Android tablets offer a middle ground between ease of access and performance, but most of these devices are either designed for content consumption or productivity purposes like image and video editing. However, it looks like Lenovo is trying to go the other way with its recently launched Legion Tab, which is made solely for gaming.
I tried the almost pocket-sized Android tablet, which looks like the Lenovo Legion Go handheld without the gamepad, for almost two weeks and here’s my take on how the gaming tablet fares against the competition.
Lenovo Legion Tab has a metal back that does not attract fingerprints. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/ The Indian Express)
Lenovo Legion Tab specs:
Lenovo Legion Tab is smaller than most Android tablets. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/ The Indian Express)
An immersive display
The Lenovo Legion Tab is a mid-range Android tablet with a 144Hz 8.8-inch IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 1600×2560 pixels, which looks crisp. But similar to other tablets in the price bracket, the brightness is limited to 500 nits, which is good if you are indoors but might not be enough for outdoors, especially on a sunny day.
The tablet itself has a pretty solid build with a matte back that is immune to fingerprints. Initially, I thought that the small 8.8-inch screen was too small to play games on, but it makes complete sense as you won’t feel the weight when holding the tablet for a long time.
Similar to most Android devices, the Legion Tab has the volume and the power button on the top right side. However, unlike the 10+ inch tablets most of us are used to, these buttons are pretty easy to access. Also, the power button doubles up as a fingerprint scanner, which is pretty fast and accurate.
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The 8.8-inch LCD screen is good for both gaming and multimedia consumption. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/ The Indian Express)
No lags whatsoever
For reasons unknown, the Lenovo Legion Tab is powered by the now two-year-old Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. Once again, I had my doubts that the dated chipset may be limiting the performance, but I was wrong. The Legion Tab can easily run games like Genshin Impact, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, CarX: Street and Solo Levelling at the highest setting available, and I did not experience any major frame drops or performance dips during my extended gaming session.
However, the Legion Tab is only sold in one configuration that offers 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. While the RAM is more than enough to keep games and several apps open in memory, the storage might not be enough if you install multiple apps and store a bunch of images and videos.
This gaming tablet can easily handle the majority of Android games. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/ The Indian Express)
A gamer’s delight
Since the Lenovo Legion Tab packs a flagship chipset, it does not stutter or lag no matter how many apps you open in the background. However, the Lenovo ZUI feels a bit dated and might not be visually appealing for some. While the quick settings bar looks like Xiaomi’s HyperOS, my main gripe is with the app drawer, which, for some reason, is not fullscreen.
But if you are a gamer, these things won’t matter as you will be spending most of your time playing full-screen games. Lenovo has also bundled in a built-in game mode, which pushes the device to its limit and can be helpful when playing games like Genshin Impact for a long time. Moreover, Lenovo hasn’t specified how many OS and security updates the Legion Tab will get, so if you care about the latest Android features, this might not be the one for you.
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Lenovo Legion Tab runs on Android 14 based on ZUI. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/ The Indian Express)
A battery that lasts
Coming to the battery department, the Lenovo Legion Tab packs a 6,550mAh battery with 45W fast charging support. This may sound look a glorified smartphone battery at first look, but Lenovo seems to have optimised the tablet pretty well.
During my Mobile Legends: Bang Bang sessions, which normally drain most smartphone batteries from full to zero in under 3 hours, I noticed that the Lenovo Legion tab still had around 30 to 40 per cent juice, which is really impressive. On standby, the tablet can easily last a day or two and if you are like me who plays games and watches videos on YouTube or other streaming platforms, this tablet offers 7-8 hours of screen time.
Apart from the UI and software update policy, everything is good for the price. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/ The Indian Express)
Lenovo Legion Tab: Should you buy this Android-powered gaming tablet?
Lenovo is already known for making good gaming PCs and laptops, and the Legion Tab is no exception. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset may not be the fastest, but it can easily run most games at the highest settings available. If you are looking for an Android tablet to play games and watch videos and don’t like big-screen devices from the likes of OnePlus, Samsung or Xiaomi, the Legion Tab makes perfect sense. However, those looking for continued software support and a visually appealing UI may have to look elsewhere.