ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Lenovo’s Tab Plus is a mid-range pill at present promoting for $330 on Finest Purchase.
- Opposite to its small dimension, the mannequin homes a booming eight-speaker system and a long-lasting battery.
- The MediaTek Helio chipset and dim show will not be successful any awards.
extra shopping for decisions
What is the deal?
Despite the fact that the Lenovo Tab Plus is new, it is already been discounted. The pill has dropped down $250 on Best Buy and Lenovo’sdigital retailer.
It is the top of the 12 months, and which means lots of people are searching for vacation presents. If you happen to’re having a tough time deciding what to reward, might I like to recommend the Lenovo Tab Plus? That is Lenovo’s newest light-weight pill, able to doubling as a mini-home theater. The whole lot that you could possibly need in an leisure system is right here.
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The Lenovo Tab Plus is compact, measuring 11.5 inches and weighing about 1.4 kilos. It is comparable in dimension to an iPad Air, however in contrast to Apple’s gadget, this pill would not have a easy again as the underside half juts out. The decrease part measures 13.58 mm thick, whereas the higher half is simply 7.7 mm. There is a good purpose Lenovo designed its pill with this distinctive look as the underside half homes two of the mannequin’s excellent options.
First, there’s the built-in kickstand that sits flush with the pill’s rear. Popping it out offers a secure base and lets the gadget tilt as much as 175 levels. Praising a kickstand could seem foolish, however do not forget that most tablets — with out the addition of a protecting case –don’t have a strategy to prop themselves up. It is an incredible quality-of-life function that enhances the viewing expertise, and it is one I want different producers capitalized on.
Additionally, when mixed with smartphone help, the Tab Plus can double as a robust Bluetooth speaker.
Talking of audio, the sound system is my favourite function of the Tab Plus. It has eight JBL audio system consisting of 4 tweeters and 4 woofers, all finetuned by Dolby Atmos. As compared, the M4 iPad Pro, Apple’s present premium pill, solely has 4 audio system.
I discovered the system’s audio efficiency excellent. As a part of the testing, I watched your complete second season of Arcane on Netflix. From the primary episode to the final, I loved crystal-clear sounds highly effective sufficient to fill a room. That stated, the bass is a bit missing — it is nowhere close to as punchy as bass from a soundbar.
The display high quality is nice, too. It is a 2K show working at a refresh price of 90Hz, delivering brilliant colours and easy animations. It carried out effectively throughout most purposes. Nonetheless, I did not like how dim it seemed. The display’s brightness peaks at 400 nits, which is okay for indoor viewing however not outdoor. The show struggled to shine in a brilliant surroundings.
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Below the hood is the MediaTek Helio G99 SoC (system on a chip), together with 8GB of RAM — {hardware} that is typical in price range gadgets. The G99 is not a really highly effective chipset, and it is a few years previous, however it will get the job carried out. I by no means as soon as bumped into efficiency drops whereas casually searching with Google Chrome or enjoying cellular video games.
The Lenovo Tab Plus features decently effectively as a piece pill. You’ll be able to join equipment like keyboards through Bluetooth. Due to Android 14, there is a desktop mode for mimicking desktop setups. The working system additionally delivers participating gesture controls. My favourite is the place swiping up sends you to a carousel of open apps, and you’ll hop between any one in all them. Smartphones have comparable performance.
Android 14 brings with it years of updates. Lenovo has pledged to repeatedly roll out safety patches to the Tab Plus till June 2028.
A number of equipment can be found, however even with all these devices outfitted, do not count on Lenovo’s machine to be a powerhouse. I ran the PCMark Work 3.0 benchmark exams to see how effectively the pill would carry out throughout a number of workflows. On the time I carried out the exams, the Lenovo Tab Plus did fairly effectively, incomes thirty second place out of 200 on the developer’s best tablets list for November 2024. Nonetheless, it fell far behind contemporaries just like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and the OnePlus Pad 2.
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These numbers inform me that the Tab Plus might not be wonderful at tackling robust workloads like video modifying, however it will not be horrible both. {Hardware} efficiency could also be middling, however the battery positive is not. On common, the pill lasts 15 hours on a single cost. I left it working one afternoon and was pleasantly shocked to see it nonetheless enjoying the check livestream the next morning.
The cupboard space is unsurprisingly small, at 256GB. It could’ve been good to have entry to an even bigger drive, however with a pill this low-cost, you must count on some cuts. Fortunately, you possibly can increase storage by inserting a 1TB mini SD card into the slot on the prime.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
Lenovo’s Tab Plus usually retails for $330 at Finest Purchase. Even at its full value, I’d suggest this gadget. Fortunately, you should purchase this mannequin from Lenovo’s storefront at a reduced $288. This can be a nice Christmas current for family members who get pleasure from watching the most recent exhibits on Netflix or desire a multimedia pill.
The MediaTek Helio G99 is not one of the best work gadget. These searching for a pill with muscle ought to try Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S10 Plus. The OnePlus Pad 2 is one other strong, midrange possibility for many who do not thoughts spending additional money.
