Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ Review: What Has Samsung Been Doing?

Greatest Costs Right this moment: Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+

After taking a yr off following the launch of the Galaxy Tab A9 and A9+, Samsung is again with one other technology of finances tablets.

The corporate has made the choice to skip the Galaxy Tab A10 sequence altogether and has moved straight to the Galaxy Tab A11 sequence. It’s an comprehensible selection, given the wait, however it brings with it raised expectations.

If we’ve had one criticism of Samsung’s finances gadgets over time, it’s been the tendency to play it protected with incremental enhancements. With such a niche and a strident strategy to naming, you would possibly anticipate vital generational upgrades, however you’d be fallacious.

Is the Tab A11+ nonetheless price shopping for, and is it sufficient of an improve in comparison with the common Galaxy Tab A11? After AO kindly supplied us with a pattern, listed below are my in-depth ideas.

Design & Construct

• Clear however acquainted design
• No fingerprint sensor
• Obtainable in solely Gray or Silver

What has Samsung’s design division been doing within the two years between finances pill launches? Not a terrific deal, judging from the feel and appear of the Galaxy Tab A11+.

It appears to be like precisely just like the Galaxy Tab A9+ from late 2023, with the identical mostly-metal, flat-edged chassis. The Samsung emblem is in the identical location on the again of the system, on the plastic strip that appears to facilitate the pill’s antennas, and reverse a well-known round digital camera module.

Would it not shock you to be taught that the scale are equivalent, proper right down to the fraction of a millimetre? At 257.1 x 168.7 x 6.9mm, it’s a full-sized pill that’s simple sufficient to throw into the pouch of a small bag. Samsung has shaved off a few grams someplace alongside the road, although we’re nonetheless speaking a couple of pretty substantial 477g.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

It stays a tidy, if wholly unsurprising design. You’ll as soon as once more have to simply accept the dearth of a fingerprint sensor, with a relatively insecure facial recognition system or a tiresome code entry as your solely options. Such an omission isn’t uncommon in a less expensive pill, however that doesn’t make it any much less annoying.

Samsung features a 3.5mm headphone jack on the underside nook of the pill, which is a welcome blast from the previous. The quantity and energy buttons are good and clicky, too, if a bit of tough to differentiate by really feel alone.

If something, Samsung has gotten a bit of extra boring with the Galaxy Tab A11+. The place the Galaxy Tab A9+ got here in three colors, right here there are solely two choices: Gray and Silver.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Display screen & Audio system

• Very acquainted 11in FHD+ LCD show
• As much as 90Hz refresh price
• Quad audio system with Dolby Atmos

For those who had been hoping that Samsung would a minimum of have upgraded its finances pill’s show, you’ll be sorely dissatisfied. That is one more 11-inch TFT LCD with the identical 1200 x 1920 and 90Hz refresh price.

Sure, it is a finances pill. Even so, I discovered this display to be a little bit of a letdown. When you couldn’t anticipate AMOLED-like color depth, the image appears to be like considerably washed out.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Brightness ranges are enough, a minimum of when indoors, however tilt the show off-angle a bit of and every thing dims and distorts, changing into markedly much less distinct. This isn’t the pill to purchase in case you have a tendency to observe lots of video content material on the go along with a second particular person.

A 16:10 facet ratio makes this display well-suited to widescreen video content material, however much less applicable for searching the online and different actions in portrait orientation.

There’s higher information on the audio entrance, the place you as soon as once more get a strong set of 4 audio system. This time round, Samsung has additionally provided Dolby Atmos help for a extra immersive output. They continue to be finances parts, although, so expectations ought to be saved in test.

Specs & Efficiency

• Mediatek Dimensity 7300
• 6GB RAM
• 128GB or 256GB storage

Samsung has switched up the processor utilized in its newest finances pill, however it’s hardly an enormous advance. The Mediatek Dimensity 7300 is the chip that you just’ll discover (in a single variation or one other) in a spread of finances telephones, such because the Motorola Moto G86 5G.

That is backed by 6GB of RAM, which all the time leaves me a tad uneasy. Android all the time appears to me to be extra snug working with a minimal of 8GB. The OnePlus Pad Go 2 – a finances pill up to date – pairs a variant of the identical processor with 8GB of RAM, which appears to be the candy spot right here.

