Big tablet, barely there
5.3mm thick. It’s the first thing you notice. The footprint is big (187.8 x 289.5mm), but side-on it looks like a sheet of glass. It goes in my backpack next to a pile of documents and takes up almost no room.
The 5G version is 555g, 2g more than the Wi-Fi one. The weight is balanced well enough to hold with one hand for browsing or flicking through a document. For a movie or a long read, put it on a table or a stand. If you use a tablet standing up or on the move a lot, think about whether this size works for you.
It’s IP68, in Gray or Silver, and the S Pen is water and dust resistant too. The 5G model takes a physical SIM and an eSIM, so at a cafe I just work, with no hotspot from my phone. The microSD slot goes up to 2TB.
The screen
Most of my time on it went to the screen. It’s a 12.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 2800 x 1752, 120Hz. Movies look good: strong contrast, colors that are bright but not harsh, wide viewing angles.
Webtoon was my favorite use. Hold it upright and the panels are big, the dialogue is easy to read, and you get far more per scroll than on a phone. The 120Hz keeps long chapters smooth. That’s what I notice, more than the resolution, because scrolling is all you do while reading. Webtoons with really long panels look great on it.
Peak brightness is 1,600 nits, and about 1,000 nits in high brightness mode. Near a window I could read fine, though it reflects light at some angles. Samsung sells an anti-reflective protector separately if you’re often somewhere bright.
Performance
The chip is a Dimensity 9500, 8 cores, up to 4.21GHz. Mine has 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Apps open fast and switching windows is quick, same as the screen feels.
AnTuTu V12.0.1 gave 3,524,775, with a high GPU score. A peak number doesn’t say much, so I ran the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test for 20 loops. Best score 7,118, worst 5,666, stability 79.6%. The score drops from over 7,100 to about 6,100, then 5,900 in the first loops, then mostly stays at 5,700 to 5,800. It throttles at the start and then levels out.
The app showed the temperature going from 28°C to 29°C and the battery from 70% to 62%. Take those with a pinch of salt, since they depend on how the test was run.
Then a real game: Honkai: Star Rail for almost 30 minutes at 60FPS. Resolution Very High, shadows, reflections, characters and scenery High, effects Medium, TAA on, Game Booster on Performance.
Running around and fights were smooth, with no long stutters. Average FPS was 58.3, max 59.7, 5% Low 50.1. It stayed at 45 FPS or above 99.3% of the time. The lowest was 26.3 FPS, a few short dips on the chart, and I can’t tell if they were map loading or scene changes.
It peaked at 33.3°C with an average draw of 5.07W. Warm, not uncomfortable. Fine for a 5.3mm body.
Work
It runs Android 17 with One UI 9. Multi Window puts a document and a notes app next to each other, and at 12.6 inches both are wide enough to use. I read in one and take notes in the other.
The S Pen is in the box and has a new hexagonal shape. I used it for marking up documents, notes and quick sketches. If you read PDFs, study, or write ideas down, having a pen included is a big plus.
Galaxy AI has Note Assist. It’s okay, but the pen and the big screen matter more to me.
For a desktop-style layout I switch to Samsung DeX. The Pro Keyboard has a trackpad. The Book Cover Keyboard Slim is lighter. Both are sold separately.
On 5G I can open online documents and send files while I’m out, as long as there’s signal. DeX, a keyboard and mobile data means the laptop can stay home.
Battery
10,600mAh with 45W charging. Samsung says up to 21 hours of video, which sounds good for a tablet this size.
My Friday was light: about 30 minutes in the morning for the news, then it sat at home until evening, when I watched movies and scrolled TikTok for a few hours. That shouldn’t need a daily charge.
Saturday I took it out for comics, videos and some work at a cafe, with 5G now and then. If you charge it fully on Friday morning, you’d need a charger around 4 to 5 pm on Saturday. That’s a bit more than a day of mixed use.
Worth buying?
What I like is the screen in that body: 12.6 inches in 5.3mm. There’s room for Webtoon, movies and split windows, and it still travels easily. The Dimensity 9500 runs demanding games, and the S Pen, One UI 9 and DeX make it more than a media tablet.
Get the 5G model if you’re often away from Wi-Fi and need to open documents or send files during the day.
Highlights
12.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, WQXGA+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate.
MediaTek Dimensity 9500 eight-core chip, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage.
10,600mAh battery with 45W fast charging.
13MP rear camera with 4K 60fps video and fast autofocus.
S Pen, Samsung DeX and Dolby Atmos support, IP68 rating and built-in AI tools.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S12+ 5G 256GB Android Tablet, Wi-Fi (AT&T Network): Check Availability on Amazon
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