There are literally hundreds of 10-inch tablets available in the market. The demand may not be as much as 5-10 years ago, when tablets were all the craze and screen real estate was pretty important. These days, most entry-level phones are capable of producing great performance, and some of them reaching more than 6-inch screen sizes.

However, there are still a need for some products that cater to people who require much bigger screens, with only a minimal budget for it.

Enter the Lenovo Tab M10 HD – a budget tablet from Lenovo. Launched last 2019, it has a massive 10.1-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 (HD). Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 429 SoC with a 2.0Ghz Quadcore CPU and an Adreno 506 GPU, it’s definitely on the budget side when it comes to processing power. RAM is just at 2GB, and internal storage is 16GB, which are both considered tiny at Q1 2020. Since the specifications alone scream budget, we were not expecting to be able to run any demanding applications. But then again, that is not the selling point of this tablet.

 

Specifications:

• Screen Size: 10 inches
• Screen Resolution: HD IPS 1280 x 800
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 429 2.0Ghz Quadcore, Adreno 506 GPU
• RAM: 2GB
• ROM: 16GB
• Android Version: Android Pie 9.0
• Rear Camera: 5MP AutoFocus
• Front Camera: 2MP Fixed Focus
• LTE: Yes, Data 1 Slot
• 3G: Yes, Data
• WIFI: Yes
• Battery: 4850 mAh
• Color: Slate Black
• SRP: Php 8,490

INSIDE THE PACKAGING

The Lenovo Tab M10 HD comes with the main unit, a USB microUSB cable, a standard charger, and a SIM card ejector tool. The charger is rated at 5V/2A, so a wattage of around 10W.

BUILD QUALITY

Overall the tablet seems solid – definitely not the same as cheaper, generic/chinese-branded tablets you can get off Lazada/Shopee or other seedy local markets. The plastic material at the back seems more durable. Some mild bending tests prove that it is indeed sturdy enough – and can likely withstand accidental bumps. Take note though that it is always recommended to have a sturdy case or protector with tablets this size.

DISPLAY

The glass material of 10.1-inch IPS HD screen is definitely not made of anything that seems durable. It felt like it would break at the slightest drop – which is not good. A soft screen protector or glass screen protector would immediately be needed.

The display quality itself is enjoyable – images and videos were crisp.  Viewing some e-books or websites is not a very enjoyable experience since at full screen, most text come out jagged due to the large pixels.

The screen looks great during low-light conditions. However, put the tablet under direct sunlight, and even at highest brightness options, the screen is dark and barely readable. If used  in a well-lighted or dimly-lighted room, color reproduction and contrast are much better compared to other tablets in this range.

OS AND APP PERFORMANCE

Out of the box it comes with Android Pie, which is currently the most popular Android version available in most devices. However, it lacks a lot of performance features seen in more more mature UI’s of Samsung and Huawei phones, and overall performance was sluggish on the Lenovo Tab M10 HD. It struggled to load most apps, both while running zero other apps and with other apps present. However, once the app loads, like Youtube or Netflix, app performance was satisfactory. It was pretty enjoyable to watch Netflix movies on a 10-inch Full HD screen.

In addition, the tablet features a child-friendly kid’s mode which was very convenient for parents who usually leave this kind of tablet with their children. It features a timer and colorful app (and sanitized) library which kids can use freely. There is, however, some questionable content even on Youtube Kids, so parents still need to be wary of the content.

Audio Performance

One thing that’s definitely noticeable in this tablet is the great audio performance. Two almost-front facing speakers fire from one side to produce good music and sound effects – although a bit on the flat side. While watching movies on Netflix, music and sound effects were vibrant. Bass sounds were passable, and since the tablet is huge, it seemed like you were listening to surround sound if the tablet was just sitting near your face.

Camera

The Lenovo Tab M10 HD features a 5-megapixel camera at the back, which is not really anything special to note. It’s not really unusual for tablets in this price range and category to have this kind of quality. It’s good for some quick snaps when you don’t have anything with you – and we don’t recommend using it for any important photos which need more detail or picture quality. Video calls are also quite okay but don’t expect too much.

 

Sample photos

 

Connectivity

The tablet variant available in the Philippines features an SIM slot, capable of 4GB LTE speeds. Although we did not test this feature (and benchmarking LTE speeds in the PH is not really an enjoyable experience), it is a given that the tablet is going to use LTE as just a secondary feature rather than a main LTE device. Other standard connectivity options are bluetooth, WI-FI. Nothing really special to talk about these, but WI-FI speed is just okay for normal streaming use.

 

Gaming performance

The Lenovo Tab M10 HD is definitely not a gaming tablet. Running Mobile Legends, for example, was a painful process – from loading to actual usage even at lowest settings. So – not even going to post screenshots of this part. It is already assumed that even more intensive games like COD: Mobile, Asphalt, will likely not perform so well. Again – do NOT expect this tablet to be a gaming tablet. We did not even bother to show this performance during this review. 🙂

 

Battery Life

Battery life is rated at 4,850mAh, which lasts less than a full day’s use (~10 hours). All competitors considered, this is not too good, but then again battery life always depends on a user’s personal usage. Another issue is that the Tab M10 HD does not have fast charging and charges using a USB Type-B (microUSB) connector, thus, charging takes more than 2 hours. 

Benchmarks

With an entry-level Snapdragon 429 SoC (launched early 2019) and accompanied by a low-powered Adreno 504 GPU, it was expected that the Lenovo Tab M10 HD would not have extremely high scores for all benchmarking apps. Considering its massive screen size and price point, all performance marks were expected for its tablet category and price range. Another thing to consider for the Antutu benchmark especially was the slightly disappointing 2GB RAM on the tablet, which affected overall scores.

• Geekbench 5
  • Open CL: 136
  • Single Core: 169
  • Multi-Core: 570

• 3D Mark Slingshot
  • Overall score: 472

 

• Antutu v8.2.2
  • Score: 84,415

FINAL THOUGHTS AND CONCLUSION

With mobile phones getting more and more bigger, even for entry level segment, it is now almost unusual to have just a tablet device separately as part of your tech arsenal. However, we still believe that 10-inch tablets such as the Lenovo Tab M10 HD still have a practical use for some people. While this is not primarily a productivity or gaming device due to its performance issues, the best usage would be primarily for media consumption (streaming) and also for learning/reading activities. With lowered expectations, It is a great device for kids and adults alike because of its large screen and smooth video performance. Compared to lower-end, generic 10.10-inch tablets, the Lenovo Tab M10 HD has great value for its build quality and basic performance.

 

Another great alternative for this tablet is the Lenovo Tab M10 FHD version, which for just roughly Php1,000 more (Php9,490) has a bumped up Snapdragon 450 SoC with an octa-core CPU,  3GB RAM, 32GB ROM, full HD resolution of 1920 x 1200, and 7000 mAh battery capacity. If this FHD tablet were available, we would recommend going for this upgraded version.