Lenovo Tab P12: a budget-friendly, basic tablet perfect.

The Lenovo Tab P12 might be of interest to you if you’re searching for a reasonably priced tablet with a large screen. It has a 12.7-inch LCD screen with 2,944 x 1,840 pixels of 3K quality. Dolby Atmos-capable quad JBL speakers are included to enhance the visual experience. If you decide to get the Lenovo keyboard folio with Tab Pen Plus, you should also anticipate some laptop-like performance.

However, the Lenovo Tab P12 (128GB) costs Rs 25,999, making it competitive with the Xiaomi Pad 6 128GB, which costs Rs 24,999 (review). Tablets with 256GB of storage are also available from Lenovo and Xiaomi, priced at Rs 27,999 and Rs 26,999 (256GB), respectively. Surprisingly, the Snapdragon 870 SoC powers the Xiaomi Pad 6, despite having a comparatively smaller and squarish screen. Remember that the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro “Pro” model from last year, which costs significantly more at Rs 49,999, is powered by the same chipset.

Although the Lenovo Tab P12 with its relatively powerful MediaTek chipset outperforms the Xiaomi Pad 6 with its Qualcomm chipset, it still manages to perform better. Both are respectable choices in the sub-Rs 30k range, depending on your priorities. Which one, then, should you choose? Let’s investigate.

rating: 8 / 10

Listing of Contents

Design and display

The Lenovo Tab P12 boasts a big 12.7-inch display, but not everyone will appreciate its form. While its sleek, rectangular form factor makes it a wonderful movie watcher, it may be hard to stay in one place for extended periods of time. In terms of ergonomics, a squarish shape similar to Apple’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro would have been preferable.

Nearly all of the conventional buttons are located on the sides of the Tab P12, and the power button also functions as a fingerprint scanner. However, there isn’t a 3.5mm audio jack.

However, the combination of a big screen and a few software tweaks, like support for HDR10, makes the Tab P12 one of the better—if not the best—viewing experiences available. At the very least, brightness might have been improved for movie scenes with dim lighting. I find the color calibration to be just right—it’s not too bright or too muted. You can, of course, adjust the display settings to suit your tastes. I rewatched the first and second seasons of Loki to test the display, and except for a few low-light images, I had no significant problems. Additionally, live sports in Full HD on Disney+ Hotstar appeared good. This screen size is perfect if you read a lot.

The Xiaomi Pad 6 has a consistent reading mode and a refresh rate of 120 Hz, two popular display features that the Lenovo Tab P12 lacks (the Tab P12’s reading mode is mediocre). The battery life is significantly increased by the standard 60Hz refresh rate, while some competitors may claim higher refresh rates for their tablets. Just to stay current, Lenovo might want to think about increasing the refresh rate on its upcoming Android tablets. All things considered, the Tab P12 is a great device for reading and watching movies.

Performance and software

The Lenovo Tab P12 is powered by the Dimensity 7050 SoC from MediaTek. In contrast, the Pro model makes use of a Qualcomm chipset. The model I tested had 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage and 8GB of LPPDR4X RAM.

In a few metrics, the Lenovo Tab P12 outperformed the OnePlus Pad Go (review), which costs Rs 23,999. In the throttle test, the Lenovo Tab P12’s Dimensity 7050 SoC also proved to be a rather reliable chipset. Nevertheless, in practically every performance-focused benchmark, the Xiaomi Pad 6 with the Snapdragon 870 SoC outperformed the others.

In my daily experience, the Lenovo Tab P12 performed admirably, particularly when it came to multimedia use. While navigating between apps, there are occasional stutters that are perceptible but not very severe. Lenovo ZUI 15, powered by Android 13, powers the Tab P12. Although the custom OS has a clean user interface, there are a few pre-installed programs. The Lenovo Freestyle app, which allows you to mirror the PC screen on the tablet, is my favorite. Given the market, Lenovo’s guarantees of two years of Android and four years of security updates seem reasonable.

It’s important not to have high expectations because the Lenovo Tab P12 can also be used as a laptop for light browsing and some schoolwork using Google apps. You can consult our rankings of the finest laptops for that. Though it can be used for scribbling and snapping fast photos with the camera app (which functions well), professional and semi-professional creators might anticipate greater versatility from the Tab Pen Plus. Furthermore, Procreate—one of the most popular tablet apps among creators—is still not available on Google Play.

There is one 13MP rear camera and one 8MP front camera on the Lenovo Tab P12. At best, the camera performs mediocrely under-regulated lighting settings. Photos shot in low light levels typically have muted colors and noise. Most low-light images have poor sharpness as well, which should lessen the appearance of further noise. While the mics function well for video calls, the image quality may be enhanced.

Battery life

Thus far, it is apparent that the Lenovo Tab P12 is most suitable for reading and watching media, and its long battery life further enhances these use cases. This is also a result of the tablet’s sizable 10,200mAh battery. Even with a 50% charge, I was still able to view a two-hour movie and playback an hour’s worth of YouTube videos. However, the delayed charging partially overshadows the excellent battery. After 30 minutes, the Lenovo Tab P12 reached around 25% of its battery life with the included 20W charger. It may require up to two hours to fully charge.

Verdict

At a fair price, the Lenovo Tab P12 is an acceptable Android tablet. But, the Xiaomi Pad 6 is still a fantastic choice if you need a little more power for multitasking that works better. If you don’t mind not having a big screen, the OnePlus Pad Go is a good substitute. Notably, Lenovo does not provide an LTE version of the Tab P12 like OnePlus does.

Nevertheless, the Tab P12 is a great option for people looking for a tablet to read, view movies, and organize their smartphone apps. Overall, the Lenovo Tab P12 does a good job handling the essentials; one of its main advantages is its wide display.