SAMSUNG SM-T290NZKAXAR, Galaxy Tab A 8.0" 32 GB Wifi Android 9.0 Pie Tablet Black 2019

This tablet is replacing a first gen Galaxy tab. It was a great tablet but time has taken it's toll and it was time to replace it. I have a 2017 Tab A and love it so this one was for my wife. . This is a great improvement over the 2017 version. Both are running Android 9.0 smoothly. Battery life on both is amazing (we charge them 1 or 2 time a week and they see 4 to 5 hours use daily). Screens are also amazing. This tablet ups the stakes with the return of auto brightness setting and what appears to be a better camera setup (the reality of it is that both have pretty good cameras for a tablet) Samsung also did away with some of the bloatware (THANK YOU SAMSUNG!!) They got rid of that stupid Bixby home thing (I finally was able to disable it on my 2017 after the latest Android update). There is some other bloat ware that was also not included (like half a gig worth!) Speed for both is the same. Now there are some steps backward. They moved back to a micro USB charging (the 2017 had USB C) and the speakers are not as nice (in real world performance- no idea on the spec sheet). Also they removed the physical home/back/list buttons from the bezel and put a virtual back and list button on the screen space. THe home button is gone completely and you have to use the power button now (A HUGE step back!). With the buttons gone now the bottom of the tablet has this 3/4" bezel at the bottom that does nothing but make the tablet longer than it needs to be. Bottom line this is a great tablet. It is fast, powerful and with a micro SD card installed has a ton of storage. At the current price (under 0ne hundred and twenty bucks!) it is a steal.

I bought this for a child as an X-mas gift and three years later, it's still going... strong(ish). I mean, considering the amount of use and abuse it has likely endured, I would say it's a pretty well-built tablet. It's always seen with its BFF - a Fire HD 8 that has also stood the test of time. I think the reason they are always together is a combo of a kid's version of battery backup and features that one likely has that the other lacks.Yeah, the screen isn't perfect anymore. The memory (even when I added an SD card) leaves something to be desired; always has and always will. The battery isn't as powerful as it used to be, but these are things to be expected considering its age (well, except the memory thing which would be the only real complaint).So if you stumble across this review (in 2023) as someone looking for a tablet that can handle a pre-tween, get a good case and you're good to go. I'd look for deals, though. Back in 2020 I paid less (but things are more expensive now) AND I used some of my Amazon Rewards cashback (I normally reserve for frivolous purchases) so I paid < $100 which is fair considering how obsolete technology gets over time.

I got the 8-inch T290. If you are aware of what you are getting for your money, this tablet is worthy of five stars. No it doesn't have the top processor speed or display resolution. It's a budget tablet at a really good price (especially if you catch it on sale), and you get a lot of bang for your buck.The display is 1200 X 800 pixels which qualifies as HD, but not ultra HD. What counts the most when it comes to font legibility on screens is pixel density. A 1200 X 800 8-inch display has a pixel density of right at 180 pixels per inch (PPI), and that's not too shabby. My 6th generation Kindle Paperwhite has a pixel density of just over 210 ppi, so this tablet isn't too far from that. If small fonts are hard to read, you can scale up the fonts and size of things in the settings.The display also has good color and contrast, and is plenty bright. The blue light filter app included doesn't offer as many options as I like, so I add one from the Google Play store.And speaking of that, with an Android tablet (and this one comes installed with Android Pie) you do have full access to Google Play store.The sound is a lot better than I expected, and that can be enhanced even more with a third party volume booster.And I find an 8-inch tablet is just the right size. A 10.1-inch tablet is too cumbersome in my opinion, and a smart phone is too small. And an 8-inch tablet like this one will fit in the back pocket of men's pants. (But not so much if you have it in a case.) And at just 12 and a half ounces, it's a lot lighter than a 10.1-inch tablet.So understand what you're getting, don't expect top of the line, but you get a good tablet for the price.