Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S5e Is Its Thinnest Tablet Yet, Rocks Android 9 Pie And Bixby 2.0

Galaxy Tab S5e SM T725 001 Front Black
Although the Android tablet market has not exactly been thriving in recent years, Samsung continues on its quest to improve the platform and compete head-to-head with Apple’s iPad family. Samsung this morning announced its new Galaxy Tab S5e, which the company says is its thinnest tablet to date.

The Galaxy Tab S5e measures just 5.5mm thick and its metal unibody weighs in at less than a pound (0.88-pounds to be exact). Speaking of the sleek body, it’s available in Silver, Black, and Gold, which has become almost a prerequisite for any mobile device launched these days.

Arguably, the most important part of a tablet is its display, and Samsung doesn’t disappoint here. The tablet features a 10.5-inch Super AMOLED panel with a screen resolution of 2560x1600. The Galaxy Tab S5e has relatively small bezels for a tablet, with Samsung indicating that its screen-to-body ratio stands at 81.8 percent.

The Galaxy Tab S5e uses an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 processor that is paired with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM. The former configuration is backed by 64GB of internal storage, while the latter comes with 128GB of internal storage. If you require even more space for your onboard apps or media, the tablet also provides a microSD slot that can accommodate up to 512GB cards.

Galaxy Tab S5e SM T725 002 Back Gold

Although shooting pictures/video on tablets is often frowned upon (for good reason, you look ridiculous doing it), there is a 13MP shooter on the back and an 8MP selfie camera that is capable of recording video at 4K/30. Other niceties include quad speakers tuned by AKG, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. Finally, the Galaxy Tab S5e includes a 7040 mAh battery onboard with fast-charging support; it’s enough to give the tablet runtimes of up to 14.5 hours.

On the software front, the Galaxy Tab S5e comes out of the box running Android 9 Pie, and comes preinstalled with Samsung’s Bixby 2.0 digital assistant. The tablet is also compatible with Samsung’s DeX accessories, allowing you to connect to an external display, mouse and keyboard for a more PC-centric experience.

Pricing for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e starts at $399 for the 4GB/128GB configuration, and it will be available during the second quarter. The company also notes that cellular-equipped variants will be available “later in 2019.”