With that stated, I can’t complain about efficiency on the Galaxy Tab A11+ – it’s one of many pill’s predominant strengths. All the things runs moderately properly, and I used to be in a position to leap between a number of open apps by the app switcher with solely a slight stutter to betray the pill’s finances standing.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Our Geekbench 6 outcomes are completely tremendous and supply a 50% (ish) enchancment over the Galaxy Tab A9+ within the multi-core division.

GFXBench wouldn’t run for me right here, so I can’t touch upon the Tab A11+’s GPU efficiency. Based mostly on the outcomes we captured with the aforementioned OnePlus Pad Go 2, although, you shouldn’t anticipate a graphical showcase.

Suffice to say, solely mild gaming is really useful. I used to be in a position to play Future: Rising at a suitable body price on the pill, however solely with low graphical settings that appeared fairly ugly blown as much as 11 inches.

You might have a selection of both 128 or 256GB of inner storage, which represents a welcome (if anticipated) doubling over the A9+. There’s a devoted Micro-SD slot do you have to want to develop that additional.

Whereas Samsung does seem to have made a mobile possibility, the mannequin obtainable right here within the UK is Wi-Fi-only, which is one other disappointment.

Cameras

• 8Mp rear digital camera
• 5Mp entrance digital camera

There’s the very same pair of cameras right here as earlier than, which is neither shocking nor significantly troubling.

It’s true that the brutally fundamental 8Mp predominant digital camera shouldn’t be used for something however emergency, impromptu snaps and doc scans, although. The identical will be stated for capturing footage, the place the mix of a tiny sensor measurement, lack of OIS (optical picture stabilisation) and restricted decision help (as much as 1080p at 30fps) ought to be sufficient to dissuade anybody from trying to report something of that means.

In the meantime, even a bog-standard smartphone will take superior selfies to the Galaxy Tab A11+’s 5Mp unit. We’re speaking fuzzy, flat, and missing in dynamic vary.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

However that’s form of the norm for affordable tablets – and even mid-range tablets, for that matter. These unwieldy slabs aren’t constructed for such a goal, and these cameras ought to solely actually be put to make use of for the odd video name.

The few snaps I took with these two cameras, purely within the identify {of professional} due diligence, had been really horrible. And that’s OK.

Battery Life & Charging

• 7040mAh battery
• 25W charging
• No brick within the field

As you may need gathered, given the nigh-on equivalent dimensions, Samsung has caught with precisely the identical 7,040mAh battery because the A9+. It would sound big by smartphone requirements, however it’s really smaller than most tablets round this measurement.

It’ll nonetheless stand as much as a great day of pretty lively blended utilization. That is mirrored in a PCMark Work 3.0 Battery Take a look at rating (which simulates a blended workload of productiveness duties like internet searching, video modifying, and typing) of just about 10 hours, which is an efficient hour and a half higher than its predecessor.

I’d argue that even that is going above and past what the pill is meant for, although. With out a lot as a bundled stylus (in contrast to the Galaxy Tab S10 FE), and with such modest specs, it is a pill that’s supposed for informal media consumption and internet searching on the go.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

On that entrance, the Galaxy Tab A11+’s battery will comfortably final you thru a full day. You’ll be able to depart the charger at dwelling for weekends away, although contemplating it’s USB-C, you’ll in all probability have one with you anyway.

Samsung has additionally bolstered the charging provision. It’s up from 15W to 25W, although you’ll want to supply an applicable charger.

With such an adjunct at hand, I used to be in a position to get the Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ from empty to 40% in half-hour, whereas a full cost took simply over 90 minutes.

Software program & AI

• Android 16
• One UI 8
• Seven years of software program help

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ runs Android 16 out of the field, along with the corporate’s personal One UI 8 interface. In different phrases, it’s bang updated on the time of writing.

What’s extra, Samsung guarantees to maintain the finances pill updated till a minimum of November 2032. That’s a formidable seven years of main Android OS upgrades and safety patches.

