Nice for players, higher for everybody

It’s laborious to really feel genuinely enthusiastic about Android tablets today. The market has grow to be homogenized over time, providing choices that every one blur collectively. Samsung’s obtained tablets for each worth bracket, Amazon’s obtained its Fireplace lineup of tablets on a finances, and everybody else is simply… form of there. They principally look the identical, really feel the identical, and attempt to do the identical issues, simply with completely different logos slapped on prime.

So when Lenovo despatched me a “gaming pill” to check, I used to be intrigued. What does a gaming pill even appear to be? Does it include RGB and shoulder triggers? I’ve spent the previous three weeks with the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3, and spoiler alert, it doesn’t include any of these. The excellent news is that it’s a gaming pill, all proper.

However extra importantly, it seems the $549 Legion Tab Gen 3 delivers some of the enjoyable Android pill experiences I’ve had, though I feel there’s a really small chunk of people that may really need to purchase it.

After I first obtained my arms on the Legion Tab, I had no thought what it price, and my first response after unboxing it was that it felt like a flagship product. I genuinely assumed it might be priced someplace near $1,000. You possibly can think about my shock after I later came upon it prices half of that.

Lenovo features a surprisingly luxurious set of equipment within the field: a grilled bumper case for the again, a magnetic flap that attaches to it and turns it right into a folio case, a glass display protector, a 68W charging brick, and a USB-C to USB-C cable. The folio case even folds neatly to double up as a kickstand while you set the pill down in panorama mode.

The pill itself feels simply nearly as good. Lenovo has gone with an all-metal development that feels sturdy and premium. The matte black end won’t scream “gaming pill” the best way some may count on, however the industrial model seems much more polished than the drained gray or silver shades you see on most tablets. Across the again, the etched Legion emblem and an oblong digicam island are the one flashy parts, holding the design clear and delicate.

There isn’t a SIM card slot or expandable storage, so the one cutouts on the body are two speaker grilles and two USB-C ports. One is a typical USB 2.0 port, whereas the opposite is a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port. That sooner port permits for a lot faster knowledge transfers and even helps Show output if you wish to hook up an exterior monitor.

Lenovo additionally thought of the location, placing one port on the longer edge and one on the shorter edge. Regardless of the way you maintain the pill, you’ll be able to normally plug it in for charging, streaming, or utilizing equipment with out a lot trouble.

That being stated, players may miss a 3.5mm headphone jack. Technically, you’ll be able to nonetheless plug in wired earphones with a USB-C adapter because of the twin ports, but it surely appears like a missed alternative for individuals who need simple, zero-latency audio for gaming. There’s additionally no IP ranking for water or mud safety, one thing Samsung provides with its tablets at related or barely greater worth factors. On prime of that, Lenovo skipped a fingerprint reader altogether. You get 2D face unlock in order for you, however I ended up counting on previous sample lock more often than not.

My favourite factor in regards to the Legion Tab is one thing only a few Android tablets even try anymore: its dimension. With smartphone screens getting nearer and nearer to seven inches, it’s solely honest that the majority tablets today are chasing display sizes of 10 inches or extra by default. Lenovo flips that development with a compact kind issue that I immediately fell in love with.

The pill measures 7.79 mm x 208.54 mm x 129.46 mm (0.31 in x 8.21 in x 5.10 in) and weighs roughly 350 grams. Most different tablets simply exceed the 500-gram mark, and whereas that distinction won’t appear large on a spec sheet, it issues so much while you’re really carrying the system round.

For context, my regular pill is my growing older however ever-reliable Galaxy Tab S7 Plus. As a lot as I like it, I hardly take it out except it’s for a long-distance flight, as a result of carrying it appears like an entire manufacturing. I have to pack it right into a backpack, take it out, discover house to set it down, and repeat the entire dance when I’m carried out. The Legion Tab feels extra like a Kindle as compared. You possibly can carry it in your arms on a day trip within the park, or simply use it to scroll social media sitting on a sofa without having to relaxation it on one thing. That ease of use rapidly grew to become one in every of my favourite issues about it.

