Nice for players, higher for everybody

It’s arduous to really feel genuinely enthusiastic about Android tablets as of late. The market has develop into homogenized through the years, providing choices that each one blur collectively. Samsung’s acquired tablets for each worth bracket, Amazon’s acquired its Hearth 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 like? 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 one of the crucial enjoyable Android pill experiences I’ve had, though I feel there’s a really small chunk of people that may truly need to purchase it.

After I first acquired my palms on the Legion Tab, I had no thought what it value, and my first response after unboxing it was that it felt like a flagship product. I genuinely assumed it will 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 screen 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 if 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 way in which some may count on, however the industrial model seems to be much more polished than the drained gray or silver shades you see on most tablets. Across the again, the etched Legion brand and an oblong digicam island are the one flashy parts, conserving the design clear and delicate.

There isn’t any 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 normal 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-about the position, placing one port on the longer edge and one on the shorter edge. Irrespective of the way you maintain the pill, you possibly can often plug it in for charging, streaming, or utilizing equipment with out a lot trouble.

That being mentioned, players may miss a 3.5mm headphone jack. Technically, you possibly can nonetheless plug in wired earphones with a USB-C adapter due to the twin ports, but it surely seems like a missed alternative for individuals who need straightforward, zero-latency audio for gaming. There may be additionally no IP score for water or mud safety, one thing Samsung gives with its tablets at related or barely larger worth factors. On prime of that, Lenovo skipped a fingerprint reader altogether. You get 2D face unlock if you need, however I ended up counting on a very good outdated sample lock more often than not.

My favourite factor concerning 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 almost all tablets as of late are chasing display screen 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 big on a spec sheet, it issues lots if you’re truly carrying the system round.

For context, my regular pill is my ageing 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 seems like an entire manufacturing. I must pack it right into a backpack, take it out, discover house to set it down, and repeat the entire dance when I’m completed. The Legion Tab feels extra like a Kindle as compared. You possibly can carry it in your palms on a time out within the park, or simply use it to scroll social media sitting on a sofa while not having to relaxation it on one thing. That ease of use rapidly turned certainly one 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 as of late to a traditional Nexus 7-style compact pill. The truth is, it’s only barely larger than my Galaxy Z Fold 5 when unfolded, though the Legion Tab gives much more usable display screen space due to 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 shade gamut and comes with HDR10 help. Underneath regular circumstances, the display screen hits a most brightness of 500 nits and might push as much as 900 nits when Excessive Brightness Mode kicks in.

The display screen will get shiny sufficient to be simply usable each indoors and open air, colours look wealthy and punchy, and the viewing angles are strong too. I used the Legion Tab to binge the most recent Black Mirror episodes, and I performed a very good chunk of video games on it as nicely. 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 outdated at this level, its AMOLED panel nonetheless matches the Legion Tab’s display screen. Colours popped a bit extra, and particularly in low-light environments, the deep blacks on the AMOLED display screen created a a lot richer expertise.

I’m not saying the Legion Tab’s display screen is unhealthy. The truth is, it’s in all probability the most effective LCD panels I’ve seen on a cellular system lately. 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. Nevertheless, I doubt Lenovo will be capable of keep this worth level if and when it makes the swap.

Avid gamers and non-gamers alike will certainly admire one factor, although: the 165Hz refresh charge. 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 possibly can get pleasure from that full fluidity right here too, and it genuinely provides to the gaming expertise.

Yeah, gaming. Let’s get that out of the way in which 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 yr, and it’s nonetheless a beast.

I attempted downloading the most important, heaviest video games I may discover on the Play Retailer, and the Legion Tab had no hassle operating them on the highest or near-highest settings. Genshin Affect, one of the crucial graphically demanding video games on Android, displayed its regular warning about overheating in the event you crank all the things up. I ignored it and ran the sport at Excessive graphics and 60fps anyway. The Legion Tab saved up simply nice, 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 Shiny Reminiscence Infinite, a fast-paced first-person shooter that may truly push 120fps gameplay on this pill. The Legion Tab dealt with it very well, with body charges not often dropping under 100fps throughout intense motion.

The expertise was the identical throughout each different sport I attempted. Lighter video games, unsurprisingly, ran flawlessly. Warmth administration can also be completed nicely. 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 acquired heat to the contact, but it surely by no means acquired uncomfortably scorching, and efficiency stayed secure 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 you must count on about two and a half hours of significant 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 will 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 social media, or mild shopping additionally barely dent the battery.

Topping up is quick too. The included 68W charger brings the Legion Tab from almost lifeless to full in simply over an hour. You should utilize both of the USB-C ports to cost, however you can’t plug into each without delay, so save your self the big-brain experiment.

Lenovo additionally added help for bypass charging, which implies if 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 cellular gaming, and Lenovo will quickly launch a model of this pill with a good 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 the moment’s {hardware} to its absolute limits. That mentioned, in case you are somebody who performs aggressive cellular video games and cares extra about response instances and smoothness than pixel-perfect graphics, the Legion Tab delivers precisely what you want.

