The Best Android Tablet? - Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Review

The galaxy tab S9 is one of the best Android tablets ever made. What makes it so good?
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[JayneAFK]

Said it before somewhere, but if Procreate were to make an android version of their app it'd change the tablet landscape so drastically.

[GodHandplayers]

about the second screen lag: You have to turn off WIFI on the tablet, then turn on Second Screen. Both on will cause substantial latency. For some reason, Samsung doesn't let this clear for the final user.

[mksketchms]

Genuinely enjoying hipaint for android. It's very reminiscent of procreate in some ways, that on occasion i prefer that over csp on my android tab. Sure it has many issues and lags but so far it's very fun and easy to use.

[DevTheRay]

My tab s8 ultra is out for delivery I would've liked to have the 9 but I got the s8 ultra for 800 brand new so I'm happy with it

[DeepteshLovesTECH]

Samsung should introduce wired second screen feature that is enabled by Super Display app. The Type-C port on the tablet is plenty fast for 1080p 120hz input.

[JUICEbaseball]

As far as Photoshop/Photo Editing goes, one of the GREATEST features of my Tab S8 Ultra that no one talks about is the 'Second Screen' feature. SuperDisplay a $10 app works really great. The Tab S8 Ultra has basically replaced my Wacom Cintiq as my main Photoshop editing device. It's higher resolution, wireless, lighter, portable, and the S-Pen might be even better... Samsung's built-in 'Second Screen' works OK, but it used to work much better than it does now, I don't know what happened, but hopefully they will update it to work as good as SuperDisplay does. Plus, your files stay resident on your workstation and you don't have to copy files back and forth.

I find that SuperDisplay works exactly the same wired or over WiFi. If there's a difference, I don't see any. As I mentioned, it's SO much better than Samsung's Second Screen. It's pretty crazy to me that Samsung definitely knows how much of a superior product SuperDisplay is and they could easily license the technology (like they do Wacom's EMR) or even purchase the company without even batting an eye, instead they ship a vastly inferior piece of software...

Plus, the device is awesome all on its own... Literally blown away by how great it is!

The S-Pen is fantastic and FREE in the box. You don't need to add a paper-like screen protector ($40) in addition to the $130 you'll pay extra for the Apple Pencil...

I'm a 30+ year Professional Graphic Artist. When some say that there aren't Professional Visual Arts apps on android it's just really incorrect, because I use them everyday. Autodesk Sketchbook, Infinite Painter, Concepts, Krita are just a few of the apps available on the Google Play store... There are many more... Are there a few apps available on iPad that aren't on the Play store? Yes, of course, but a good carpenter never blames his tools, and with expertise and talent you can do anything and everything on android apps that you can do on iOS apps - NO DOUBT.

If you're already entrenched in the Apple 'eco-system'... Then pay the extra $500 to $1500...

Unfortunately, Samsung's trade-in's aren't great this year...

Two years ago I got the 8GB RAM/256GB SSD Tab S7 Plus in Mystic Navy it was $356 from Samsung with a Tab S4 Trade-In I got off ebay for $175, they gave me $400 trade-in credit, so my total cost from Samsung for the Tab S7 Plus was $531.

I had zero intention of upgrading. Samsung then offered me more than I paid for the S7+ in trade, for a 16GB/512GB Ultra. They also gave me $200 credit towards accesories. It was kinda of a no-brainer, plus the 4-year OS updates and 5-years of security updates for $517.59.

I absolutely love the Ultra, and have no intention of upgrading, especially since Samsung will only give me $650 for the trade-in of my Ultra and the total cost will be $750 for the 16GB/1TB version...

Maybe next time, Sammy...

[sanekibeko]

Samsung has done an amazing job with the android tablet scene but it's still missing software that's on iPad. It would be nice to see Adobe port Fresco over and Affinity with their suite. I doubt Procreate would ever make their way over.

[jonathanbananaton]

I’m an apple person but If I could I would buy this it looks great, thanks for the amazing review Mr Cowboy

[ANGLBEATS_WIN]

1:04 - It is not Super Amoled, It is Dynamic Amoled 2X. As the owner of both S8U & S9U I can tell that the difference is huge. New display is gorgeous.