The rationale the Legion Tab feels so compact is that it comes with an 8.8-inch show. That’s a lot smaller than the screens you get on tablets just like the OnePlus Pad 2 or any of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab fashions, and as shut as you’re going to get today to a traditional Nexus 7-style compact pill. In truth, it is just barely larger than my Galaxy Z Fold 5 when unfolded, though the Legion Tab provides much more usable display space because of its side ratio.

The show is a 16:10 LCD panel with a 2.5K decision (2560 x 1600). It helps 98% of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut and comes with HDR10 help. Below regular situations, the display hits a most brightness of 500 nits and might push as much as 900 nits when Excessive Brightness Mode kicks in.

The display will get vivid sufficient to be simply usable each indoors and outside, colours look wealthy and punchy, and the viewing angles are strong too. I used the Legion Tab to binge the newest Black Mirror episodes, and I performed chunk of video games on it as properly. It doesn’t matter what I threw at it, the show delivered.

Nonetheless, I couldn’t fairly shake off the sensation that one thing was lacking. I ended up pulling out my Galaxy Tab S7 Plus simply to check my impressions, and though it’s three generations previous at this level, its AMOLED panel nonetheless matches the Legion Tab’s display. Colours popped a little bit extra, and particularly in low-light environments, the deep blacks on the AMOLED display created a a lot richer expertise.

I’m not saying the Legion Tab’s display is dangerous. In truth, it’s in all probability among the best LCD panels I’ve seen on a cell system in recent times. All I’m saying is that if Lenovo have been to make only one improve to the next-gen Legion Tab, it ought to swap out the LCD for an AMOLED show. Nonetheless, I doubt Lenovo will be capable to preserve this worth level if and when it makes the change.

Avid gamers and non-gamers alike will certainly respect one factor, although: the 165Hz refresh fee. It makes the complete UI really feel extremely easy, and most actions on this pill really feel buttery easy. In case your favourite video games help 90fps or 120fps gameplay, you’ll be able to take pleasure in that full fluidity right here too, and it genuinely provides to the gaming expertise.

Yeah, gaming. Let’s get that out of the best way now. This pill comes with precisely the form of specs you’ll count on for a tool with Lenovo’s Legion branding. It packs 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage. Powering all of it is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, Qualcomm’s flagship chip from final 12 months, and it’s nonetheless a beast.

I attempted downloading the largest, heaviest video games I might discover on the Play Retailer, and the Legion Tab had no bother working them on the highest or near-highest settings. Genshin Influence, some of the graphically demanding video games on Android, displayed its regular warning about overheating should you crank every thing up. I ignored it and ran the sport at Excessive graphics and 60fps anyway. The Legion Tab saved up simply advantageous, delivering near 60fps more often than not, with just one noticeable drop to round 40fps throughout a cutscene transition.

One other heavy hitter I examined was Vibrant Reminiscence Infinite, a fast-paced first-person shooter that may really push 120fps gameplay on this pill. The Legion Tab dealt with it very well, with body charges hardly ever dropping beneath 100fps throughout intense motion.

The expertise was the identical throughout each different recreation I attempted. Lighter video games, unsurprisingly, ran flawlessly. Warmth administration can be carried out properly. The pill’s built-in efficiency overlay confirmed the temperature rising from round 20 levels Celsius to about 40 levels throughout an hour of continuous gaming. The pill’s again obtained heat to the contact, but it surely by no means obtained uncomfortably sizzling, and efficiency stayed steady the entire time.

The Legion Tab solely packs a 6,550mAh battery in comparison with the 8,000mAh and even 10,000mAh monsters you get on larger tablets. I seen a 20% drop in battery after round half-hour of gaming, no matter which title I performed. Meaning it’s best to count on about two and a half hours of great gaming on a full cost. It’s not mind-blowing, but it surely’s the trade-off for the smaller kind issue.

Outdoors of gaming, battery life held up higher than I anticipated. Standby efficiency is very spectacular. I left the pill related to Wi-Fi for days at a time, and it might barely lose 2% to three% over 24 hours. One time, I picked it up after 5 days of simply sitting there, totally anticipating it to be lifeless, but it surely nonetheless had over 80% battery left. Common duties like watching movies, scrolling by means of social media, or gentle looking additionally barely dent the battery.

