Review: Samsung NotePaper Screen for Tab S9 tablets

Review sample on loan from Samsung Singapore

The Samsung NotePaper Screen as a detachable removeable screen protector made for the Tab S9 series tablets. This probably is not exactly a screen protector though since it's made to provide you with that tactile experience for writing and drawing rather than to protect the screen.

Listed below are the the prices for the Samsung NotePaper Screen for the different tablet sizes:

• Tab S9 Ultra - USD 54.99, SGD 98
• Tab S9 Plus - USD 49.99, SGD 88
• Tab S9 - USD 44.99, SGD 78

The prices are much higher than other screen protectors I've seen.

The screen protector works like a cover with one side that can attach magnetically to the tablet. That magnetic side is only available in white.

There's a connector on the screen protector that lets the tablet know that it's attached. And there are extrusions to go into the two holes on the bottom of the at tablet.

While this screen protector can be used with the Tab S8 or S7 tablets, the fitting is not perfect. You will have to adjust the attached side to remove the gap. With the Tab S9 tablets, there is no need to manually adjust the alignment and fit, and the magnets are stronger.

The screen protector is about as thick as the exposed part of the S Pen nib. This is much thicker than usual screen protectors, or even glass screen protectors.

Since the screen protector is so thick, there will be slight parallax at the sides near the edges, but I don't feel like that affects drawing much unless you like to draw near the edges often. Cursor tracking is still accurate. Parallax affects larger displays more because the pen will move further from the front of you to the side of the larger displays. On a smaller display, there's a limit to how far the pen can move away from the front to the side where parallax is more obvious.

After you attach the screen protector for the first time, there will be a notification telling you to increase the touch sensitivity through Settings - Display - Touch Sensitivity. You'll need to increase touch sensitivity so that your finger gestures can work properly.

That's how the anti-glare looks with reflections on the display.

This is how the display looks without the screen protector. You can click the image for a larger view.

With the screen protector applied, the visuals are made slightly fuzzier, but overall still quite sharp.

Here's a close up of the Samsung NotePaper Screen (left) vs another Benks detachable matte screen protector that I use on my iPad. The screen protector retains the sharpness of the display but adds more colour noise.

Here's a close up on the Benks screen protector. It may not be obvious but there is noticeable colour noise or the shimmering effect with this screen protector.

The Samsung NotePaper Screen has no colour noise at all. The slightly fuzzier visuals is less distracting than the colour noise.

The fantastic viewing angles and colours of the OLED display are not affected.

I would consider the surface texture to be extremely fine grain. The tactile experience for writing is quite similar with both the plastic nib and soft rubberised nib.

I would recommend using plastic nib on the surface which should wear down slower compared to using the soft rubberised nib.

The writing and note taking experience is very satisfying. The screen protector does not affect drawing performance much. When creating hatching lines, there may be the occasional line that has different thickness compared to other lines.

All matte screen protectors will affect the image quality of the display so it's great that this screen protector is removeable.

I've personally gotten used to drawing on the glass display without any screen protectors over the years. It's great that Samsung now has an official matte screen protector even if it's quite pricey. As to whether it's worth the money, you can decide.

Availability

The Samsung NotePaper Screen is available for sale on Samsung's website.