We’ve reviewed tablets and smart screens alike, and both of those categories have a decent following in the consumer market. Although Android tablets aren’t exactly jumping off the shelves, Lenovo has introduced a new idea to the market which might be appealing to some. The Lenovo Smart Tab P10 and M10.
The Lenovo Smart Tab P10 and M10 combine the portability of a tablet with the convenience of a smart screen. This is our first dive into such a device, and from our experience with it at CES 2019, we thought it could be an attractive device for many. Read on for our full review of the tablet and smart screen hybrid, the Lenovo Smart Tab P10.
Specifications
The Lenovo Smart Tab P10 has the following features and specifications:
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
- OS: Android Oreo
- Dimensions: 9.53″ x 6.57″ x 0.27“ (242 x 167 x 7mm)
- Weight: 0.97 lbs. (440g)
- Display: 10.1” FHD (1920×1200) LCD IPS
- Memory: Up to 4GB
- Storage: Up to 64GB
- Battery: 7000 mAh
- Audio: 4x front-facing Dolby Atmos speakers
- Cameras
- Front: 5MP fixed focus
- Rear: 8MP autofocus
- Sensors: G Sensor, L-Sensor, Hall Sensor, Vibrator, Fingerprint reader
- Color & Materials: Slate black with soft-touch finish Aurora Black with dual-glass design
Smart Dock Specifications
- Speakers: 2x 3W full-range speakers
- Microphone: 3 far-field microphones
- Charging: Charges Tablet
- Dimension: 2.57” x 11.16” x 1.96” (65.5 x 283.6 x 50mm)
- Weight: (1.76lbs) 800g
What’s In The Box
- Lenovo Smart Tab P10
- Lenovo Smart Dock
- Power Supply
- SIM removal tool
- Manuals and documentation
Design
I’m going to start with the design of the Lenovo Smart Dock, since it’s pretty simple and there’s not much to it. The entire dock is made up of high-quality plastics and fabric. There is a flip out stand that tucks into the bottom of the Smart Dock. On the rear is the barrel-style power port. The top has the channel where the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 rests. There is a volume up and down button, a mute button, and a Bluetooth connect button.
There are two 3W speakers built into the Smart Dock as well as 3 far-field microphones. I like the look and feel of the fabric that’s wrapped around the Smart Dock and the whole thing feels nice and premium.
Moving on to the Lenovo Smart Tab P10, you’re going to find a very slim piece of glass. Glass is on both sides of this tablet and the 2 pieces are held together by a very nice machined aluminum bumper which makes the entire tablet look absolutely stunning. It goes without saying that this device picks up fingerprints like nobody’s business.
Around the back of the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 is the 8MP camera, which sits flush with the rest of the back. That’s a great thing because camera humps can be annoying. The only other thing on the back is some Dolby Atmos branding. Around front is the 10.1″ FHD LCD IPS display along with the 5MP front-facing camera and a fingerprint sensor.
The bumper on this tablet is unique in that it has a triangular shape. This allows the speakers to actually face towards the user but still be in the bumper. There are four Dolby Atmos speakers, two on the top and two on the bottom.
There are also four antenna lines which are located opposite of each of the speakers. The bottom also has the charger pads that connect to the charging pins in the dock. Along the left side are the volume rocker and power button. The power button has a texture to it to help differentiate it from the volume. Along the right side is the headphone jack, USB-C port, microphone, and SIM tray.
This whole tablet feels very premium in the hand, but because it is all glass, it’s as slippery as you will ever see. Even the bumper is slick and offers very little grip, so I’d avoid letting small hands play with this tablet. It’s also super lightweight and feels like a feather. I do wish the bezels on this device weren’t so large. They seem overly large given that bezels have shrunk substantially over the past few years.
Overall, the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 and the Lenovo Smart Dock are very well designed. They look amazing and the tablet itself is a joy to hold and use. Everything feels premium and you can tell Lenovo took some time to think about the design. Although, I’m not sure they thought about just how slick this tablet would be.
Display
The display on the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 actually surprised me. It’s only an FHD LCD IPS display but it’s very sharp, clear, and the colors are vibrant and pop. The bezels are much thicker than I’d like, but that is not a deal breaker. If anything, the thicker bezels on the side give you a better grip on the tablet.
Touch responsiveness was good on this display, I never had any issue with the screen registering my touch or gestures. There was some lag and stutter within some apps, more on that later in the performance section.
As I said, colors were vibrant and looked good, blacks were decent and whites were clean. Text was crisp and clear and pinch-to-zoom worked well to read smaller text.
Overall, the display here is really good considering the price point of this tablet. It should make most people happy and pretty much everything looked great on it.
