Newsletter
The tablet market is in a really tough spot now, and that leads people to think that manufacturers have put less effort into their tablets. While the market is overrun with cheapo tablets you can get at Walmart, companies like Samsung and Apple continue to pour heart and soul into producing their flagship tablets. However, it’s not just about them. Lenovo also makes its line of premium tablets.
Android Headlines had the opportunity to review the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro. This is a premium tablet from Lenovo, and it promises to bring a top-notch Android tablet experience. Is this tablet worthy competition to the likes of Samsung and Apple, or does it fall flat? Let’s find out in this review.
Lenovo Tab P11 Pro: Build quality and design
When you pick up this tablet, nothing about it screams cheap. Everything from the front panel to the frame is made from high-quality materials. When you grab the device, you know you’re picking up a quality piece of hardware. It’s not extremely heavy, but it does have a decent amount of heft to it, which is reassuring.
The tablet has a two-tone glass back panel that feels great to the touch. However, it can be rather slippery. The two-tone glass gives it a nice appearance and is rather elegant. The back of the tablet is pretty bare-bones with a small camera package occupying the top right corner. Other than that, the back is pretty bare-bones with the exception of the Lenovo branding on the top left.
The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro has a thick metal frame that keeps everything together. That frame houses the power and volume buttons, the four speakers, the SIM card tray, the microphones, and the USB-C charging port. It’s a very good-looking tablet, but it does not have a headphone jack, unfortunately.
Overall, this is a very snazzy and sleek-looking device with top-notch build quality. You will not feel like you’re grabbing a cheap device at all.
Lenovo Tab P11 Pro: Display
Moving on to the display, the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro has a nice 11.5-inch display with a resolution of 1600 x 2560. This puts the resolution at above 1440p, and that’s great if you want to watch high-definition content. Along with the pixel density, this display has the benefit of being an OLED display. This means that you’ll get punchier colors than with an LCD display. Also, the contrast is amazing with inky blacks.
I will say that, while the display is nice, it feels a few steps behind that of a Samsung display. Sure, the colors are punchy and it has great contrast, but it’s not much better than that of a high-quality LCD display. For example, it’s quite similar to the LCD display on the Honor Pad 8.
It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s not exactly jaw-dropping. It’s a really good display, and you’ll enjoy watching content on it.
One thing the display has going for it is the fluid 120Hz refresh rate. Another good aspect of the display is the brightness. It can get plenty bright, and that means great sunlight visibility. If you happen to take this tablet outside, you’ll have no issue using it in the sun.
The display sits within some appropriately-sized bezels. These give you enough room to place your thumbs without interfering with the screen.
Lenovo Tab P11 Pro: Speakers
If it’s any department that can be better, it’s definitely the speaker department. The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro comes with a set of four speakers, and they flank the device when you hold it in landscape mode. For starters, they are definitely loud. They get loud enough to fill a room, so if you’re watching content, you will have no issue hearing it.
However, the quality of the speakers is nothing to write home about. Tablet speakers aren’t quite the replacement for Bluetooth speakers, but they usually come with a fair amount of depth. The speakers on though on the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro don’t have much depth to them. They’re not quite immersive.
There is a respectable amount of bass, but it sadly doesn’t add much depth to the sound. Also, the higher frequencies definitely suffer. I say that the speakers are better suited for movies and TV shows. However, when it comes to music, you will definitely hear the lack of speaker quality.
Lenovo Tab P11 Pro: Performance
I had no issues with performance while using this tablet. You’ll be able to fly through the UI smoothly and without any stuttering. Of course, the typical tasks like browsing the web, going through social media, and writing were no issue at all. I have no complaints about the performance.
Gaming
When it comes to gaming, the story is much the same. For starters, 2D games are no problem at all. The tablet ran them all perfectly smoothly. As for 3D games, I also had a pretty good experience. Graphically intensive games such as Sky: Children Of Light ran perfectly. Also, games such as Dragon Ball Legends had no issues.
But, what about the big fish? I ran Genshin Impact on this tablet and, the story was not really the same. Using the game’s normal graphic settings, it lagged and stuttered a lot. I had to turn the graphics down to it their lowest settings. After that, the game ran perfectly smoothly. My guess is that the motion blur effect kept it from running smoothly. So, you’ll be able to play most titles smoothly with the exception of the top-tier games.
Lenovo Tab P11 Pro: Battery
The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro has pretty decent battery life for a tablet. I ran it through the battery test which consisted of two hours of video watching, 2 hours of gaming, and 2 hours of social media, and the tablet lasted about 5 hours and 51 minutes before calling it quits. That’s not too bad, especially if you’re going to be using your tablet sparingly. You shouldn’t worry too much about bringing this tablet out for a workday.
If you do need to charge the tablet, you can charge it from 0 to 100% in about 2 hours and 14 minutes. That’s definitely a while, but not too bad when it comes to tablets.
Lenovo Tab P11 Pro: Software
This tablet’s software ss pretty close to stock Android. You have the Material You flare with the round and bubbly aesthetic. The notification shade and quick settings are a mirror image of what you will get on a Pixel Device. However, Lenovo did manage to add its own influence into the software in several locations.
For starters, the wallpaper picker is very different. What’s unfortunate is that you have less customization options for the dynamic theming. Also, the system settings have their own flair as well. If you want a more familiar stock Android aesthetic, this tablet does a fair job of bringing Google’s familiar software aesthetic and mixing it with its own flare.
One of the features that stuck out to me was the Productivity Mode. This basically turns the tablet into a desktop computer. It will disable the swipe gestures, and there will be a small task bar at the bottom with your currently open apps, navigation buttons, status bar, and shortcut to access your apps.
Also, when you open an app, it will open as a floating window. This means that you’ll be able to open multiple apps at the same time and use them side-by-side. This is perfect if you’re trying to get serious work done, and it works well on the tablet.
Lenovo Tab P11 Pro: The pen
One of the most spectacular features of this tablet is the stylus support. This puts it in closer competition with the Galaxy Tabs from Samsung. Lenovo provided a Lenovo Precision Pen 3 to test on the tablet, and it works amazingly. It’s not merely a stylus, it’s a connected device. This means that the tablet can detect the pen even when it’s not making contact with the display. Also, there is an action button on the stylus that can perform different tasks.
As for the precision, it’s also top-notch. As you’d expect, this tablet comes with a built-in suite of note-taking applications. Using them, I felt that the pen was extremely accurate. Also, it is pressure-sensitive. This means that if you want to use this tablet for art, you will have a very natural experience.
The pen pairs to your tablet and charges by attaching magnetically to the back. And, it does not take long to charge.
Lenovo Tab P11 Pro: Conclusion
Lenovo did a fantastic job with this tablet. Everything from the design to the software just screams quality, and it performs exceptionally well. You will have no issues with this tablet as your work device, especially if you like to draw or sign documents. The screen is really nice, but the speakers could definitely use some work. Also, you should have no issues using this as your main gaming device.
You should buy this tablet if you
- Want to game on It
- Want to use it for art
- Want to use it for business
- Want a tablet with a quality build
- When a tablet with a great stylus experience
- When a tablet with a nice display
- Want a tablet with a near-stock Android experience
You shouldn’t buy this tablet if you:
- I want the best audio experience