That is above and past for an reasonably priced pill, and Samsung’s UI is among the extra nice to make use of daily. True, in case you’re accustomed to a cleaner UI that’s nearer to Google’s inventory Android, then you definately’ll probably discover it a bit of busy.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

Such pill UIs are few and much between, nevertheless – much more so than on smartphones. Samsung’s icons are sharp and vibrant, whereas its widgets are as simple on the attention as they’re helpful. I proceed to seek out its Settings menus a bit of tough to navigate, nevertheless.

The preponderance of Samsung apps is usually a little irritating for somebody accustomed to utilizing Google’s personal provisions with their Android gadgets, too. We actually didn’t want a second internet browser, nor certainly a second app retailer for that matter.

Jon Mundy / Foundry

I’m not an enormous fan of Samsung’s personal Calendar app both, and accessing Google’s Password Supervisor feels trickier on Samsung gadgets than on these from different Android producers.

On the constructive aspect, Samsung’s Notes app is among the extra highly effective and helpful examples on the market, and it comes pre-installed right here. With that stated, the dearth of S Pen compatibility on the Tab A11+ robs this multi-functional app of a few of its attraction. You’ll be able to scrawl notes and sketches along with your finger, however it’s not the identical.

DeX compatibility is current, primarily reworking into a light-weight desktop OS, full with a discrete desktop atmosphere and windowed apps. Accessing it is a little buried, nevertheless, and the pill’s inherent limitations (to not point out the dearth of an obtainable keyboard case) make it a much less viable laptop computer substitute than a few of its extra succesful siblings.

Worth & Availability

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ begins from £249. From a sure perspective, that’s a £10 worth improve over the launch worth of the Galaxy Tab A9+.

Nevertheless, as talked about above, Samsung has doubled the storage provision for its finances pill this time. You get 128GB as customary, slightly than 64GB.

There’s additionally a step-up mannequin with 256GB of storage, which prices £309. There are not any mobile fashions obtainable within the UK, which is a little bit of a disgrace, however you should buy the common model straight from Samsung and by way of Amazon, AO or Currys.

There’s no phrase on US availability for the time being, however on condition that the Tab A9+ is bought there, we’d anticipate the Tab A11+ to go stateside in some unspecified time in the future.

At this finish of the market, it will probably rely the brand new(ish) Redmi Pad 2 Professional and the Honor Pad 10 as rivals – two finances tablets that outgun Samsung’s mannequin on virtually each key specification.

The superb Xiaomi Pad 7, too, has dropped to a worth that makes it a direct (and much superior) competitor, whereas it’s also possible to stir the OnePlus Pad Go 2 into the combo – albeit with the next beginning worth of £319.

One other unflattering comparability is the stylish iPad (A16) – yours for simply £20 greater than the 256GB mannequin of the Tab A11+.

See extra options in our guides to the perfect tablets and greatest finances tablets you should buy.

Do you have to purchase the Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+?

We’ve waited a while for the Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+, after the corporate skipped a refresh of its finances pill in 2024. It could be a stretch to say that the wait has been price it.

The pill’s design is just about equivalent to its two-year-old predecessor, whereas the identical outdated show continues to underwhelm with its poor viewing expertise at something aside from head-on. Efficiency has a minimum of taken a step ahead, battery life has improved, and the storage state of affairs can be higher – however solely to the extent that you just’d anticipate from a 2025 pill.

Maybe the one shining mild in an in any other case mediocre bundle is Samsung’s software program, which is arguably extra interesting inside a pill context than it’s in a smartphone. With an exemplary help interval, sharp presentation, and loads of energy options, it’s a tremendous instance of a contemporary pill UI.

Whereas it’s a strong finances pill, although, I’d battle to advocate the Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+. Rivals are shifting the sport on in virtually each respect, making it really feel caught up to now.

Specs

• Android 16 with One UI 8
• 11in, 1200 x 1920, TFT LCD, 90Hz, flat show
• Mediatek Dimensity 7300
• 6GB RAM
• 128GB/256GB storage
• 8Mp predominant digital camera
• As much as 1080p @ 30fps rear video
• 5Mp front-facing digital camera
• Quad stereo audio system
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Bluetooth 5.3
• 7040mAh battery
• 25W charging
• 257.1 x 168.7 x 6.9mm
• 477g
• Launch colors: Gray, Silver