Software/Ecosystem
The Lenovo Smart Tab P10 is running on Android 8.1 which isn’t surprising. Most Android tablets, even if they’re brand new, will be running behind a full version due to compatibility. That being said, Android still isn’t very tablet friendly and many apps do not render well to a tablet screen.
That being said, there are plenty of users out there who do love their Android tablets. I will say, the apps that matter the most here are probably things like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and your entertainment apps. These all look great on an Android tablet, so I think most users will be perfectly fine with this.
There are still some games that don’t render well on tablets but most of them are less popular games. Most of the popular games should work just fine here.
Of course, Alexa is built into this system, allowing you to use Amazon’s voice assistant as a smart screen. This is really one of the main selling points of the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 with the Smart Dock. This system competes with the Amazon Echo Show, which doesn’t have a detachable screen nor does it work as a tablet.
It’s also worth pointing out that you can use Google Assistant on the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 as well. You just can’t use the display as a smart screen for Google Assistant. Once the unit is docked, you can only see Alexa content on the screen. However, you can ask Google Assistant questions while docked and you can get on-screen information so long as the tablet is unlocked and the screen is visible. If the tablet is locked and docked, you can get voice from Assistant but can only see visuals from Alexa.
Now, I’m sure if you’re looking at this tablet you’re more interested in Alexa anyway. All things Alexa work here. If you’re invested into the Alexa ecosystem, then this is going to serve you well. Your Alexa skills will all work here as this is pretty much an Alexa smart screen. So weather reports, video, music, recipes, all of that will work here and it works very well. You can also use Alexa with a bunch of smart home devices like WeMo, Philips Hue, Ring, and others.
Overall, I’m still not a fan of Android on tablets, it works fine for media consumption purposes, but many apps still do not translate well. Alexa works well here, and you can even use Google Assistant if you like.
Performance
The Lenovo Smart Tab P10 performs like a champ when it is docked and in smart screen mode with Alexa. I had no issues asking Alexa questions and getting responses. No issues looking up weather or looking at recipes. Using skills like games with Alexa also worked flawlessly. The Alexa side of things seemed pretty straight forward and the smart screen aspect performed very well.
On the tablet side, there was some stutter and lag in various apps. Scrolling was not always as responsive as I would have liked and certain apps seemed sluggish. But again, this goes back to Android on tablets, it just doesn’t feel optimized to handle tablets. This isn’t to say that the performance is horrible. It’s just not as fluid as it is on a smartphone like the Pixel 3 XL.
Overall, Alexa works well here and Android works okay, but it does hang up once in a while. I don’t think, though, that it’s enough to get too frustrated over.
Speakers/Sound
The Lenovo Smart Tab P10 comes with four built-in, front-facing speakers that have Dolby Atmos. They sound pretty darn good in my opinion, especially given the slimness of this device. There is also a Dolby app included which gives you some handy EQ options. You can choose from Dynamic, Movie, Music, and Custom. There are 10 bands you can tweak in order to achieve the sound you’re looking for.
The Smart Dock also has a couple of speakers built-in which sound decent and work in conjunction with the tablet speakers.
Overall, these speakers should please just about anyone. They’re full sounding and do well with entertainment such as movies, music and gaming.
Camera
I’m a broken record when it comes to cameras on tablets, they’re really no use for taking actual decent photos. However, in this case, the front camera does work nicely as a video conferencing camera with something like Skype or Google Duo. The rear camera, well, it can probably do in a pinch. But these cameras really don’t do great with photos.
Battery Life
Battery life on the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 is actually really great. Using this as a tablet for daily tasks and not much video or music streaming, you should easily get a few days from it. If you’re a heavy video user, then you’re going to get less battery life, which is expected. Watching 4K video non-stop can get you around 6-8 hours of battery, depending on brightness of the screen.
Overall, this has great battery life considering its thin profile. Plus, if you keep it docked, the battery won’t run down since it’s charging.
Price/Value
The Lenovo Smart Tab P10 with Smart Dock is priced at US$349.99 which is a pretty standard price for an Android tablet of this caliber. The nice thing is that you get the Smart Dock with this tablet giving it much more value. The even better thing is you can pick this up (as of this posting) on Amazon for US$262.85 right now which is a really great deal.
Overall, the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 is priced right and with all of the Alexa extras, this has great value to those in that ecosystem.
Wrap Up
If you’re looking for a Google Assistant smart screen then this isn’t for you. Check out Lenovo’s Smart Display for that. If you’re looking for an Alexa smart screen that can also double as a portable tablet, well, this is for you. It works well as a smart screen, it works okay as an Android tablet (though it does have a few performance issues), and it looks and feels nice in the hand. This tablet isn’t for everyone, especially if you’re not looking for Alexa skills, but for those who are in that ecosystem, it could work very well.
*We received a review unit of the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 for the purposes of this review.
Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