Topping up is quick too. The included 68W charger brings the Legion Tab from practically lifeless to full in simply over an hour. You need to use both of the USB-C ports to cost, however you can not plug into each directly, so save your self the big-brain experiment.

Lenovo additionally added help for bypass charging, which implies while you plug in whereas gaming, the facility can go straight to the pill’s motherboard as a substitute of the battery. That helps keep away from warmth buildup and retains efficiency regular throughout lengthy gaming periods.

Gaming extras

The specs race retains pushing ahead for cell gaming, and Lenovo will quickly launch a model of this pill with a fair stronger chip. The issue is, whereas there are loads of nice video games on Android, there are barely any proper now that may push at this time’s {hardware} to its absolute limits. That stated, if you’re somebody who performs aggressive cell video games and cares extra about response occasions and smoothness than pixel-perfect graphics, the Legion Tab delivers precisely what you want.

It’ll even be a very dependable slate should you’re into retro video games through emulation, whereas nonetheless having headroom to spare for heavier load add-ons like customized shaders. The caveat is that you just’ll rapidly refill that 256GB fastened storage.

The pill does every thing it may well to make gaming really feel immersive, too. The twin-speaker setup will get loud and sounds surprisingly good. If you fireplace up a recreation in panorama mode, the pill robotically switches to a panoramic sound mode. It creates sufficient stereo separation that you could observe enemy footsteps in video games like PUBG without having headphones, though pair of earbuds nonetheless provides you one of the best edge.

One other spotlight is the X-axis haptic motor. It’s sharp, exact, and truly provides an actual layer of suggestions to your interactions, each in-game and whereas utilizing the final UI.

I additionally cherished how the Legion Tab’s smaller dimension performs properly with cell gamepad controllers just like the Razer Kishi Extremely and the Gamesir G8 Plus. Mounting the pill in one in every of these controllers takes the gaming expertise to a different degree. Vibrant Reminiscence Infinite, Asphalt Legends, and even smaller video games felt far more pleasing with bodily controls. And since the pill is comparatively light-weight, the entire setup stays comfy to carry for longer gaming periods. It’s in all probability among the best methods to take pleasure in cell gaming on a flight or whereas touring.

Software program-wise, Lenovo retains issues fairly easy. There’s a Legion Area app that serves as a primary gaming hub, the place all of your put in video games are displayed in a single place. When you are enjoying, you’ll be able to pull up a floating overlay from the facet of the display. It provides you entry to fast settings, similar to switching efficiency modes (Steadiness, Excessive Efficiency, and Power Saving), or capturing screenshots and display recordings.

There’s one bizarre omission, although. The pill doesn’t robotically disable display timeout whereas gaming. In case your display is about to show off after 30 seconds, it’s going to nonetheless try this even if you’re in the course of an extended cutscene or a loading display. There isn’t a toggle contained in the gaming overlay to maintain the display on, both. The one manner round it’s to exit your recreation, dig into the settings, and manually change the display timeout to “by no means,” which is annoying as a result of it additionally disables display timeout in every single place else. It’s a small however painfully apparent factor that Lenovo ought to have dealt with higher.

Common Android with a gamer wallpaper

Outdoors of the gaming extras, the software program expertise on the Legion Tab is… advantageous. Lenovo hasn’t added any particular pores and skin or UI adjustments particularly for players. It’s simply the corporate’s regular Android pores and skin, with a Legion-themed wallpaper on prime. The pill ships with Android 14 out of the field, but it surely obtained the Android 15 replace the second I powered it on. That’s signal, and Lenovo says it’s going to get two extra main OS updates after that, which is ok for the kind of pill that is, however not so good as what you get from Samsung or Google.

Lenovo’s UI feels fairly near inventory Android. It’s light-weight, easy, and possibly even a little bit too primary. You get just a few customization choices for themes and wallpapers, and you may run split-screen apps or use floating home windows. There’s no built-in AI stuff from Lenovo right here, however you continue to get all the standard Google options like Circle to Search and the Gemini assistant.

There’s chunk of pre-installed apps on the pill, however you’ll be able to uninstall all of them in order for you. What aggravated me extra was the setup expertise. Lenovo tries actually laborious to push pages of bloatware and random video games onto you, and it’s a must to uncheck every app individually simply to keep away from them. It’s annoying, however a minimum of it solely occurs as soon as, so I’m keen to let that slide.

