Nice for avid gamers, higher for everybody

It’s arduous to really feel genuinely enthusiastic about Android tablets as of late. The market has change into homogenized over time, providing choices that each one blur collectively. Samsung’s bought tablets for each worth bracket, Amazon’s bought its Hearth lineup of tablets on a funds, and everybody else is simply… sort of there. They largely look the identical, really feel the identical, and attempt to do the identical issues, simply with totally 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, regardless that I believe there’s a really small chunk of people that may really wish to purchase it.

After I first bought my palms on the Legion Tab, I had no concept what it price, and my first response after unboxing it was that it felt like a flagship product. I genuinely assumed it could be priced someplace near $1,000. You may think about my shock once I later discovered 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 whenever 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 won’t scream “gaming pill” the way in which some may count on, however the industrial type 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 components, maintaining 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 regular USB 2.0 port, whereas the opposite is a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port. That sooner 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-about 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 problem.

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 due to the twin ports, nevertheless it appears like a missed alternative for individuals who need simple, zero-latency audio for gaming. There’s additionally no IP score for water or mud safety, one thing Samsung gives with its tablets at comparable or barely increased worth factors. On prime of that, Lenovo skipped a fingerprint reader altogether. You get 2D face unlock if you would like, however I ended up counting on a very good outdated 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 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 won’t appear enormous on a spec sheet, it issues lots whenever you’re really carrying the machine round.

For context, my standard pill is my growing older however ever-reliable Galaxy Tab S7 Plus. As a lot as I like it, I hardly take it out until 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 area to set it down, and repeat the entire dance when I’m finished. The Legion Tab feels extra like a Kindle compared. You may carry it in your palms on a time out 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 shortly turned 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. In actual fact, it is just barely larger than my Galaxy Z Fold 5 when unfolded, though the Legion Tab gives much more usable display screen space due to 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 shade gamut and comes with HDR10 help. 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 brilliant 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 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 match my impressions, and regardless that it’s three generations outdated at this level, its AMOLED panel nonetheless matches the Legion Tab’s display screen. Colours popped a bit of 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. In actual fact, it’s in all probability among the best LCD panels I’ve seen on a cellular machine lately. All I’m saying is that if Lenovo had 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 to preserve this worth level if and when it makes the change.

Avid gamers and non-gamers alike will certainly admire one factor, although: the 165Hz refresh charge. It makes your entire UI really feel extremely clean, and most actions on this pill really feel buttery clean. In case your favourite video games help 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 way in which 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 may discover on the Play Retailer, and the Legion Tab had no bother operating them on the highest or near-highest settings. Genshin Affect, one of the vital graphically demanding video games on Android, displayed its standard warning about overheating in case you crank every part up. I ignored it and ran the sport at Excessive graphics and 60fps anyway. The Legion Tab stored up simply wonderful, 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 rather well, with body charges not often 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 finished 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 bought heat to the contact, nevertheless it by no means bought uncomfortably scorching, 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 observed 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 great gaming on a full cost. It’s not mind-blowing, nevertheless it’s the trade-off for the smaller type issue.

Outdoors of gaming, battery life held up higher than I anticipated. Standby efficiency is particularly spectacular. I left the pill related to Wi-Fi for days at a time, and it could 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 shopping 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 need to use both of the USB-C ports to cost, however you can’t plug into each directly, so save your self the big-brain experiment.

Lenovo additionally added help for bypass charging, which suggests whenever you plug in whereas gaming, the ability 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 classes.

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 stated, in case you are somebody who performs aggressive cellular 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 extremely dependable slate in case 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 shortly replenish that 256GB mounted storage.

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

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

I additionally beloved how the Legion Tab’s smaller dimension performs properly 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 stage. Vibrant Reminiscence Infinite, Asphalt Legends, and even smaller video games felt far more fulfilling with bodily controls. And since the pill is comparatively light-weight, the entire setup stays comfy to carry for longer gaming classes. It’s in all probability among the best methods to take pleasure in 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. While you’re taking part in, you may pull up a floating overlay from the aspect of the display screen. It provides you entry to fast settings, resembling switching efficiency modes (Steadiness, Excessive Efficiency, and Vitality Saving), or capturing screenshots and display screen recordings.

There’s one bizarre omission, although. The pill doesn’t robotically 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 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 recreation, 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 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… wonderful. Lenovo hasn’t added any particular pores and skin or UI adjustments 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 bought 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, clean, and perhaps even a bit of 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 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 may uninstall all of them if you would like. What aggravated me extra was the setup expertise. Lenovo tries actually arduous to push pages of bloatware and random video games onto you, and you need to uncheck every app individually simply to keep away from them. It’s annoying, however at the least 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 velocity or sign throughout my time utilizing it at residence. There’s no mobile mannequin, although. That may not be an enormous subject for many, however with many fashionable cellular video games requiring a relentless web connection, it’s one thing to think about. 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 machine.

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 fake to take severely. 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 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 goal nearly completely. It provides you highly effective gaming {hardware} in a type 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 cellular gaming controllers, you may hook it as much as an even bigger display screen if you would like, it costs extremely quick, and there’s little or no to complain about total.

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 objective is clean, responsive cellular gaming, the Legion Tab will get the job finished. What shocked me extra was how a lot this pill began making sense even outdoors of gaming.

Smartphone screens are already large enough for many informal duties, resembling social media and watching movies, and once I want an even bigger display screen for work, I’d slightly 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 largely sits round gathering mud till I journey.

The Legion Tab feels totally different due to its dimension. It’s large enough to make me wish to change from my telephone for issues like watching YouTube movies or casually shopping Instagram. On the identical time, it’s sufficiently small that I don’t need to overthink choosing it up. I don’t really feel like I have to justify utilizing it for a selected job 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 desirous 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 it is advisable kind lots, 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 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 an alternative choice in the same worth vary, and it provides options like a bundled S Pen, an IP score, and a mobile mannequin choice. Nevertheless, it doesn’t supply the identical stage of uncooked efficiency because the Legion Tab. Plus, each of those options are a lot larger and heavier units.

If funds will not be a serious concern, you can additionally take into account the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus ($999.99 at Samsung). It gives an unbelievable 12.4-inch AMOLED show, flagship efficiency, and tons of premium options, however it is 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 nearly no actual opponents on the Android aspect proper now outdoors of the Pixel Pill ($499 at Amazon), which hasn’t aged that properly, and is bigger anyway. The one actual various is the iPad Mini ($459 at Amazon), however that call comes all the way down to which ecosystem you like greater than the rest.

I nonetheless don’t assume small tablets will enchantment to the lots. There’s a motive why corporations typically 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 could be.