

I don't recommend using the A7 this way, but you technically can. That sucks, but it's not an indictment of the Tab A7 in particular, and considering you'll probably be spending most of your time with this device watching video or reading, it's not a particularly big deal here. Some, like Gmail and YouTube, do make use of the extra space to show additional information, but plenty are content to clumsily blow up the standard mobile experience to fill the screen. Compared to iPadOS, there just aren't as many Android apps that are adapted for large displays. You've probably heard that Android's tablet apps aren't very good, and that's more or less as true as ever. I don't think 10.4 inches is quite large enough to do desktop-style productivity work (certainly not with a measly three gigs of RAM), but it's nice to be able to float media controls or a chat window over your social media feed or whatever. It's running One UI over Android 10 (Samsung couldn't tell me when or even whether to expect an update to Android 11, so I wouldn't hold my breath there), and Samsung's signature tweaks like Edge panel app shortcuts and app windowing make all the more sense on a larger screen. If you've used a Samsung phone in the past few years, you're pretty well prepared for the Tab A7. There's a headphone jack, too, if you'd prefer more personal listening. And there are actually four speakers, one at each corner, so audio can maintain a stereo image regardless of the tablet's orientation. Bass isn't great, and sound can get a little harsh when you crank it past about 75 percent, but below that, audio is clear and bright. It's missing the perfect blacks an OLED would offer, and it doesn't sport a high refresh rate (at this price, that'd be a lot to ask), but it's still perfectly nice for web browsing and media consumption.Īlso lending to the media experience: surprisingly capable stereo speakers. The 10.4-inch screen is a TFT LCD panel, but it's very pleasing to look at. I wouldn't have been surprised to see plastic here. The A7's body is aluminum, which isn't entirely expected in this price range. The gray and gold versions have black bezels. Still, it'd be a stretch to call it ugly - with the possible exception of the silver model, which has matching white bezels around the screen (hello, 2015). It's very pedestrian, lacking Samsung's modern tablet design cues like flat edges and rounded camera modules.

It's got a 10.4-inch screen with reasonably-sized bezels and an eight-megapixel front camera that's centered when the tablet is held landscape.
