Lenovo Idea Tab Plus Review

Introduction

Need an inexpensive yet work-capable tablet for your time at college or university? The Lenovo Idea Tab Plus might be exactly what you’re after.

As an iPad obsessive for the better part of two decades and as someone who got through the majority of their studies using an iPad Mini as opposed to a dedicated laptop, I’ve always preferred the simplicity of tablet computers, not to mention the portability they bring to the table.

Although I’m fairly knee-deep in the iPadOS ecosystem at this point, I am constantly amazed by the value that Apple’s more affordable Android competitors provide.

The OnePlus Pad Go 2 was easily my favourite budget tablet of last year, and I’ve been continually impressed by others including the even cheaper OnePlus Pad Lite, not to mention more expensive but brilliantly compact Lenovo Yoga Tab.

At £299.99/$259.99, the Lenovo Idea Tab Plus slots itself snugly at the higher end of the budget range, but that’s crucially a lower price than the entry-level iPad A16. The question is, does the Idea Tab Plus do enough to tempt potential buyers away from team Apple (and competing Android tablets)? After testing the tablet myself, here’s what I have to say on the matter.

Design

• Sleek aluminium build
• Slim at just 6.29mm
• No magnetic housing for the stylus

One of the first things I noticed about the Lenovo Idea Tab Plus is that, when picked up, it’s a great example of just how far the market surrounding the best cheap tablets has come. With a smooth aluminium backing and frame, particularly when paired with the Luna Grey colourway of my review unit, Lenovo has done all that it can here to convince you that the Idea Tab Plus is anything but cheap.

It just feels wonderfully smooth in the hand (or both hands as it’s too large for one-handed use), and the fact that it’s just 6.29mm thick makes it easy enough to fling in a backpack or messenger bag and never feel that it’s taking up more space than it should.

The total weight of 530g is also just at the right level where you can hold the tablet for quite some time without any sense of fatigue, although Lenovo does expect you to bring a keyboard case into the mix to have the tablet propped up on a table, owing to the three-point connector at the base of the device.

The only area where the Idea Tab Plus does lose out to the entry-level iPad A16 is in the variety of colourways available. For Lenovo’s tablet, you can choose between the Luna Grey model featured here, and a slightly more eye-catching Sand Rose alternative, but that’s it. Compared to the four vibrant colours that Apple’s contender offers, there isn’t quite as much freedom for expression here, but you can always mitigate that with a case.

Arguably more detrimental is the complete lack of any housing for the included Lenovo Tab Pen. On the Lenovo Yoga Tab, there’s a magnetic strip along the top of the device so the included Pen Pro can sit there securely when it’s not in use, but there’s no equivalent here, meaning that the stylus sits around awkwardly on your desk.

Even though the Tab Pen doesn’t operate via wireless charging and instead uses a AAA battery, it would still have been nice to have a dedicated spot to keep it out of the way when you don’t need it.

Screen

• 12.1-inch 2.5K IPS LCD
• 90Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling
• Plenty of space for multitasking

Even though the Idea Tab Plus is aimed at the budget market, I think Lenovo understands very well that if you have a great screen to go with your tablet, much of the user experience naturally falls into place. That’s certainly the case here.

You’re getting a large 12.1-inch 2.5K IPS LCD panel that gets fairly bright, with a peak of 800 nits, along with a smooth 90Hz refresh rate that immediately gives the device an edge over the now-ancient-feeling 60Hz cap of the standard iPad.

What I like about the display is its wide 16:10 ratio, which makes it feel brilliantly suited not just to streaming (films feel wonderfully cinematic here), but also multitasking, as there’s plenty of space to have multiple apps take up the screen and never feel as if you’re squinting at any of them. This is handy too, as the tablet has fairly robust multitasking software built in, so it all works in tandem to make this a solid buy for light productivity tasks.

When streaming a bit of Disney Plus and my go-to film of Avengers: Infinity War for testing tablet displays, the climactic battle in Wakanda did wow me with the colours on display. I’ve been a bit spoiled as of late, having moved over to using the uber premium Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra in between reviews, but even with that knowledge of how good the high-end can be, I still had a very enjoyable experience watching the film on the Idea Tab Plus.

While I do appreciate the 90Hz refresh rate, especially as it makes simple things like web browsing or scrolling through social media feel nice and smooth, it is worth mentioning that the OnePlus Pad Go 2 does have it beat with a 120Hz refresh rate for not that much more at the checkout. That tablet uses an alternative 7:5 aspect ratio, which I do prefer for work, although it isn’t quite as well-suited for entertainment.

Cameras

• 13MP rear-facing camera
• 8MP 1080P selfie camera
• Gets the job done for scanning and Zoom calls

For the cameras on the Lenovo Idea Tab Plus, you’re looking at a single 13MP rear-facing sensor, along with an 8MP 1080p front camera for work calls and chatting with friends or family. It’s the standard setup you’d expect for a tablet at this price, which is to say it’s functional but should never be used instead of your phone if you can help it.

The back camera can pick up a decent bit of colour with the right amount of light involved, but if you get too close then the colour reproduction can look a bit off, as I soon discovered when taking pictures of my Matcha Green Kindle. It’s best used for scanning documents that can then be interacted with via the Lenovo Tab Pen.

It’s a similar situation with the front-facing camera – other people on a call will be able to see your face well enough, but don’t expect them to pick up on the finer details of your complexion.

Performance

• MediaTek Dimensity 6400 chipset
• Works well with everyday activities
• Struggles with high-end games

Much like the design of the Lenovo Idea Tab Plus, the other aspect that showed me just how far the budget market has come was the tablet’s performance.

