Good E-Reader Alternative

2026-02-19    -Mary M

My husband bought this for me as a very early Christmas gift. I’d been wanting an e-reader, but I chose this tablet instead since it can access Google Play Books and the Kindle app all in one device. I did my research beforehand and fully expected it to be only good for reading and YouTube. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t nearly as slow as many of the reviews I watched and read made it out to be.I’m able to play my favorite game (June's Journey) without any issues or noticeable slowdowns, so I’m definitely a happy camper. I imagine it might eventually get bogged down if the storage gets maxed out, so if you’re able to find the 8GB/128GB variant, I recommend going for that instead if you plan to use the tablet for more complex tasks. Fortunately, I mainly use this tablet for the purpose that it was bought for so I'm not worried about maxxing the storage of my 64gb unit.I gave it 4-stars because the unit I received was slightly used, even though it's supposed to come brand new. Other than that, I recommend this tablet 100٪.

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing

2026-01-08    -Melissa Adkins

WORKS GREAT! I bought this for my 9 year old as a birthday gift here in the USA!!! Have had absolutely no issues with it at all!!! Works amazingly!!!!

5.0 out of 5 stars The Kindle (Kobo) Killer and more

2026-01-22    -RN

I've been an Apple user for several decades, and I love this little Samsung Galaxy. I set out to purchase a high-end e-reader. Started with Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, to say it was lack luster is an understatement. It can't connect to your local library; it's black & white, the processor and screen are ancient tech, and most important it's a lot of cash for a one-trick pony. I then tried a Kobo Libra Colour, this was better than the Kindle, but washed out colors, slow and clunky OS, and still a funnel to the Kobo store. 9I returned both e-readers)Fast forward to the Galaxy A9. Half the price of the others, larger, dramatically more clear screen; must faster processor and graphics, twice the memory, that's expandable; almost unlimited capabilities, great sound and video, simply better built. We also have an iPad 6 mini, 4X the price and I like the Galaxy better. Bravo Samsung.

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent tablet.

2026-01-09    -sgdgolf

Good little tablet. It is a tad slow and the screen could be better, but in this price range you won't find much better. Too bad the operating system seems to be set up for the middle eatern market, even though you can work around that.

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent tablet.

2026-02-14    -sgdgolf

Good little tablet. It is a tad slow and the screen could be better, but in this price range you won't find much better. Too bad the operating system seems to be set up for the middle eatern market, even though you can work around that.

5.0 out of 5 stars Best deal on a good quality tablet

2026-01-30    -Mark Bledsoe

I've had one for a little over a year and then while spending a few days at my sisters, noticed she was trying to use her phone for games and general stuff. I purchased this one for her as an early Christmas present and she was blown away by how much easier it was to use. The set up menu is pretty easy to follow and works great all over the house on her wifi. It's a 10/10 at this price point

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent tablet for the price (yes, it works in the US)

