Yes, you could save $70 with the $149 Fire HD 10, but you'd be trading away a ton of apps and biometric security. If only its screen were a bit brighter and its processor more capable, it could possibly have kicked the iPad off the top of the mountain. More importantly, though, I applaud the Galaxy Tab A7 for its epic battery life and thin bezels, which gives it the endurance and smaller footprint that one looks for in a tablet. The Tab A7 is priced at $100 less than the iPad but has a seriously strong set of features, including facial recognition (which the iPad lacks). Apple's dominance in the tablet world has made the iPad the de-facto choice, and that's been boring, to say the least. I've wanted Samsung to field a tablet like the Galaxy Tab A7 for years.
#SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB A7 10.4 ANDROID#
Pure Android tablets like the Tab A7 and iPads are at a more even pace when it comes to apps, though there's a general consensus that developers put more effort into making iPad apps work. That's especially true for the lock screen, which has ads on it unless you pay $15 to remove them - Amazon used to call these "special offers," but has since seemingly realized that an ad is an ad is an ad, no matter what you name it. Buy a Fire tablet and you're signing up for a fire hose of Amazon content to be sprayed at you, via practically every single screen. The other big differences between real-deal Android tablets and Amazon's Fire slates are in their interface. The Fire HD 10 doesn't offer any biometric security solution. Even the iPad, which is $100 more expensive, only has Touch ID fingerprint recognition, which feels quaint in comparison to facial recognition. The camera inside the top bezel of the tablet provides facial recognition, something you don't see in tablets this affordable. The Galaxy Tab A7 gets personal security right where others fail. That's 32 minutes shy of the Fire HD 10's epic time of 13 hours and 45 minutes, but 16 minutes better than the time from the iPad 2020 (12:57). It lasted 13 hours and 13 minutes (which almost feels unlucky, to type out) on the Tom's Guide battery test (web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness). The Galaxy Tab A7 packs a ton of battery life. Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 review: Battery life Even during the introductory race, where the system does nearly all of the work for you, I noticed a visual stutter and clipping that was annoying at best. I could see the A7's modest processor in action when I played the racing game Asphalt 9: Legends. We couldn't even get Geekbench 5 to run on the Fire HD 10.
That pales in comparison to the 2,685 from the iPad (A12 Bionic). The Geekbench 5 general performance benchmark gave the Tab A7 a lowly score of 1,405.
When I turned it up to max volume, the instrumental got a little crunchy and distorted. Listening to The Clipse's "When The Last Time" on the tablet, I observed vocals and synths sound crisp and clear. The Galaxy Tab A7 provides good sound for your next streaming experience.
#SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB A7 10.4 SOFTWARE#
(This may be more the fault of the software than the screen, though.) Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 review: Audio Websites also scrolled smoothly on in Chrome, though the Samsung Internet browser app didn't move as fluidly. I noticed that the Tab A7's display offered accurate input tracking as I navigated Android. That low brightness score may have played a role in why the Tab A7's screen darkens a fair bit when viewed from 30 degrees to the left or right. The Galaxy Tab A7 emits up to 329.3 nits of brightness, which falls below both the Fire HD 10 (403 nits) and the even brighter iPad 2020 (484 nits). The 224-ppi Fire HD 10 (10.1-inch, 1920x1200 pixels) has the same density.Īccording to our Klein K10-A colorimeter, the Galaxy Tab A7 produces 101.7% of the sRGB spectrum, a rating that sits between those of the Fire HD 10 (106%) and the iPad 2020 (97%).
That may be because the Tab A7 has slightly low pixel density of 224 pixels-per-inch, making it less sharp than the 264-ppi iPad 2020's panel. Then again, the seasoning powder he applied didn't look as sharp as I'd have liked. Specifically, the reds and oranges of these wings popped off the screen, and a close up of the wings allowed me to see the red pepper flakes in the hot sauce that he slathered on top.