Connectivity-wise, the Legion Tab helps Wi-Fi 7, and I skilled no points with velocity or sign throughout my time utilizing it at house. There’s no mobile mannequin, although. Which may not be an enormous subject for many, however with many fashionable cell video games requiring a relentless web connection, it’s one thing to think about. Except you’re okay with tethering your telephone or solely utilizing the pill in Wi-Fi zones, that is just about a stay-at-home system.

And sure, the pill does have cameras. There’s a 13MP rear digicam, an 8MP entrance digicam, and a macro sensor that I gained’t even faux to take significantly. The rear digicam works properly sufficient for snapping paperwork, and the entrance digicam can deal with 1080p video calls or primary streaming wants. You’ll get respectable ends in good lighting, however don’t count on something near the standard of your telephone’s digicam, particularly for portraits or Instagram posts.

The Lenovo Legion Tab ($549.99 at Lenovo) targets a really particular area of interest — the cell gamer — and it nails that objective virtually completely. It provides you highly effective gaming {hardware} in a kind issue that feels excellent. It’s larger than a telephone however not as cumbersome or awkward as a full-size pill. It suits neatly into cell gaming controllers, you’ll be able to hook it as much as an even bigger display in order for you, it costs extremely quick, and there’s little or no to complain about general.

You continue to have just a few issues to bear in mind, just like the lacking headphone jack, the shortage of any biometrics, and the absence of a mobile mannequin. But when your most important purpose is easy, responsive cell gaming, the Legion Tab will get the job carried out. What stunned me extra was how a lot this pill began making sense even outdoors of gaming.

Smartphone screens are already sufficiently big for many informal duties, similar to social media and watching movies, and after I want an even bigger display for work, I might slightly open my laptop computer. Most Android tablets additionally don’t have the form of seamless ecosystem integration that iPads take pleasure in, which makes them really feel like an remoted buy as a substitute of a pure extension of your setup. That’s why my Galaxy Tab S7 Plus principally sits round accumulating mud till I journey.

The Legion Tab feels completely different due to its dimension. It’s sufficiently big to make me need to change from my telephone for issues like watching YouTube movies or casually looking Instagram. On the similar time, it’s sufficiently small that I don’t must overthink choosing it up. I don’t really feel like I have to justify utilizing it for a selected job the best way I normally do with full-sized tablets. It’s gentle, fast, and simple to achieve all through the day with out even desirous about it.

That compact dimension does include trade-offs. This isn’t the form of pill you’ll be able to deal with as a productiveness machine or a laptop computer substitute. If you could kind so much, multitask with a number of apps, or browse spreadsheets, this isn’t the appropriate device for the job. Plus, the battery life takes an apparent hit.

In case you are trying particularly for a gaming pill, the closest competitor to the Legion Tab is the OnePlus Pad 2 ($549.99 at Amazon). It additionally provides flagship-grade efficiency, a giant battery, quick charging, and a a lot bigger show for a similar worth. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S10 FE ($499.99 at Amazon) is another choice in an identical worth vary, and it provides options like a bundled S Pen, an IP ranking, and a mobile mannequin choice. Nonetheless, it doesn’t supply the identical degree of uncooked efficiency because the Legion Tab. Plus, each of those options are a lot larger and heavier gadgets.

If finances shouldn’t be a serious concern, you could possibly additionally think about the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus ($999.99 at Samsung). It provides an unbelievable 12.4-inch AMOLED show, flagship efficiency, and tons of premium options, however it’s going to price you almost twice as a lot because the Legion Tab.

In case you are merely on the lookout for a compact pill, there are virtually no actual rivals on the Android facet proper now outdoors of the Pixel Pill ($499 at Amazon), which hasn’t aged that properly, and is bigger anyway. The one actual different is the iPad Mini ($459 at Amazon), however that call comes all the way down to which ecosystem you favor greater than anything.

I nonetheless don’t assume small tablets will attraction to the plenty. There’s a purpose why corporations usually abandon smaller flagship telephones after just a few generations. The identical may occur with compact tablets. However whether or not the world embraces them or not, the Lenovo Legion Tab made me bear in mind how enjoyable and sensible a well-designed pill will be.