10.9 inches

Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE - Not the one you think

Much of what Samsung is best at is missing in this tablet and it's also far too expensive.

Erik Mörner

Published 14 April 2025 - 15:15

With a price tag of about half of what the more expensive tablets in the same series cost, one should not have too high expectations. We miss out on the important OLED screen that does so much for image quality, especially on tablets, but we do at least get an included pen, AI with Google's Circle to Search, new Android 15 with One UI 7, and thus a lot of useful apps and features from the start.

Samsung Notes is a given app among the most useful. Here I can use the pen and write rather sloppy handwriting that the tablet still manages to interpret directly into editable text. However, one should perhaps not overestimate this function, because if it is editable text you want, it is often easier to use the on-screen keyboard and get everything right directly without character interpretation from handwriting.

From entertainment to a bit of productivity

The tablet as such is versatile as a machine. I use it of course for everything from web browsing to email, chat, Netflix, creation, and more heavy productivity.

For productivity specifically, Samsung's ace up its sleeve has long been the Dex mode. It is the function that gives you a more computer-like appearance on the interface and allows you to work freely with multiple windows that you can resize more or less freely. At least as long as the Android app in question can handle it. With the Tab S10 FE, however, it is clear that the performance is not sufficient. Already with a couple of windows open, it becomes sluggish to work and the waiting times become noticeable as soon as I want to resize a window or switch between apps.

Otherwise, in the normal mode in Android, the performance is reasonable. Web browsing, simpler games, chat, and Netflix obviously pose no problems. The screen, as mentioned, is not an OLED screen, but a simpler LCD screen with a 90 hertz refresh rate, marginally increased from the normal 60 frames per second. This means the tablet never feels fast, but as long as I don't push it, it doesn't feel slow either. The sound is managed by a speaker on each short side, and the fact is that even when I turn up the volume a bit, the sound is surprisingly good. The tablet's chassis acts a bit like a resonance box and gives it depth.

With its experience, Samsung has a long list of features that we recognize from before. One such feature is the somewhat unclearly named Daily Board. This function addresses the problem that the tablet, when left at home, often runs out of battery and is dead the time you actually want to use it. With Daily Board, the screen is used as a picture frame, the family's notes, or as a control unit for the smart home. This can be activated automatically when you connect the charger, and if you do it at home in a specific place, you get both a digital gathering place and a constantly charged tablet.

AI-funktionen demonstrerad, först utgångsbild, sedan redigerad med Tab S10 FE, sedan med S25 Ultra.

AI with low ambition

In addition to these features we've seen for many years, Samsung also has a clear AI focus, as with everything they do these days. In the Tab S10 FE, it seems to have gone too far. Partly because in some cases it's more about words than action, and because the level of ambition when it is an actual AI function is set so low that it hardly adds anything.

In the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE, Galaxy AI is not present as in the more expensive products, but instead what Samsung calls “Intelligent Features”, which are also broadly AI-based. There are some features we recognize from Galaxy AI but in significantly poorer versions. Object erasure in images is available, for example, but when I test it, it fills in what I removed with blurry nonsense. In the S25 series of phones, we have noticed how Galaxy AI can automatically remove even shadows of objects we have chosen to exclude, but the object erasure in this tablet is significantly worse than what Galaxy AI was when it was released over a year ago. Otherwise, the AI features in the Tab S10 FE are clearly sparse, and that might be just as well. Google's Circle to Search can be useful, for example, to quickly circle a math problem and get the solution, but that feature is also available in competitors' Android tablets, and they often offer more functionality at a significantly lower price. Given the price, I see nothing that speaks in favour of the Galaxy S10 FE.

Questions and Answers

What does the Dex mode do?

It presents an icon row with apps at the bottom, but Samsung does that even in the normal tablet mode. More importantly, in Dex, you can run multiple apps in windows that you can place side by side or on top of each other and resize. However, if you do this with too many apps at once, the lack of performance becomes a barrier.

How is the performance?

Tab S10 FE delivers a basic function but nothing more. The screen's 90 hertz and limited performance mean that the tablet never feels fast.

Does the pen come with the purchase?

Yes. The pen has air functions, so you can hold it just above the screen and get a preview of images, for example, or see where the tip will land so you get better precision in detailed drawings. It is included with the purchase, however, no charger.

An alternative

Xiaomi Pad 7 is comparable and offers what Samsung does but at a significantly lower price. If you prefer an OLED screen, which adds a lot to the experience, the just over a year old Galaxy Tab S9 for around 6000 SEK is an alternative.