Newsletter
The tablet market might seem like a sinking ship, but that’s not stopping companies like Samsung, Apple, and Lenovo from staying on board. Lenovo has several tablets out in the wild, and the Chinese OEM just gave us the opportunity to review its mid-range Lenovo Tab M10 Plus Gen 3. It promises to give you a strong tablet experience for a fraction of the price of the competition. Let’s dive and see if this should be your next tablet.
Build quality and design
This is a mid-range tablet, but it doesn’t really feel like it. The majority of this device is made from metal, and that gives it a premium feeling despite the affordable price. The top section of the chassis that houses the volume and power buttons is made from plastic. This part feels much cheaper to the touch, but it makes for a nice two-tone aesthetic.
This is a solid-feeling device even with the plastic top. It honestly feels like you’re holding a much more expensive tablet once you get it in your hands. While it feels solid and premium, it’s also pleasantly lightweight. You’re able to hold it for extended periods of time before your hand gets tired.
All in all, this tablet is one of those devices that look and feel better than their price would suggest. I think Lenovo paid a lot of attention to the design.
Display
The Lenovo Tab M10 Plus has a 10.61-inch LCD display with a 2000 x 1200 resolution. Basically, it’s a handful of pixel north of 1080p, which is expected for a device in the price range. It’s a good resolution for the screen size, as there’s very minimal pixelation.
As for the overall quality, I have no complaints; it’s pleasantly middle-of-the-road. It won’t really wow you with its colors or contrast, but it’s not bad to look at it. It’ll make the content you’re watching look nice. You can adjust the color temperature in the display settings.
A good thing about the display is the sunlight visibility. I was able to take this tablet out of the house, and I didn’t have any trouble seeing it in the bright sun. Overall, I wouldn’t call the display this tablet’s standout feature, but it’s not bad at all.
One of the great things about this display is its stylus compatibility. You can use Lenovo’s proprietary stylus (not included with the tablet) to draw and write on the tablet with excellent precision. It’s perfect if you’re an artist or if you like to handwrite stuff on your tablet.
Speakers
The Lenovo Tab M10 Plus has a set of quad speakers, and they can get decently loud. However, the speakers are another area that reminds you that this is a mid-range device. They’re not bad, but they do lack in the immersion department. The sound can be a bit flat most of the time.
You have the option to enable Dolby Atmos. With it on, you have the choice between three sound profiles: Music, Dynamic, and Movie. Of the profiles, Music offers the most immersive sound. It does give a little boost to the bass and cuts down on the higher frequencies.
However, even with that mode enabled, the audio still sounds a bit flat. You shouldn’t have much of an issue listening to more modern music like pop, rock, or hip-hop. However, instrumental and classical music will definitely suffer from the lack of immersion.
Overall, the speakers are just like the display. They’re not bad, but they’re nothing really to write home about. They’re comfortably mid-range. In fact, they’re more than serviceable for the price.
Performance
This tablet’s performance is another area that’s very mid-range. The Lenovo Tab M10 Plus uses the octa-core MediaTek G80 SoC, and you have the option between 3GB and 4GB of RAM. The unit I was reviewing had 4GB of RAM.
The experience is rather smooth for the most part with stutters and hiccups here and there. They’re not what I’d call few and far apart, but they don’t bog down the experience either. Maybe the system skips an animation, maybe an app takes a few seconds longer to load. There are stutters, but it’s well within the margin of error allowed for a mid-ranger tablet. The stutters and hiccups are a part of the experience, but they don’t get in the way too much.
Gaming
When it comes to gaming, you’ll be able to play most games without any issues. The Tab M10 handles 2D and simple 3D games without breaking a sweat. It can even nip at the heels of more graphically-intensive games. I played games like Bowling Crew and Darts of Fury- two simple 3D games- and the tablet handled them flawlessly.
Upping the ante, I installed Genshin Impact on this tablet and, unless you turn all of the graphic settings to their lowest setting, you can forget about playing it. With all of the settings turned down, it was a slightly stuttery experience at best. However, it’s still playable.
You can get some moderate gaming and even some work done with this tablet without skipping a beat. However, just know that it won’t be hard to reach this device’s limits.
Battery and charging
The battery life of this tablet is pretty decent. I was able to get more than 6.5 hours of screen-on time while testing it out. This included solid hours of constant gaming, video watching, and scrolling social media. That’s not too bad, and it will get you through the day with light to moderate use.
If you plan on using it constantly, then you’re going to want to reach for the charger. Unfortunately, charging this tablet is a slow affair. Charging from 0%-100% takes about 3.5 hours. You’ll want to make sure that it’s charged before you go out and start using it.
Software
Moving onto software, if you’re planning on getting this tablet right now, then there’s going to be something missing. Lenovo said that it’s going to deliver Android 13 to this tablet sometime this year. However, at the time of this review, it’s still on the older version of Android 12 for tablets. This means that it’s lacking all of the tablet optimizations that Google introduced in 2021.
Lenovo’s take on Android is similar to stock Android but with some of the company’s influence mixed in. You still have Material You elements like the rounded rectangular buttons and the two-tone aesthetic.
However, while this is true, the Dynamic Color implementation isn’t as versatile. The color of the theme will change color based on the wallpaper, but you can’t choose which color palette you want to apply like in Stock Android, One IU, My UX, etc. That’s really the main difference between Lenovo’s UI and stock Android. Other than that, there’s not much of a difference.
So, who is this tablet for?
The Lenovo Tab M10 Plus is for people who want a solid tablet experience for a good price. You want a tablet that can do the essentials like binge-watching content, reading e-books, browsing the web, and checking up on social media. When it comes to gaming, you won’t have an issue with playing some lower-powered favorites, but once you get into 3D games, be prepared for a little lag.
The display, speakers, and performance are middle-of-the-road, but they’re not offensive. They get the job done. Overall, this tablet is fantastic for the price, and I recommend it.
You should get this tablet if:
- You want an affordable tablet
- You’re planning on doing the essentials
- You want a tablet with a moderate size
- You want an affordable tablet with stylus support
- You don’t want a cheap-feeling tablet.
You shouldn’t get this tablet if:
- You want amazing speaker quality
- You want to do hardcore gaming
- You want to do a lot of work on it