Nice for avid gamers, higher for everybody

It’s arduous to really feel genuinely enthusiastic about Android tablets as of late. The market has turn into homogenized over time, providing choices that each one blur collectively. Samsung’s received tablets for each value bracket, Amazon’s received its Fireplace lineup of tablets on a price range, and everybody else is simply… sort 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 seem 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 vital 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 received my arms 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 might be priced someplace near $1,000. You may think about my shock once 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 once you set the pill down in panorama mode.

The pill itself feels simply pretty much as good. Lenovo has gone with an all-metal development that feels sturdy and premium. The matte black end may not scream “gaming pill” the best way some may count on, however the industrial type appears to be like 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, holding the design clear and refined.

There is no such thing as 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 quicker port permits for a lot faster information 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. Irrespective of the way you maintain the pill, you may often plug it in for charging, streaming, or utilizing equipment with out a lot trouble.

That being stated, avid gamers may miss a 3.5mm headphone jack. Technically, you may nonetheless plug in wired earphones with a USB-C adapter because of the twin ports, nevertheless it seems like a missed alternative for many who need straightforward, zero-latency audio for gaming. There’s additionally no IP score for water or mud safety, one thing Samsung provides with its tablets at comparable or barely greater value 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 a superb 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 truthful that almost all tablets as of late are chasing display screen sizes of 10 inches or extra by default. Lenovo flips that pattern with a compact type 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 may not appear large on a spec sheet, it issues lots once you’re really carrying the gadget round.

For context, my standard pill is my growing older however ever-reliable Galaxy Tab S7 Plus. As a lot as I adore 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 have to pack it right into a backpack, take it out, discover area to set it down, and repeat the entire dance when I’m completed. The Legion Tab feels extra like a Kindle as compared. You may carry it in your arms on a day trip 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 grew to become certainly one of my favourite issues about it.

The explanation 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 is just barely greater than my Galaxy Z Fold 5 when unfolded, though the Legion Tab provides much more usable display screen space because of its facet 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 assist. Underneath regular situations, the display screen hits a most brightness of 500 nits and may push as much as 900 nits when Excessive Brightness Mode kicks in.

The display screen will get vivid sufficient to be simply usable each indoors and outdoor, colours look wealthy and punchy, and the viewing angles are stable too. I used the Legion Tab to binge the newest Black Mirror episodes, and I performed a superb 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 match 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 little 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 dangerous. The truth is, it’s most likely among the finest LCD panels I’ve seen on a cell gadget 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 value level if and when it makes the change.

Avid gamers and non-gamers alike will certainly respect one factor, although: the 165Hz refresh price. It makes your entire UI really feel extremely easy, and most actions on this pill really feel buttery easy. In case your favourite video games assist 90fps or 120fps gameplay, you may 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 sort 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 hassle working them on the highest or near-highest settings. Genshin Influence, one of the vital graphically demanding video games on Android, displayed its standard 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 stored up simply high quality, 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 not often dropping beneath 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 received heat to the contact, nevertheless it by no means received uncomfortably sizzling, 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 greater tablets. I seen a 20% drop in battery after round half-hour of gaming, no matter which title I performed. Which means it is best to count on about two and a half hours of significant gaming on a full cost. It’s not mind-blowing, nevertheless it’s the trade-off for the smaller type issue.

Exterior of gaming, battery life held up higher than I anticipated. Standby efficiency is particularly spectacular. I left the pill linked 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, absolutely anticipating it to be useless, nevertheless it nonetheless had over 80% battery left. Common duties like watching movies, scrolling by social media, or mild searching additionally barely dent the battery.

Topping up is quick too. The included 68W charger brings the Legion Tab from almost useless to full in simply over an hour. You should use 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 assist for bypass charging, which suggests once 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 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 in the present day’s {hardware} to its absolute limits. That stated, in case you are somebody who performs aggressive cell 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 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 replenish that 256GB mounted storage.

The pill does every thing it may to make gaming really feel immersive, too. The twin-speaker setup will get loud and sounds surprisingly good. Whenever you hearth up a sport in panorama mode, the pill mechanically switches to a panoramic sound mode. It creates sufficient stereo separation that you would be able to monitor enemy footsteps in video games like PUBG while not having headphones, though a superb 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 beloved how the Legion Tab’s smaller dimension performs nicely with cell 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. Vibrant Reminiscence Infinite, Asphalt Legends, and even smaller video games felt far more gratifying with bodily controls. And since the pill is comparatively light-weight, the entire setup stays comfy to carry for longer gaming periods. It’s most likely among the finest 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. While you’re taking part in, you may pull up a floating overlay from the aspect of the display screen. It offers you entry to fast settings, resembling switching efficiency modes (Stability, Excessive Efficiency, and Vitality Saving), or capturing screenshots and display screen recordings.

There’s one bizarre omission, although. The pill doesn’t mechanically disable display screen timeout whereas gaming. In case your display screen is about to show off after 30 seconds, it can nonetheless try this even in case you are in the midst of a protracted cutscene or a loading display screen. There is no such thing as a 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

Exterior of the gaming extras, the software program expertise on the Legion Tab is… high quality. Lenovo hasn’t added any particular pores and skin or UI modifications particularly for avid gamers. It’s simply the corporate’s standard Android pores and skin, with a Legion-themed wallpaper on prime. The pill ships with Android 14 out of the field, nevertheless it received the Android 15 replace the second I powered it on. That’s a superb signal, and Lenovo says it can 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 possibly even a little bit too primary. You get a couple of customization choices for themes and wallpapers, and you’ll 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 a superb chunk of pre-installed apps on the pill, however you may uninstall all of them in order for you. 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 dwelling. There’s no mobile mannequin, although. That may not be an enormous concern 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 gadget.

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 severely. 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 cell gamer — and it nails that function virtually completely. It offers you highly effective gaming {hardware} in a type issue that feels good. It’s greater than a telephone however not as cumbersome or awkward as a full-size pill. It matches neatly into cell gaming controllers, you may hook it as much as an even bigger display screen in order for you, it costs extremely quick, and there’s little or no to complain about general.

You continue to have a couple of issues to remember, just like the lacking headphone jack, the dearth of any biometrics, and the absence of a mobile mannequin. But when your primary aim is easy, responsive cell gaming, the Legion Tab will get the job completed. 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, resembling social media and watching movies, and once I want an even bigger display screen for work, I might reasonably open my laptop computer. Most Android tablets additionally don’t have the sort 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 amassing 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 searching Instagram. On the identical time, it’s sufficiently small that I don’t should overthink choosing it up. I don’t really feel like I have to justify utilizing it for a selected job the best way I often do with full-sized tablets. It’s mild, fast, and straightforward to succeed in all through the day with out even excited about it.

That compact dimension does include trade-offs. This isn’t the sort of pill you may deal with as a productiveness machine or a laptop computer alternative. If you might want to kind lots, multitask with a number of apps, or browse spreadsheets, this isn’t the correct software for the job. Plus, the battery life takes an apparent hit.

If you’re wanting 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 value. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S10 FE ($499.99 at Amazon) is an alternative choice in an analogous value 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 alternate options are a lot greater and heavier gadgets.

If price range is just not a significant concern, you would additionally take into account the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus ($999.99 at Samsung). It provides an unimaginable 12.4-inch AMOLED show, flagship efficiency, and tons of premium options, however it can value you just about twice as a lot because the Legion Tab.

If you’re merely searching for a compact pill, there are virtually no actual opponents on the Android aspect proper now outdoors 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 assume small tablets will enchantment to the plenty. There’s a cause why firms 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 bear in mind how enjoyable and sensible a well-designed pill will be.