Verdict
The Lenovo Tab Plus is a pad aimed almost solely at TV freak , and with its include kickstand it makes a good case as a go - anywhere tablet within the sign . It is well - build , and has big battery life too , but is rent down by a merely ok display , dissatisfactory speaker and generally anaemic performance .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
wee-wee a successful tablet is no well-situated proposition . There ’s a lot of competition from all sides , between Huawei , Honor , Xiaomi , Oppo , OnePlus , Samsung and others , the grocery is close to saturation point .
There ’s mountain of choice at all price points . That ’s great for you as a fellow member of the public , but less so for marketers looking to crusade the new product . Being heard and seen is harder than ever before .
More than that , it ’s no longer enough to just make a generic ‘ tablet ’ ; people need specialised models . Whether you need to get work done , or just to watch TV , there are options usable which ply to specific taste .
As ever , Lenovo is something of an outlier here . The firm has always been jazz for experimentation with tablet signifier factors , and here is no different .
Its later exertion , the Tab Plus , takes the stock pad of paper designing and makes it all about media consumption . We have a 2 K , 90Hz presentation , a total of eight speakers and a work up - in kickstand , theoretically everything you might ask for a movie night , but the perennial interrogative stay on : is it worth the outlay of just under £ /$300 ? register on for our full review .
Design
There are few companies which have been so experimental with design as Lenovo . The business firm has tried kickstands and shapes galore over the years , trying to find a fit that ferment well in the deal , as well as being eye - catch . No two generations of tablets from them have been the same , and the Tab Plus present another shift .
For quite a while , Lenovo leaned into a ‘ magazine ’ dash design for its tablets , peculiarly with the innovative Yoga melodic phrase , with a flair , as the name suggests , reminiscent of a magazine folded over . Then the business firm moved on to a more traditional approach , eschewing kickstands and no doubt saving on overheads in the outgrowth . Now it has opted for a blend of the two .
Around two thirds of the Tab Plus chassis is thick , designedly so , housing the eight speakers that dominate the marketing for the twist . Then the final third is thin , and the result is a machine with a singular side profile and a bit of heft .
That is n’t to say it is a chonker ; it is weighty enough to feel agiotage , but not so much as to come out roly-poly . It ’s a unspoilt mediate earth , especially for a mid - market tablet , and gratefully there ’s a kickstand too . The stall is soaked and has a in effect range of crusade , which mean that you wo n’t need a font to position it around the mansion .
Moving around the tablet , there ’s a USB - degree Celsius slot for charge and datum carry-over , and rather unco , a 3.5 mm headphone manual laborer . What ’s more , it actually has a becoming DAC inside , which means if you are listening to euphony you should experience a little superfluous pizzazz . It ’s a very nice addition , and it mean you have an selection other than faffing with Bluetooth .
All of the buttons feel nice and clicky , and the gadget itself is construct from a mix of metal and charge plate . On the whole , as before , it feels quite nicely build and bounty , this is no plastic fantastic . At no point was I blown away by the design , but it is a pleasant workhorse of a pill .
One thing to note : there are no pogo pins or the alternative of a hardware keyboard which seize straightaway . On tablets with this characteristic , the supported keyboard will have no input lag , here you are restricted to Bluetooth selection , for respectable or for worse .
Screen
move on to the presentation , it is simultaneously one of the most and least interesting part of the machine .
At 11.5 inches and a 2.5 K resolution , it is big and sharp enough to make watching TV a pleasant experience , and also to use as a minuscule work machine in a pinch . Text is rendered well and you wo n’t need to squinch as is sometimes necessary on lowly displays .
An unexpected treat is that it work at 90Hz too , a step low than 120Hz but nonetheless quicker than the standard 60Hz on many budget tablets . It means that when using the equipment it just feel quicker , more antiphonal to concern and snappy overall . You ’ll take a slender hit on stamp battery biography , however it is worth it .
