As Malaysians are still staying indoor, more individuals and families are relying on tech products for their work and entertainment. However, there are those who has tighter budget, might require an affordable tech products like a tablet or laptop that is capable to meet their needs. Enter the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite (WiFi), an entry level tablet that you can get today in Malaysia for work and entertainment.
I have managed to experienced the Galaxy Tab A7 Lite for 2 weeks in Malaysia. The short story is, the tablet just cover your basic necessities with a mixed bag. So, let’s find out more why I said so as I used the device during the 2 weeks period.
Design and build
The Tab A7 Lite’s design and is pretty much straight forward. The front is covered with glass while the rear has aluminum back. There is no screen protector applied out of the box so fingerprint smudges will build up quickly. The measurement for the tablet is 212.5 x 124.7 x 8 mm and weights at 366g. I have to say that the tablet does have a slight premium feel while being compact for a tablet.
On the top of the tablet, you have one of the speaker grill and at the bottom, you get a 3.5mm headphone jack, USB Type-C port, and speaker grill. On the left, you get MicroSD card slot (non-sim card because WiFi model) while on the right, you get a power button and volume control button. The power button and volume control button is positioned a little high for my liking and the positioning buttons is weird as I’m used to volume control button on top and power button below like every Galaxy phones. Also, I found the side mounted buttons is a bit soft when pressed. Again, nitpicking here because I’m so used with my Galaxy S21 hence it might differ for other individual.
The design and build department on this tablet gets a 7 out of 10.
Performance
Okay, for the performance part, you will definitely have to take note here. The tablet is powered by Mediatek’s Helio P22T with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. The Helio P22T is an energy efficient chip hence it is good enough to do light task only. You definitely can feel some occasional slow down or lagging. I have tried to swipe down for the menu notification while watching YouTube video, I need to take few swipes to get the notifications. If they have put a better chip, then it would be even better.
If you need more storage, there is a MicroSD card slot to expand as it supports up to 1TB size.
For those who plan to use the Tab A7 Lite for gaming, you can actually use it. If you’re willing to wait. Loading time to play games will take quite a while and for Genshin Impact, I took slightly more than 10 minutes to load from the menu to gameplay. Better stick to light gaming titles for the Tab A7 Lite.
Performance department is only 6 out of 10. The lack of performance will hamper to do those who are looking for a quick and snappy tablet experience. Somehow, it still can run most of the app but you have to wait for the loading.
Display
The Tab A7 Lite has 8.7 inches LCD screen with 800 x 1340 pixels and 5:3 ratio. The display has thick bezels but you’re really don’t care considering the price. The display is definitely good for kids and someone who just want to watch content or work on a large display. Though the contrast and vivid on the display are left much to be desired. The screen brightness is good and sufficient for indoor usage but not for outdoor.
One thing I have to complain about the screen is the reflection. You will noticed the reflection on the screen when you do normal scrolling and loading times when gaming. However, you’ll noticed lesser reflection on when watching content or playing games.
One good thing to report on the tablet, it supports 1080p video quality on YouTube.
The display gets a score of 6.5 out of 10.
Speakers
For an entry level tablet, the stereo speakers is really good as it is loud. The bass maybe slightly lacking but there’s Dolby Atmos feature. Alternatively, you can get a wired headphones as it has 3.5mm headphone jack or you can use your existing Galaxy Buds to pair up with it.
The audio department on the tablet is one of my favourite and it deserves a score of 8.5 out of 10.
Battery
Samsung has elected to packed in a 5,100mAh battery on the tablet here. It could last you the whole day or one and half days but heavy users might need to find a wall charger before end of the day.
The Tab A7 Lite supports 15W “Fast Charging” but out of the box, you only get half the charging speed with the included charger. The 7.8W charger (please take note because I saw a local reviewer say he has a “15W fast charger” in the box) is going to take its own sweet time to charge but even using “fast charging”, the tablet is still too slow to charge. I highly recommend to charge often as possible for heavy users.
Battery department get a score of 7 out 10. If it could even support faster charging speed, it will score a little bit higher.
Camera
No flash on the rear camera 
Despite a 2MP selfie camera, it has face unlock feature
The cameras on the Galaxy Tab A7 Lite is a weird setup. The front camera has 2MP selfie cam while the rear has an 8MP camera without a flash. Yes, there is no flash hence you can’t use torch feature which I think Samsung missed out here as users can rely for it when power is down.
The 2MP selfie camera is not something you should use. Pictures taken look just below average as exposure and contrast is off. If you’re planning to use the selfie for video content, you better don’t as it maxed out on 720p 30 fps video. What’s worse is the selfie camera won’t focus your face even when the lighting condition dropped.
Over to the rear 8MP camera, I’m surprised that it supports Auto HDR. The pictures output by the rear camera is plain normal and HDR only assist a bit to clear up the image a bit. I would say the pictures is passable if you want to share on social media. Videos are maxed out at 1080p 30 fps but the quality is just plain good.
Camera department for the Tab A7 Lite is 5.5 out of 10. Samsung should have put slightly better camera especially on the selfie camera for the Tab A7 Lite. Did you also noticed that the camera module for the rear looks so similar to 2016 – 2017 Samsung smartphone?
Software and features
One highlight of this tablet I need to talk about is the the Android 11 with One UI 3.1. It is rare to see an entry level tablet today to be running Android 11 as most of the competition is still running either Android 9 or 10.
However, just because it has One UI 3.1, don’t expect that you can get a lot of features. The tablet doesn’t support DeX but I don’t find it a necessity for this entry level tablet. Although there is no S Pen but you still able to use generic stylus. You couldn’t record your gameplay as there is no screen recording feature.
One of the main important feature, Call & text on other devices. Yes, if you’re using a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, you can pair up with the tablet and use the tablet to make calls or text messages. Heck, you could even leave this tablet at your kitchen to learn cooking from YouTube and pickup your calls without the need to reach your phone. Now that’s what I called a Galaxy ecosystem in mind!
Because the 8.7 inch display is still quite compact, you can actually navigate the tablet with one hand only. Using the feature called One Hand Operation +, you can just swipe from the side to up, opposite and down angle to go back or return home. You can customised the feature to even open apps and so much more. If you can’t find the feature, then head to Galaxy Store and search for One Hand Operation +.
The software and features get a 7 out of 10. It remained strong thanks to Android 11 installed and numerous essential features to make easier operation on the tablet.
Final verdict
The Galaxy Tab A7 Lite is priced at RM699 (4GB RAM+64GB WiFi model only) in Malaysia. Overall, the tablet received a final 7 out of 10 score which is quite good for an entry level tablet. As of now, you know why I mentioned the tablet just cover your basic necessities with a mixed bag. A little bit of more performance, improve optics and faster charging speed would definitely give the tablet a high recommendation. For now, I could only recommend this tablet for those who need a large screen display to do your basics necessity task. If you’re an existing Galaxy phone user, you won’t go wrong with this tablet as well!
Do look out for ongoing promotions for the tablet if you’re planning to get one today in Malaysia.
Special thanks to Samsung Malaysia for providing the review unit for a couple of weeks for content purposes. However, this is not a paid content hence no approval or creative input by Samsung is required for the article and video contents. The review content is based on 2 weeks of usage hence it may differ at a later time with software updates. Please support TrendGrnd by following our social media account and official YouTube channel!