[-Aqqle._.f.ru.i.t._.ha.t.er-]

Im getting the s6 lite this weekend and im so excited ive watched all your reviews and decided it'll work for me🙂

[fledgeking]

Samsung's "beige" color is nearly indistinguishable from Apple's "starlight". I have a Galaxy Book 3 Pro and an iPad Mini 6 in these colors and you can't tell the difference unless you have a very trained eye. Starlight is very, very slightly more saturated (yellow) if I remember correctly.

[lunaberi]

I have a s8 Ultra and this feels very similar. I'm currently using a Wacome One pen with my tablet and I love the feel of it in my hand. But, I'll keep an eye out for that creadtor edition s pen 👀

[Just_a_commenter]

I'm perfectly content with my S8 Ultra, so I won't be going for the S9 series... But that creator pen? _I want that yesterday._ Will definitely score one once it's available. I've been wanting to experiment with different tip styles and that'll be awesome!

Thanks for the detailed coverage!

[EngineerRon]

The S9 Ultra looks great. But, I'll be keeping my S8 Ultra at least another cycle. My current 512 GB model includes 16 GB of RAM. I was dissapointed to see that the S9 Ultra 512 GB model only has 12 GB of RAM. Nice to see an offering of 1 TB. And also GREAT to see that Samsung has kept the microSD card slot. I also own an 12.9" M1 iPad Pro. I'll be seriously tempted to trade in my iPad if Apple offers an M3 Ultra, which seems to be in the works. I use my Samsung S8 Ultra for drawing (Clip Studio Paint), but mostly for business (teaching, studying and note taking). I use my iPad Pro strictly for drawing (Affinity apps, Procreate and Art Studio Pro). I've enjoyed your drawing courses also. Keep up the great work, Brad! 🎨

[AaronMetallion]

I went to BestBuy, and tried all three S8 sizes, and for me personally, I did not like the Ultra size. I felt like it really changed the dynamic from a cozy hand held / single hand / portable device on the S9 / S9+, to a tabletop / desk / laptop / two handed device on the S9 Ultra. I spent 2 hours drawing on all three sizes. For me the S9+ was just right. I was large enough, yet felt portable, the keyboard though a couple inches more compact still felt right. It was the best of both worlds in terms of size and portability. (Though I would not recomment the smallest size, because UI feels suffocating / cramped) I think this size preference is very subjective, so I advice people to go try the sizes. There's been too many videos only talking about / praising the Ultra and I too was sold on the idea that nothing topped the Ultra... until I tried the size and realized it felt too large for me (especially since I'm not looking to replace my PC / workstation). Most importantly, keep in mind, despite how the "ULTRA" name sounds, the S9+ has the exact same CPU, same GPU, same AMOLED2 screen / refresh / ppi, and same 12GB ram as the base model. So you're loosing no tech at all besides size, while gaining portability, a cheaper device, and cheaper keyboard.

[GrantSR]

I know you are mostly a line-art guy, but it would be nice to also see how well these devices do with pencil brushes, shading, and maybe even if they sense tilt.

[cwaicwai]

It's my first time hearing about the creator edition S pen. I hope they can give you the option for whether you want to include it in your purchase instead of the S pen to save on waste. And i wonder if it will charge differently.

[temjinmaru]

I got the S9 11' from samsung for $525 plus tax with s6 lite trade in. Really happy with it!

[raghuvaidya]

For those in India, sadly, the spec upgrade is not available. Instead, you get a discount of 3k. If you are a student, you get another 6k discount, and if you have a specific credit card (hdfc and one other), you get another 11k . With the gst write-offs, mine was about 45k(for the base s9), and so far, the tablet has been really great. I think you also get 6 months of clip studios premium for free and a year of goodnotes as well . Considering the price, I thought it was a far better deal than ipad Air 5, which was around 53k (for 64gigs) without the apple pencil included. Can't wait to try digital art on this.

[JimmyGeniusEllis]

Yo Brad. nothing but respect and love for your whole setup. I preordered my samsung galaxy tab s9 ultra just like you did so I was watching this review for the samsung galaxy tab ultra on the ssamsung galaxy tab ultra. That's too legit to quit.