2026-02-22    -Paul Mathews

I wanted a small tablet to serve effectively as a larger version of my phone for evening couch/lounging browsing, reading, social media, and regular app use. I'm not a gamer and am not intending to do compute-intensive work on this device so I have no need for a high-powered tablet but I did want a device that performs well (little to no lag when opening, using, or moving between apps).I had considered picking up an iPad Mini because of its easy-to-hold-in-one-hand screen size (8.3") and Apple's tablets are generally considered best in class. However, the entry price of $500 (64G version) for a secondary service device is a pretty steep price tag and the impressive power of that device is considerable overkill for my needs. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 was much closer to what I was really looking for. The screen is a bit larger than the Mini at 8.7" but the resolution is much lower (1340 x 800 px versus the Mini's whopping 2266 x1488 px Liquid Retina Display which, taking into account screen size puts the Tab 9 at 179 pixels per inch versus the Mini's super dense 326 ppi). Notwithstanding this rather large difference, the Tab 9's screen is perfectly acceptable for what I need (reading articles in the NY Times app or watching YouTube videos for example is just fine). If you're a gamer or intend to do digital art, this is not the tablet for you.Screen color saturation and contrast are quite good and I only needed to dial the screen brightness up to about 40-50% for it to be comfortably bright (indoors; expect to crank it to ~100% outdoors). As you might expect, audio is just okay (loud enough at 70%-80% max) but isn't exactly going to rattle your rib cage with deep bass or shatter your eardrums with piercing high notes. The Tab 9 includes a headphone jack so I tested a music video with a pair of Apple EarPods and the sound was very good.I haven't tested the cameras but I understand from my research that they aren't great. That's not an issue for me since I rarely ever use cameras on my mobile devices and will likely not do so much with the Tab 9.The Tab 9 is very well constructed with a primarily metal body that looks and feels premium. In the Tab 9's box is the tablet, a USB-C to USB-C cable, a SIM/SD card slot opener tool, and a user guide (which actually has no useful instructions in any of the provided languages). I was pleasantly surprised to see that a USB-C adapter was separately included in the plastic bag containing the Tab 9 box (the black plug in the pictures). The product description does indicate that this is a "15W Wall Charger Bundle" but sometimes on Amazon products what is described isn't exactly what is delivered. This (non-Samsung) adapter isn't going to give you the super-speedy charging of a 30W wall charger but it's really great that this is included in the package since most of us typically have a pile of USB-A port chargers and they only work with a USB-A to USB-C cable. My Tab 9 shipped with about 50% battery charge. After set up, app installation, and software updates, my tablet dropped to 27% remaining charge. I plugged it in for 1 hour which increased the charge to 79% and another 30 minutes pushed it past 90%. Pretty acceptable.I want to reiterate what several other reviewers indicated about this International Version device. My Tab 9 was for the Middle Eastern market (some of the descriptive text on the sticker on the back of the box appeared to be Arabic). This is NOT a problem. The usual set up welcome screens are in English. When asked for your language, English (US) is one of the many available language options as per the usual set up behavior. The next step (indicate location) showed a list of only Middle Eastern countries. Here, you simply select any one of the countries listed (I chose the UAE even though I'm in the US). Beyond that, the remainder of the set up process is exactly what you experience when setting up a US Google device (even the time will be your local time, however, you may want to change the weather widget default setting from Celsius to Fahrenheit given that most Americans still don't understand metric :-)In the short time that I've used this device, it has proven to be exactly what I wanted. Acceptable screen quality, excellent construction, and snappy performance (cold boot ups are a bit slow but once it's on, it runs with no discernible lag). At one quarter the price of an iPad Mini, there really isn't much to complain about here.

Good E-Reader Alternative

2026-01-08    -Mary M

My husband bought this for me as a very early Christmas gift. I’d been wanting an e-reader, but I chose this tablet instead since it can access Google Play Books and the Kindle app all in one device. I did my research beforehand and fully expected it to be only good for reading and YouTube. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t nearly as slow as many of the reviews I watched and read made it out to be.I’m able to play my favorite game (June's Journey) without any issues or noticeable slowdowns, so I’m definitely a happy camper. I imagine it might eventually get bogged down if the storage gets maxed out, so if you’re able to find the 8GB/128GB variant, I recommend going for that instead if you plan to use the tablet for more complex tasks. Fortunately, I mainly use this tablet for the purpose that it was bought for so I'm not worried about maxxing the storage of my 64gb unit.I gave it 4-stars because the unit I received was slightly used, even though it's supposed to come brand new. Other than that, I recommend this tablet 100٪.

So far, so good!

2026-01-14    -Daveyj

Bought it to play music for baseball stadium with new sound system. Worked great for first game and playlists were easy to transfer over

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing

2026-01-26    -Melissa Adkins

WORKS GREAT! I bought this for my 9 year old as a birthday gift here in the USA!!! Have had absolutely no issues with it at all!!! Works amazingly!!!!