It’ll even be a extremely dependable slate in the event you’re into retro video games by way of 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 all the things it may to make gaming really feel immersive, too. The twin-speaker setup will get loud and sounds surprisingly good. If you fireplace up a sport in panorama mode, the pill routinely switches to a panoramic sound mode. It creates sufficient stereo separation you could monitor enemy footsteps in video games like PUBG while not having headphones, though a very good pair of earbuds nonetheless offers you the most effective 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 liked how the Legion Tab’s smaller dimension performs nicely with cellular gamepad controllers just like the Razer Kishi Extremely and the Gamesir G8 Plus. Mounting the pill in certainly one of these controllers takes the gaming expertise to a different degree. Shiny Reminiscence Infinite, Asphalt Legends, and even smaller video games felt far more satisfying with bodily controls. And since the pill is comparatively light-weight, the entire setup stays snug to carry for longer gaming periods. It’s in all probability the most effective methods to get pleasure from cellular 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 taking part in, you possibly can pull up a floating overlay from the facet of the display screen. It offers you entry to fast settings, reminiscent of switching efficiency modes (Stability, Excessive Efficiency, and Vitality Saving), or capturing screenshots and display screen recordings.

There may be one bizarre omission, although. The pill doesn’t routinely disable display screen timeout whereas gaming. In case your display screen is ready to show off after 30 seconds, it is going to nonetheless do this even in case you are in the midst of a protracted cutscene or a loading display screen. There isn’t any toggle contained in the gaming overlay to maintain the display screen on, both. The one method round it’s to exit your sport, dig into the settings, and manually change the display screen timeout to “by no means,” which is annoying as a result of it additionally disables display screen timeout in all places 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… nice. 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 acquired the Android 15 replace the second I powered it on. That’s a very good signal, and Lenovo says it is going to get two extra main OS updates after that, which is okay for the kind of pill that is, however inferior to what you get from Samsung or Google.

Lenovo’s UI feels fairly near inventory Android. It’s light-weight, easy, and perhaps even a bit too primary. You get a couple of 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 same old Google options like Circle to Search and the Gemini assistant.

There’s a very good chunk of pre-installed apps on the pill, however you possibly can uninstall all of them if you need. What aggravated me extra was the setup expertise. Lenovo tries actually arduous to push pages of bloatware and random video games onto you, and it’s important 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 prepared to let that slide.

Connectivity-wise, the Legion Tab helps Wi-Fi 7, and I skilled no points with pace or sign throughout my time utilizing it at house. There’s no mobile mannequin, although. Which may not be an enormous problem for many, however with many trendy cellular video games requiring a continuing web connection, it’s one thing to contemplate. Until 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 received’t even faux to take critically. The rear digicam works nicely sufficient for snapping paperwork, and the entrance digicam can deal with 1080p video calls or primary streaming wants. You’ll get first rate leads to 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 cellular gamer — and it nails that function virtually completely. It offers 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 matches neatly into cellular gaming controllers, you possibly can hook it as much as an even bigger display screen if you need, it expenses extremely quick, and there’s little or no to complain about total.

You continue to have a couple of issues to bear in mind, just like the lacking headphone jack, the dearth of any biometrics, and the absence of a mobile mannequin. But when your essential objective is easy, responsive cellular gaming, the Legion Tab will get the job completed. What stunned me extra was how a lot this pill began making sense even exterior of gaming.

Smartphone screens are already large enough for many informal duties, reminiscent of social media and watching movies, and after I want an even bigger display screen for work, I might slightly open my laptop computer. Most Android tablets additionally don’t have the form of seamless ecosystem integration that iPads get pleasure from, 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 gathering mud till I journey.

The Legion Tab feels completely different due to its dimension. It’s large enough to make me need to swap from my telephone for issues like watching YouTube movies or casually shopping Instagram. On the similar time, it’s sufficiently small that I don’t need to overthink choosing it up. I don’t really feel like I must justify utilizing it for a particular process the way in which I often do with full-sized tablets. It’s mild, fast, and straightforward to achieve all through the day with out even interested by it.

That compact dimension does include trade-offs. This isn’t the form of pill you possibly can deal with as a productiveness machine or a laptop computer substitute. If it’s worthwhile to sort lots, multitask with a number of apps, or browse spreadsheets, this isn’t the correct instrument for the job. Plus, the battery life takes an apparent hit.

In case you are wanting particularly for a gaming pill, the closest competitor to the Legion Tab is the OnePlus Pad 2 ($549.99 at Amazon). It additionally gives flagship-grade efficiency, an enormous 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 analogous worth vary, and it provides options like a bundled S Pen, an IP score, and a mobile mannequin possibility. Nevertheless, 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 is just not a significant concern, you possibly can additionally contemplate the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus ($999.99 at Samsung). It gives an unimaginable 12.4-inch AMOLED show, flagship efficiency, and tons of premium options, however it is going to value 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 opponents on the Android facet proper now exterior of the Pixel Pill ($499 at Amazon), which hasn’t aged that nicely, and is bigger anyway. The one actual various is the iPad Mini ($459 at Amazon), however that call comes right down to which ecosystem you like greater than the rest.

I nonetheless don’t suppose small tablets will enchantment to the plenty. There’s a cause why corporations typically abandon smaller flagship telephones after a couple of generations. The identical may occur with compact tablets. However whether or not the world embraces them or not, the Lenovo Legion Tab made me keep in mind how enjoyable and sensible a well-designed pill might be.