Lenovo Tab P11 Pro review: Excellent for entertainment, that's it

When you talk about Android tablets, there are only so many brands that come to your mind. That is because Google's Android has not matured as a tablet platform, at least as much as Apple's iPadOS has. Samsung is probably the biggest brand that still sells Android tablets with a dash of productivity through the DeX mode. But there are a few others too, like Lenovo. The Chinese company is one of the premier Android OEMs that are still making tablets. With the latest Tab P11 Pro, Lenovo is trying to enter the premium tablet category.

For a tablet to be premium, there are certain requirements to be met. The tablet has to have a big, sharp display. It should use a high-end processor. The productivity factor of the tablet should be high. And above all that, the tablet should be a complete entertainment package. The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro ticks all those boxes. Kind of. For Rs 44,990, the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro gives an option to people who need an Android tablet but are not quite fond of Samsung. So is the Tab P11 Pro a good tablet and a deal? I have an answer to this question.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro review: Sleek looks, amazing display

Apple's iPad has set a benchmark for other tablets for how they should look, and the Tab P11 Pro looks very much like the iPad. But while I am trying to find similarities between Lenovo's big device and Apple's iPad, I also noticed there is a blend of Samsung's Galaxy Tab S7, as well. However, the mix here is not very conspicuous, which means what you get is a fresh, premium, and appealing appearance. I absolutely love the way the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro looks. The tablet uses a metal unibody and is just 6.9mm thick, making it a good choice.

See, tablets are big, and that is why they need some sort of stand on the back to remain in the line of sight when you are doing things like watching a movie. My point is that you are very less likely to hold the tablet, but if you want to watch a movie and hold it, the 485-gram weight is favourable. The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro is lighter than the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ or the iPad Pro's LTE version.

If one thing is probably the best on the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro, it is its display. The showstopper display is 11-inches and has a resolution of 2560x1100 pixels. It is an OLED screen, which means you get infinite black, rich colours, and sharp visuals on the screen. In addition, there is support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision, which you will love when they kick in a while watching Never Have I Ever on Netflix, or even Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ (I used the browser for this). Although the brightness of the tablet is not as good as that on an iPad, it is still good enough. The display is probably one of the cornerstones of the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro.

Another cornerstone is the JBL speaker set on the tablet, which is a lot better than the iPad's. There are four speakers on the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro -- something that you also get on the Galaxy Tab S7+. Lenovo's tablet speakers are so loud that you will feel like watching a show on a mini television. The sound is also textured. I could feel an aeroplane flying from right to left on the screen or when a rustling sound is creeping into a movie scene from a particular direction. With its Dolby Atmos-tuned JBL quad speakers, the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro can easily be one of the best tablets to watch movies on Netflix.

Remember, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack on the tablet, so you are left with an option to either plugin USB-C earphones or go for wireless ones.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro review: Average performance but not meant for productivity

With Tab P11 Pro, Lenovo is gunning for a position that is next to that of the Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab in the tablet market. The company wants the customers of the Tab P11 Pro also to use it for work. But I do not think Lenovo did a good job here. I will tell you why the Tab P11 Pro is not meant for productivity, but let me first discuss the regular performance.

Powering the Tab P11 Pro is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor paired with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Opening apps and switching between them is very easy and takes no effort. Using the tablet feels snappy because all of these things are not very resource-intensive. I tried playing some games on the tablet, only to end up playing Candy Crush Saga or Homescapes. That is because the tablet's display is large, and it makes it unwieldy to play games such as Battlegrounds Mobile India. Even if you think your hands are big enough to manage gaming on the tablet, you will begin to feel the weight of the tablet only after 10 minutes.

Now, Lenovo ships a keyboard and a pen separately to let you make full use of the laptop. Unfortunately, I could not test how the tablet would work in tandem with the keyboard and pen accessories because Lenovo did not send them. Lenovo is claiming productivity on the Tab P11 Pro is one of the best at this price. However, I am not sure if it is true because, according to some international reviews, the keyboard feels uncomfortable for typing, mainly because of the small size.

Lenovo's Tab P11 Pro uses Android 10 software with a near-stock interface. This means there is no custom skin on the tablet to help you do certain tasks a little more easily. There is both an upside and a downside to that.

The upside is that you will get fast updates on your tablet. The downside is a lot more concerning. Because there is no skin, Lenovo has dumped Android on its tablet the way it is, and it is terrible. As I said, Android for tablets has not matured the way it should have, and because of Google's lack of a vision for tablet-focused Android, the Tab P11 Pro feels half-baked. The tablet interface feels jarring, the icons do not look attractive, and there are some inaccuracies in the symmetry of some features that I could not help but notice. I wish Lenovo went with some skin to make these things a bit bearable, but I do not believe that is on the cards right now.

I do not think you should buy the Tab P11 Pro for work, but, yes, it is a good companion for when you have to perform light tasks.

A 13-megapixel camera system is there on the back of the tablet. The camera is not very good, but it does the job of clicking photos. And those who are thinking of using the tablet for video calls should also look elsewhere because the quality of the dual 8-megapixel cameras on the front is also abysmal.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro uses an 8000mAh battery inside. With all sorts of things that I did on the tablet, which was pretty much binge-watching Netflix and checking some emails and a 15-minute session of a Zoom video call, the Tab P11 Pro's battery was down by only 30 per cent in a day. So I think the tablet's battery will easily last you two days. You get a USB-C charger in the box, and it supports 20W output.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro review: Should you buy it?

Lenovo's Tab P11 Pro is trying to be the iPad of the Android world, but I think it is just a big ambition at this point in time. Lenovo needs to work on this tablet before it is finally ready to take on the iPad, or even the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ is perhaps the best Android tablet because there are hardly any others. So, I would not recommend the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro to carry out your office work or even do that college project. But if you are looking for a tablet for watching movies or just because you want to fancy a large-screen device, Lenovo Tab P11 Pro is a good device. I, however, do not think spending Rs 44,990 on watching movies on Netflix and YouTube at good quality makes sense.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro review

6/10

Pros

Big and colourful OLED screen

Amazing speakers

Sleek design

Cons

Bland interface

No extra features to help navigate tablet-centred Android

Productivity features underwhelming