Where things set out to descend down is first with color reproduction . Though it ’s potential to change the picture mode , by default I found things were a little dull and muted . That ’s not helped at least in part by the screen tech , which is IPS .
IP tech in itself is not a negative , however it is generally recognised that OLED panels provide superior brightness , contrast and colour . As such , it would have been squeamish to see one here , even at a lower refresh charge per unit .
Brightness was not a warm suit either . I found that typically to really see what I was watching , the brightness level call for to be crank right up and that the tablet struggled with the summer Sunday .
Dimness was n’t so much of an effect , intend using it in a pitching - Shirley Temple stage setting is comfy , utilitarian for bedtime scrollers .
On the whole , the gore on the Tab Plus isokay , it is n’t a deal breaker in any key vista , but it suffers from a lack of ambitiousness . If it was OLED , smart , faster , or anything that gave it an edge , it might have been more successful , but as things stand it is n’t a reason to buy the twist .
Camera
As with most tablets , the cameras on the Tab Plus were not a central consideration with design , they are there , but they are n’t marketed as a marketing point .
There are two 8MP snappers , one on the rear and another on the front . The former has autofocus , the latter does not . There ’s no flash on the rear , an annoyance if you need to scan document , and that ’s really as far as the technological specifications go .
As regards performance , there ’s nothing to get excited about . Colour reproduction is decent , with blue and greens showcasing a particular ‘ dad ’ , however that ’s where the positively charged news ends . On the whole , there ’s a lack of item and sharpness , even for 8MP , and dynamical mountain chain is poor . you’re able to bury about low - light photos , they just are n’t worth the effort .
On the front the office is alike . There ’s very little dynamic scope , think of tantrum are often blow out . What ’s more , there ’s a beauty filter spark off ( which can be switched off ) that reduces human face to those of featureless dolls . It ’s an odd choice .
Video menu little intimately , topping out at 1080p@30fps , which is high enough resolution for some role , but offering at least 60fps would have been prissy . There ’s one real positive for league song however ; the earpiece jack means you may secure in a pumped-up headset with a mic and enjoy much better microphone caliber than over Bluetooth .
Performance
While there ’s often a lot of investment by manufacturer in the screen of a tablet , one area which is typically of less grandness is carrying out . For the most part , what people will do with a pill will be watch TV , light gaming and word processing , none of which are particularly challenging even for low - death chips .
With the Tab Plus this maxim carry true ; sheer mogul is n’t a priority , and so the tablet is stick with average specifications in this area . There ’s a MediaTek Helio G99 CPU , back up by 8 GB of RAM and either 128 GB or 256 GB of storage . Happily , the storage can be lucubrate with a MicroSD card should you wish , there ’s no need to commit to higher repositing capability on leverage .
The processor is a relatively modern chip grow on a 6 nm process , and its emphasis is on free energy efficiency rather than outright top executive . For the most part , filch through the user interface and any other clear tasks you might have are n’t an issue , the Tab Plus feels nipping and pleasant to use . That ’s until you get to gaming .
If you require to punt a piffling on your tab , it is n’t the good option , though the kickstand does make it convenient . In forward-looking titles such as Genshin Impact or Fortnite , you ’ll be move in medium options at 30fps , which is below what many would consider to be satisfactory . If you enjoy single - actor titles it will be less of an issue , but anyone count to take part in a little competitive multiplayer would be better to look elsewhere .
come to benchmarks , in Geekbench 6 the Tab Plus achieve a unmarried - core score of 730 and a multi - core score of 2002 . These are figure equivalent to flagship devices from 3 + years ago , and as such are n’t peculiarly inspiring .
While the functioning that the Tab Plus showcases is n’t inspiring , it is enough for everyday use . It would have been nice , once again , to see a little more ambitiousness here . At the same price point , the Xiaomi Pad 6 offers a Snapdragon 860 which is a more powerful option and also has a nicer screenland .
