Lenovo has become a quite achiever in the Smart home and Android Tablet space, slowly releasing a line of devices to service both markets. At IFA last years we saw the first Ambient Mode Android Tablet that turns a docked tablet into a quasi Google Smart Display. At CES this year Lenovo have unveiled the second iteration of that device, the 10″ Lenovo Smart Tab M10.
The new 10″ variant of the Smart Tab features a 10.3 – inch FDH display with ‘Dolby Atmos’ audio, it’s running atop Android 9 with a MediaTek Helio P22T SOC and with 2GB RAM with 32 GB Storage, 4GB RAM with 64GB of Storage or 4GB of RAM with 128GB of storage, a 5,000 mAh battery and a 8MP rear camera and 5MP front facing camera. ZThere’s USB C charging (altohught it’s Micro USB on the dock), a Micro SD card a 3.5 mm jack, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0 but seemingly no fingerprint sensor.This is not a high end tablet, however the real interest for this device is the dock.
Along side the base tablet, Lenovo ships a Pogo Pin dock that converts the Tablet into a Google Smart Display via the Google Assistant Ambient mode. The tablet is packing dual microphones to assist with Hello Google detection. For those thinking this seems familiar, it is. The Smart Tab M10 is basically a larger version of the 8-inch version released September last year.
I’ve been tempted to get one of these for my lounge room, for cast only content it would be good to have an always charged tablet ready to cast from that could double as an assistant speaker/ smart photos frame the rest of the time. The Lenovo Smart Tab M10 will release early this year for $189 USD which should see it sub $300 if it hits Australia.
My most recent tablets have all been Lenovo. I particularly like the Yoga Smart Tab with the fold out stand.
My biggest frustration is the lack of updates. I doubt this tablet will see an upgrade to Android 10 and security patches will be rare.
No fingerprint scanner makes it a no for me.
Why are Lenovo tablets better than Samsung?
Because Lenovo uses an interface that is close to the standard stock Android interface, whereas Samsung removes Google’s interface to replace it with its own on.
Also, Lenovo has ambient mode with Google Assistant, while Samsung tries to put you onto its Bixby Assistant, which nobody wants.