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Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE vs. OnePlus Pad: Great hardware vs. better software
Two value-for-money tablets, but which one suits you better?
OnePlus has been nailing the game of offering top-notch performance without the hefty price tag for a solid decade. Now, they're bringing that same mojo to their debut tablet, the OnePlus Pad. On the flip side, Samsung's FE tablet series made a much-awaited comeback in 2023, pledging to deliver the celebrated Samsung tablet experience at a wallet-friendly price.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ vs. iPad Pro: The middle Tab competes against Apple's flagship tablet
Need a fancy new tablet? The Galaxy Tab S9+ and 12.9-inch iPad Pro face off to see which is better for your needs.
Samsung unveiled its refreshed Galaxy Tab S9 tablets at Galaxy Unpacked, and the three-pronged approach with Tab S9, S9+, and S9 Ultra models aims to compete with Apple's iPad lineup. The Tab S9+ is expected to take over for the Tab S8+ in our roundup of the best Android tablets, but how does it compare to other devices? This comparison aims to discover the similarities and differences between the Tab S9+ and 12.9-inch iPad Pro released in 2022. Let's find out whether the Galaxy Tab S9+ or the iPad Pro is a better choice for you.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ with 5G: Which is better?
The new Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ comes with and without 5G. Here are the major differences between the two models.
Samsung unveiled its refreshed Galaxy Tab S9, S9+, and S9 Ultra tablets at its Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event, and there are actually four total tablets in the new lineup. That's all thanks to a 5G variant for the 12.4-inch Galaxy Tab S9+, which otherwise has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity. The tablets are listed separately, but is there really that much of a difference besides the wireless capabilities and the price? Let's compare the two Galaxy Tab S9+ tablets to help you pick the best Android tablet possible.
Galaxy Tab S9 to get feature that finally puts it on par with rest of Samsung's lineup
Samsung already offers water resistance on the Galaxy Tab Active and its foldables, and now it's rumored to come to its flagship tablets
Samsung has numerous devices in the Galaxy Tab series, ranging from the budget-oriented A series to the premium Galaxy Tab S range of tablets, which rank among the best in the business. The latter is expected to be updated this year in the form of the Galaxy Tab S9 series, and a new report is offering further insight into the chaebol’s plans for the high-end AMOLED tablet, specifically with regard to the presence of IP67-certified water and dust resistance.
LineageOS is one of the most popular custom ROMs available, with somewhere around two million active installations. It typically takes a while for the project to update to newer versions of Android, since development is largely done by maintainers in their spare time. Six months after the public release of Android 9 Pie, it looks like LineageOS is about ready to make the jump — but not before dropping older devices.
The community behind LineageOS, the successor to the ill-fated CyanogenMod ROM, continues to impress. New devices are constantly being added to the build roster, and we're even seeing new software features crop up, like custom Quick Settings tiles. Now the project has started supporting nine additional devices.
The first-generation Galaxy Tab S hails from a time when Samsung was still using swipe-based fingerprint scanners - yeah, it's that old. Just look at that stock wallpaper; Galaxy S5 flashbacks, anyone? Around three weeks ago, Verizon updated its 10.5" Tab S to Marshmallow, and now AT&T is doing the same. The Death Star is also throwing in support for NumberSync.
I know what you're thinking. "Haha, it finally got a Marshmallow update when Nougat is out, Samsung sucks." But before you go into the comments and trumpet about how your Nexus 9 already has Nougat, keep in mind that this is a Samsung tablet, from 2014, on Verizon, that is being updated. If any of those alone were true, this would be newsworthy.
Samsung followed Google's lead last year to promise regular security patches for its most popular phones. It's been following through with the updates, and today it's time for the February patches. If you've got a flagship Samsung device from the last few years, you can expect an OTA notification soon.
Samsung was among the companies that last year pledged to start issuing monthly security updates for its flagship phones following the Stage Fright scare. It has more or less been following through with that promise, and today it's announcing a January security patch with fixes for Android vulnerabilities from Google's monthly patch, as well as some specific to Samsung devices.
Custom ROMs don't always match the stability of the software you get out of the box. Sometimes, though, they manage to surpass it. Either way, CyanogenMod will typically support a device for much longer than the company that made it. It's a great way to breathe life into hardware that shouldn't have to die just because its manufacturer decides to move on.
Samsung's top-end tablets tend to be much more expensive than their contemporaries, and even more so if you spring for a mobile radio. Today (and only today!) you can grab the original Galaxy Tab S 10.5, with a 16:10 Super AMOLED screen and a Verizon LTE radio, for just 9.99 on eBay. That's an incredible $500 and change off of the original retail price, and about $100 off of the going rate for the year-old tablet. This is a new item in the white-and-gold color, but hurry - according to the eBay listing, this deal will be gone in about 12 hours (approximately 12 PM Eastern US time on Monday).
The bigger brother of Samsung's super-premium tablet offerings has already been blessed with Lollipop on AT&T, so now it's the smaller version's turn. Galaxy Tab S 8.4 owners on Ma Bell should be getting an Android 5.0 over-the-air update starting today, at least according to AT&T's support page. Technically it's Android 5.0.2, but who's counting?
Samsung's latest and most advanced tablet series is the Galaxy Tab S. That's kind of amazing when you consider the company's previous rate of releasing new tablets, and that the Tab S 8.4 and Tab S 10.5 were released almost a year ago. But I suppose it's nice if you happen to have one, so Samsung is more motivated to release faster updates. Today the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 on US Cellular gets its Android 5.0 update.
Verizon's Galaxy Tab S 8.4, which you can more easily find at Best Buy than a Verizon corporate store, is now receiving its Lollipop update. According to Samsung, the carrier is rolling out Android 5.0.2 under software version T707VVRU1BOD4.
The Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab S 10.5 got Lollipop back in March, but it wasn't until a week ago that the carrier variants started receiving OTA updates. AT&T was the first to roll one out, followed by T-Mobile several days later. Verizon announced its update yesterday, and now it's Sprint's turn. Samsung has posted the changelog.
Read update
- Here's Verizon's official update document (PDF). It mentions a new download feature, but otherwise there's nothing on top of the usual Lollipop features.
We've seen the Wi-Fi model, the T-Mobile model, and the AT&T model updated with Android 5.0, now it's time for the Verizon version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 to get its turn. The update info for the SM-T807V has appeared on Samsung's support site, which means that the update should (hopefully) start going out to customers before the end of the day. This is Android 5.0.2, for those who are interested.
People carrying around a Galaxy Tab S 10.5 on T-Mobile's network should soon see an over-the-air update come to their devices, and it's bringing Android 5.0. This news comes shortly after AT&T's announcement of the same update for its version of the tablet last week. The Wi-Fi model received Lollipop back in March.
AT&T has announced an update for its version of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 that will deliver the sweetness known as Android Lollipop. For users who have been waiting since last year's Google I/O to receive the goods, this has been quite the wait. It may have felt even longer considering the Wi-Fi version of the tablet received Android 5.0.2 back in March.
Samsung's top-of-the-line Galaxy Tab S series is hard to beat, unless you're a stickler for "clean" software. If the TouchWiz skin and the physical navigation buttons don't bother you, then both the 8.4" tablet and the 10.5" tablet offer top-of-the-line specs and unbeatable AMOLED screens. The larger of the two is on sale on eBay's daily deals portal today. You can pick up the 16GB Wi-Fi base model for just 9.99, an impressive $220 off of the retail price, and $170 cheaper than Amazon.