Lastly , we add up to the speakers . Now there are eight of these , tune by JBL and feature prominently , and sadly their performance is nothing to triumph about . Though there ’s volume , the sound is perpetually waterlogged , with it being quite difficult to localise individual banknote and vocalisation at item .
It ’s a shame that something touted as so central to the identity of the tablet is in the end something of a bomb , but it is alas true . While no doubt dependable than a great deal of the rivalry , they just do n’t exist up to the promise of the marketing .
Software
As is to be expected with Lenovo twist , the company does very little to heighten the stock experience on its tablet . As ever , there are a few little extras which mostly centre around the habit of a stylus . One was n’t leave with the review sample , so this could n’t be screen .
On the whole , this is the antithesis of what the likes of Samsung try on to achieve with its flavour of Android . There ’s very minuscule in the way of duplicate apps or attempts to sell you new services , which is always pleasant to see .
It also entail that there ’s nothing to heighten the experience either , unlike with its Motorola phones . There ’s no desktop environment , or productivity - first feature which would have been courteous to see .
Regardless , for most people the software on the Lenovo is only a plus , not a subtraction . It ’s a object lesson in chasteness compared to which the average Xiaomi equipment is a garish carnival .
There is Google TV included , which can be get at through a swipe to the right , which bring up an aggregation of subject from video apps . It ’s useful enough but not a headline feature .
One slight mark against the Tab Plus is the stated length of software support , typically a helplessness for Lenovo . There are two years of feature article updates and four years of security system updates . Typically tablets are used for recollective than headphone are , for several years more in many instances , as such it would have been nice to see a longer windowpane of support .
Battery Life
If there is one part of the Tab Plus that Lenovo has n’t made a song and saltation about , it ’s battery life . That ’s rather odd , as battery life is by far the strong courtship of the gadget .
With an 8,600mAh cell , a major power - sipping processor and position - back software system , the component all compound into a lozenge that can keep on go .
watch a 90 - moment television , over wireless fidelity and at maximal brightness , the Tab Plus drop from 100 % to 88 % . This mean it will last a foresighted - length flight or more , and can make it through nearly any day that you might shed at it . That ’s with the proviso that you wo n’t be doing any real play , but notwithstanding , it ’s an excellent screening .
Charging is at 45W , which means that after 30 hour , from empty , the battery touch 57 % , which is reasonable . A courser is n’t included in the boxful however , which is something of a shame , even if no doubt good for the environment .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
The Tab Plus has a decent screen , ok speakers and a kickstand , with the last part meaning you do n’t need a subject to prop up it up .
The Tab Plus struggle with more complex tasks and demand covering .
Final Thoughts
When it fare to the mid - range tablet marketplace , the marketing for a gadget is often hang around one tentpole feature , and for the Tab Plus , that ’s its intention . It does have a striking build , which is both sturdy and swish , and the utility of the kickstand ca n’t be impugned .
However , the filmdom is relatively dim , the performance is n’t up to snuff and the speakers , though tawdry , do n’t have the best detail . For a multimedia pad of paper , that ’s an inauspicious set of drawback , but then there are more positives .
The battery life is truly great , the 3.5 mm phone jack is of accidentally high quality and the software package , while unexciting , is laidback . train as a whole , this is a lozenge that achieves balance but never any great high gear .
If you are in the market , there are a raft of strong options at the price point , and if you want something powerful , or with a great exhibit , there arebetter option uncommitted . However if flexibility around the home is what you want in a pad of paper , this is a square choice .
Trusted Score
How we test
We quiz every tablet we review soundly . We utilize industry - received tests to liken features properly and we use the pad as our main gadget over the review period . We ’ll always severalize you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to review a merchandise .
Find out more about how we prove in ourethics policy .
FAQs
No , you ’ll need to source your own 45W charger to get the profligate bearing speeds possible .
Lenovo has committed to two type O upgrades and four years of security spell .