Unlike super-cheap tablets such as the OnePlus Pad Lite or the Oppo Pad SE, which are best designed for light entertainment and web browsing only, the Idea Tab Plus can work as a genuine productivity device, so long as your workload includes less intensive apps like Chrome, Google Docs and Canva.

Powering the show is the MediaTek Dimensity 6400 chipset, and in everyday use, it’s a fine CPU that delivers the right level of performance for most people, especially students. Moving through the app tray is smooth, as is jumping from one app to another, and you can delve into a bit of side-by-side multitasking without issue.

I had Lenovo’s Notepad app open on one side, letting me doodle away, whilst watching YouTube on the other to catch up on the recent glut of trailers for the latest video games. For when you’re studying in the library and need to have Google Docs open alongside a browser for research, the Idea Tab Plus works exactly as you’d hope.

You can have three apps open at one time, wherein two of them are split into quarter blockers on one side of the screen, but this is where I did notice a bit of slowdown, as the tablet didn’t register my drawings at quite the same speed as before, so I don’t recommend it.

An area that left me feeling disappointed was the stylus itself. I’ve been spoiled by years of using Remarkable tablets to know how good the digital writing experience can be, and although I’m not usually a fan of using a stylus on a glass display, the Lenovo Yoga Tab won me over with the Lenovo Pen Pro’s haptic feedback, which recreated the feeling of moving a pencil across a piece of paper.

It’s a great bit of tech, but one that’s unfortunately missing on the standard Lenovo Tab Pen, so although the tablet can respond quickly to your inputs, the whole experience just doesn’t feel as fun or as intuitive as what you’ll find elsewhere.

When diving into a bit of gaming, a quick round of Call of Duty: Mobile was a fun and engaging experience with no visible lag and a fast pace, bolstered by the 90Hz refresh rate.

Much like with multitasking, however, if you push the Dimensity 6400 chipset even further with a game like Honkai: Star Rail, that’s where you’ll see the limits pretty quickly. By default, Star Rail sets its graphical quality to Low, where the title runs well enough, but change the settings to anything higher than that, and you’ll see the whole thing turn into a slideshow.

Regardless of whether you’re gaming or simply streaming a bit of Netflix, the tablet’s quad-speaker setup does a great job of enveloping you in its soundscape. When cranking the volume up on Avengers: Infinity War, I was able to pick up on a few layers of the overall track that I’d forgotten were there as they can get lost in the overall mix.

The fact that you’re getting 256GB storage as standard, plus the ability to expand that with a Micro SD card slot, means that you won’t have to worry when it comes to downloading tons of films and TV shows for a long journey.

For those who prefer to be untethered from a Wi-Fi signal when they work, there is a 5G-compatible model of the Idea Tab Plus available to buy.

Software

• Lenovo ZUI overlay
• PC Mode is great for productivity
• A bit of bloatware to contend with

Just like other tablets from the brand, the Idea Tab Plus runs the Lenovo ZUI Android overlay. It’s easily one of the least offensive of its kind, but equally, it’s not enough to stand out as a selling point in itself.

The aforementioned multitasking software feels very much like it’s taken a leaf from OnePlus’ Open Canvas feature, which is exactly why this tablet is such a good fit for students who want to have more than one app open at a time during lectures or while studying at the library.

If you want to take the productivity experience even further, you can delve into the surprisingly efficient PC mode, which replicates the look of a typical desktop and lets you resize apps at your leisure and minimise them for quick access later.

It all works with a higher level of performance than my ageing iPad 10th Gen, and the fact that this is a tablet with a £299.99/$299.99 RRP but can often be found for less, just makes this a bit of a bargain compared to Windows laptops. If you throw in a wireless keyboard like the Logitech Keys-to-Go 2 into the mix then the whole experience feels even more intuitive.

There is a fair bit of bloatware to deal with once you boot up the Idea Tab Plus for the first time. Not only are there Lenovo’s own-brand apps, but there are third-party apps like Opera, WPS Office and Candy Crush Saga. It’s not quite as abrasive or in your face as what I’ve seen with MagicOS on Honor brand tablets, but it doesn’t surpass the relatively bloat-free look of OxygenOS on OnePlus devices.

The Idea Tab Plus’ biggest hang-up is that Lenovo is only promising a total of two OS upgrades from launch. That is bolstered somewhat by four years of security patches, but it’s a long way from the support provided by the likes of Apple and Samsung.

With that in mind, it’s just enough of an update cycle to get you through your studies, but I’d hesitate to recommend the Idea Tab Plus to an adult who might be looking for a tablet they can use long-term.

Battery life

• 10,200mAh capacity
• 45W charging speed
• Plenty of juice for all-day working

One of the more eye-catching specs of the Lenovo Idea Tab Plus is that it carries a massive 10,200mAh battery, which is quite a rarity even amongst the more premium crowd. The only other tablets I’m aware of that come close at this end of the market are the OnePlus Pad Go 2 (10,050mAh) and the Honor Pad 10 (10,100mAh).

What you get with that cell, according to Lenovo, is the ability to stream up to 13 hours of YouTube, which I think is more than enough to keep most people satisfied over the course of a day. This means that if you have a long-haul flight ahead of you and you’d rather tune into your own curated library of entertainment, then you’ll have more than enough juice to see you through to your destination.

Seen another way, if you decide to venture away from the library for a few hours and study with friends at a cafe, then you won’t have to worry about making sure that you’re seated next to a charging outlet.

When it comes time to top up the battery, however, you can rely on 45W speeds over a wired connection, which is faster than the 33W cap of the OnePlus Pad Go 2, so you won’t have to wait long before the battery is full once more.

Should you buy it?

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