Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Australian review: AI smarts make tablet a powerhouse
Starting at $1399, Samsung's thinnest tablet yet packs artificial intelligence, desktop-like features and a redesigned S Pen into an productivity and entertainment powerhouse.
A stunningly vivid display, faster processor, a redesigned S pen and great AI features make Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S11 range a good premium choice for productivity and play.
Like the latest Samsung flagship phones, the tablets lean heavily on Google Gemini for AI.
Using Gemini Live, you can have a ‘conversation’ about what you are looking at – whether it’s content on your screen or an object you want to know about by pointing your camera at it.
Students in a class, for example, could share their notes, then ask Gemini to explain the study material, interpret a chart or summarise insights.
With Gemini built into applications, you simply press and hold the side button on the tablet to launch Gemini.
For example, you might want to get it to read a lengthy article and summarise its key points and then save it to Samsung Notes.
You would simply say ‘summarise this article and save it to Samsung Notes’ and it does it all for you without having to switch between applications.
With Writing Assist, you can rework the tone and style of an email or get some ideas for an assignment.
You can also turn sketches into cleaner visuals with Drawing Assist.
Then you can drop them into Samsung Notes, for example, to use in a brainstorming session or illustrate your ideas.
Working with businesses or friends overseas is also easier with the translation available in real-time, along with everything from news articles to social media posts that may be in another language.
On the app side, there is easy access to Goodnotes, Clip Studio Paint, LumaFusion and Notion for everything from sketching and note-taking to flexible project planning.
Goodnotes offers a 1-year free version, Clip Studio Paint comes with a 6-month free trial with 20% off your first subscription and users can get 66% off LumaFusion along with a one-month free Creator Pass.
One of the big improvements for those using their tablet for work or study is expanded Samsung DeX support which allows your tablet to be set up in extended mode with a compatible external monitor to offer dual screen functionality.
That allows for ever better multi-tasking, which is already good on the tablet itself.
You can drag and drop apps between the connected displays or reference a document on one screen while presenting on another, for example.
You cans create up to four separate customised spaces. You might have one for work, one for more creative projects and another for something more fun like planning your next holiday. Just don’t tell the boss.
Combined with the optional Book Cover Keyboard, you can easily set it up as your super thin, light on the go mobile office device, complete with its own dedicated Galaxy AI key.
For our review, we checked out the smaller Samsung Galaxy Tab S11.
We found AMOLED display exceptionally bright and vivid, while the more angular S Pen does allow for more precision.
The tablet screen lacks the anti-reflective coating of the S11 Ultra and it is less powerful so if you want a bigger screen, the Ultra would be the way to go, though more expensive.
Out of the box, the smaller S11 had a premium feel with a tough Armour Aluminium shell.
It is light enough to hold for an extensive length of time, which is certainly a consideration if you are using it to watch movies, stream content or even do gaming.
We spent more time checking out the creative side of things, using AI to enhance and add to photos, while on the gaming side, it was more than adequate to run the most popular games without any lag or heating issues.
With a quad speaker sound system, the audio is as good as the display.
The battery life for the S11 is more than 9 hours for video streaming while it can be charged to 50 per cent in just 30 minutes.
It has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance so it certainly not a problem if you want to use it on a work site or even on the beach.
The smaller S11 tablet has a 120Hz refresh rate, 1600 nits peak brightness and a AMOLED 2X 2560 by 1600 resolution.
Powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ processor it comes with 12GB of RAM, and offers 128GB, 256GB or 512GB storage which is expandable up to 2TB with microSD.
As with most tablets, the cameras are not as good as the flagship phones but at more than adequate for what most people need with a 13MP rear camera and 12MP ultra wide front camera.
The 5.5mm thin tablet has a 8400mAH battery and supports 45W fast charging, while the Wi-FI only model weighs in at 469 grams.
The operating system is Android 16 with One UI 8 which is very easy to use, even if you are switching from an Apple device.
The S Pen, which has a hexagonal shape is also i68 water and dust resistant but no longer supports Bluetooth functionality.
The Galaxy Tab S11 has a starting RRP of $1399, while the 14.6 inch S11 Ultra, which comes with a bigger 11,600 mAH battery, a thinner 5.1mm design, and antireflective coating, Wi-Fi 7, and a better camera system, has a RRP starting at $2099.
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Originally published as Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Australian review: AI smarts make tablet a powerhouse
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