Buzz
Priced around $200, the Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus is a 10.3-inch Android tablet. At this price point, we get a premium design, beautiful display, and near-stock Android 9 experience. I appreciate its 4GB RAM and at least 64GB storage capacity. But the competition is fierce in this price range, so can it hold its own? That's what you'll learn in this Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus review.
Reviewing the Display and Audio of Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus
Its display size is a tad unconventional. With a 10.3-inch screen, the Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus is slightly larger than the 10.1-inch displays found on most competitors. You can notice a significant difference when comparing both screen sizes side by side. The 10.3-inch display features Full HD resolution with 1920 x 1200 pixels. It's not as sharp as most smartphones, but I've always believed that full HD resolution is good enough on a 10-inch screen.
That's about all I can say regarding other aspects of the display. It's sufficiently bright, reproduces colors well, and it's an IPS panel. That means you can easily view it from multiple angles. It's reassuring to know that it's a laminated display. That means you won't see an air gap beneath the touch screen.
Gaming and YouTube videos look stunning. However, there's a hiccup with Netflix. The Tab M10 FHD Plus has L3 Widevine, meaning you can't stream Netflix in HD resolution. Instead, you'll have to settle for 960 x 540 pixels. While it's possible, I don't think Lenovo will fix this issue with an update. All of Lenovo's Android tablets that I've reviewed over the past few months, even years, have had the same problem. Yes, it's quite disappointing.
I don't think it's a perfect entertainment tablet for watching movies or TV shows. While it boasts two separate built-in speakers, the sound quality is just okay. I mean, it's usable but I miss good bass and it sounds a bit flat. Sure, you can't expect too much in this price range. But direct competitors like the Lenovo Yoga Smart Tab and Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 have notably better speakers.
Hardware and Performance of Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus
The Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus features an octa-core MediaTek Helio P22T processor. It comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Out of which, 9.72GB is used by the operating system. You can also find variants with 3GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, depending on where you are.
Benchmark scores like Geekbench 4 and 5 show that the multi-core performance of the Helio P22T is quite good. It sits between the Amazon Fire HD 10 and Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1. Graphics performance in Geekbench Compute and 3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme Test sometimes falls below and sometimes surpasses Samsung's competitors, but it always lags behind Amazon.
So, that shows the graphics performance isn't great but it's standard for this price range. Games like Call of Duty and PUBG Mobile mostly run well. But in both cases, you can only choose low graphics settings. That means those games aren't optimized very well. I also noticed the same with Asphalt 9. It runs, but you'll notice stuttering in the middle and the graphics don't look quite nice.
On the positive side, most standard apps like Chrome, Microsoft Word, YouTube, and Skype all run very smoothly. Chrome operates seamlessly with multiple tabs open simultaneously and they're stored in memory when switching between them. I reckon that's thanks to the 4GB RAM, quite generous for a $200 tablet. That's also why split-screen functionality works well.
The Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus isn't a stellar gaming tablet. But with 4GB RAM, I think it's quite suitable for office work with some multitasking and the like.
Software: Android 9 Pie
The Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus comes with Android 9 out of the box and the October 2019 security patch. I always appreciate that we get nearly stock Android with Lenovo devices – including all the popular features like split-screen view.
There are some minor customizations, though. Some pre-installed apps and games like Candy Crush can be annoying. But you can uninstall all of them. There's also something called Lenovo Entertainment Center on the home screen. I think it's a completely useless feature but you can turn it off in settings.
The Kids Mode could be interesting if you have children. Since I don't, I always find it hard to evaluate their usefulness. But if you don't want your child to have access to the entire tablet, that could be handy.
If you're looking to use this Lenovo tablet for productivity, you might want to utilize Producvity Mode. When you turn it on, the navigation buttons at the bottom will turn into a sort of taskbar. It looks similar to a desktop OS and means you can navigate Android more easily with a keyboard and mouse. It's not a true desktop mode like what Samsung or Huawei offers.
Integrated facial recognition can also be handy. It's not as secure and certainly not as fast as Apple's Face ID, but it works most of the time in good lighting conditions. However, in darkness, it doesn't work at all.
Unfortunately, Lenovo is quite unreliable when it comes to related updates. Sometimes they release updates for their tablets but sometimes they don't. And if they do, we only get one major update. At least that's what it's been like for the past few years.
Design of Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus
I can only say good things about its design and build quality. That's because the Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus has a metal body that feels very premium. In fact, it feels better built than the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 and on par with the standard iPad 7. But there are thin plastic parts on the top and bottom. The M10 FHD Plus weighs 460g and is 8.2mm thin. I think it's okay.
At the bottom, there's a USB Type-C port that you can use to charge the tablet or to connect accessories like hard drives or a mouse. On top, we have a headphone jack and next to it are the power button and volume controls. Below those, you can insert a microSD card that can be up to 256GB in size.
It has a port for a dock on its left side. I suppose there's a version tailored for the Google Assistant-enabled environment called the Lenovo Smart Tab M10 FHD Plus. Besides, both tablets look identical.
Camera
The 5-megapixel front camera can be used for video chatting on Skype or taking simple selfies. But I think the image and video from that webcam are too sharp. Lenovo overdid it a bit. On the other hand, with the 8-megapixel main camera, I wonder where those 8 megapixels are. The photos and videos lack detail and don't look as sharp as they should. Here, once again, I can describe it as only passable.
Battery Life of Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus
The battery life of the Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus is quite good. In my standard test, it has a runtime of 14 hours. For this, I always loop the same HD video at medium brightness.
As mentioned, the battery life isn't as good in my YouTube test. When streaming HD video on YouTube at maximum brightness, it only lasts about 4 hours.
Final Thoughts
My final verdict on the Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus is as follows. It's a very solid tablet on one hand. It offers a premium design, beautiful display, near-stock Android 9, and good performance for its price. The battery life is quite long, and I like that we get 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. That's a good deal in this price range.
But on the other hand, you can't watch Netflix in HD mode and the speakers could be better. I think Lenovo disappoints with updates too. I wish they'd ensure at least two but they don't. What's the point of pure Android if you only get a single update?
That's why I can only recommend the Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus if you're fond of pure Android and want a sleek, premium design. It's great for browsing the web, reading news, and blogs. Clearly, it could also be a great choice if you can find a good deal. Additionally, a good thing is that Lenovo frequently discounts their tablets, so the cost to own a Lenovo tablet won't be too high.
