out somewhere.

There’s an 8 MP camera that’s more than good for video calls, and there’s a 13 MP rear camera, which can take nice shots in good lighting and one that can shoot 4K videos, but shooting videos using a tablet in your hands… well, viewing one on it seems like a far better idea.

There’s a fingerprint scanner right on the flat Power/lock button on the right side, which isn’t the quickest of them out there but isn’t a deal-breaker. The tablet also support face unlock using the front camera, though it struggles in low light. Running on Android 9.0 Pie with Samsung’s One UI 1.1, the Tab S5e isn’t very different to work on than any recent Galaxy smartphone, but most apps preloaded on it are well scaled and optimized for tablet use.

The Dex mode, for some reason, opens most apps in small window, but works well for work with touch plus keyboard support. You can also attach any Bluetooth mouse, but you might have to use a dongle with some models.

Samsung’s One UI has a lot of customization options, from icons, to full themes, to sound volume per app basis. There’s no support for setting up a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active or Galaxy Fit on this tablet, though. Of course, there are plenty of tablet apps that you can download from either the Play Store or Samsung’s own Galaxy Store.

Many apps support multi-window where you can use two apps side by side and change their window size accordingly. With SmartThings, you can also use the tablet to control many connected (smart) appliances (not just Samsung’s) in your home like a projector, bulb, TV, etc.

The USB Type C port at the bottom can be used to charge the device or transfer data. With a 7,040 mAh battery unit, the tablet usually lasted about 2-2.5 days on heavy use, and can go up to 4 days with moderate to light use with brightness at 30%.

All in all, the Galaxy Tab S5e does come out as one of the better tablet options in the market with a well-rounded performance, slim profile, great screen, good battery life. It comes in Black, Silver and Gold colour options, and starts at around Rs. 35,999 for WiFi-only mode, and Rs. 39,999 for WiFi + 4G LTE SIM card slot.