The Lenovo Tab M10 is an affordable tablet that is perfect for the whole family. You can buy it with child-friendly features and get a well-rounded spec sheet in return. However, it’ll be hard for the cheaper alternative to make a name in a saturated market.
The Tab series is Lenovo’s budget tablet line, aimed at a wide variety of users. The company stands out by positioning the devices as family-friendly while still maintaining a sleek design and decent sound quality. We have already taken a look at the Tab P10, now let’s take a look at its cheaper sibling, the Tab M10. One thing to keep in mind is that the price range varies depending on the model number. For example, with the Tab M10 costing less than $100 than the Tab P10, and so on. The cheapest models in this series are the Tab E10 & followed by the Tab L.
Lenovo has packed the Tab M10 with a quality MTK processor, not to mention 2GB of RAM & 16GB of built-in storage. They’ve also thrown in a switchable children’s mode, perfect for some quality family time. Furthermore, Lenovo sells a Tab M10 Kids Bumper that features built-in screen protection for your tablet to prevent damage when you’re on the go.
We decided to compare the Tab M10 with other comparably priced midrange tablets. The comparison devices include Acer Ionia Tab 10, Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017), Chuwi Hi9 Plus, Huawei Media Pad T5, and Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5. In this article, we’ll compare the Tab M10 to its more expensive sibling – the Tab P10.
Case
The Tab M10 has a plastic case that feels good in the hand thanks to its rubberized surface. The finish also helps prevent the tablet from slipping off a table or out of our hands. The smooth, hard plastic of the case is easy to grip and provides a nice contrast with the metal frame.
Lenovo’s M10 is available in Slate Black and Polar White – our model is Slate Black. It weighs 480g (1.06lb) which makes it portable enough for students to take into school without feeling like it could bother them. The Tab M10 may be more affordable, but it isn’t as robust as the Tab P10. The 8.1mm (0.32in) thin, plastic case is easy to warp and we can easily make the display deform by applying pressure to either the case or the screen.
Connectivity
Lenovo has equipped the Tab M10 with up to 3 GB LPDDR3 RAM and 32 GB of storage. We only found the cheaper version on the UK Lenovo online store at the time of writing, which has 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage but is otherwise identical.
When we first took our test unit out of the box, it had a total of 7.4 GB free space available out of its 16 GB built-in storage and that included room for a microSD card for up to 256 GB to be added in.
Lenovo has equipped the Tab M10 with a USB Type-C port, which is uncommon in its price range. The port operates on the USB 2.0 standard, which is considerably slower than other devices. The Tab M10 offers an FM radio and a headphone jack, two features that aren’t guaranteed with devices released in the last eighteen months. The Tab M10 has a better display & battery life but the Tab P10 is faster and supports LTE.
Lenovo also sells its Lenovo Smart dock, which turns the Tab M10 into an Alexa-enabled smart speaker. The tablet connects to the dock via pogo pins and displays information on the screen. It almost functions as an Amazon Echo Show.
Lenovo does not sell the Smart Dock separately, and you can only buy it bundled with the Tab M10 tablet. But that package still costs the same as buying the Tab M10.
Software
The Tab M10’s Android 8.1 Oreo is still new and exciting, but the recent patches are not. Thankfully, we could update them ourselves to the latest 5 August 2018 Android security patches.
Lenovo’s UI is much like stock Android and there’s even an option to disable the app drawer, just like iOS.
Lenovo has replaced Google apps on its new Tab P10 such as the contacts and camera app. This is part of the push to cut back on reliance on Google and strengthen Lenovo’s ecosystem. The company has also opted to pre-install Google Files instead of its long-maintained in-house file manager. Our test unit also has third-party apps pre-installed such as Microsoft Outlook, Netflix, Skype, and SyncIt HD, the latter of which is a property of the organization. We could uninstall some pre-installed apps, but unfortunately, we were not able to take them off of Netflix. It only had a setting in the “Apps” compartment of Settings.
Display
The Tab M10 offers a 5MP rear-facing camera and a 2MP front-facing sensor. Lenovo’s Tab P10 comes equipped with an 8MP rear-facing camera and a 5MP front-facing sensor.
The rear-facing camera in the Tab M10 comes with autofocus and can record up to 1080p at 25 FPS. It also has a front-facing camera that shoots videos up to 1080p at 30 FPS.
The default camera app has several handy settings. You can switch between landscape, candlelight, sports, and snow modes, along with various filters and manual settings for each setting. Lenovo adds HDR support and a possum mode, but the latter only works when HDR is disabled.
The Tab M10 takes passable photos, but they are snapshot quality at best. The rear-facing camera struggles to capture details in large areas of color (e.g. t-shirt that the toy rabbit is wearing in Scene 1). Textured surfaces and lines are also a challenge for the camera. Moreover, objects look overly sharpened to our eyes, which also makes Scene 2 look artificial. The camera also takes dreadful photos in low-light conditions. Scene 3 is hopelessly underexposed to the point where we can hardly make out our toy rabbit.
The front-facing camera is also not up to standard. The 2MP sensor takes grainy pictures that can be too dark & blurry. Neither of the cameras performs well in shooting video. The front-facing camera might be better at recording at higher framers because it captures more light and detail than the rear-facing sensor.
The Lenovo Tab M10 is a 10-inch tablet for entertainment. It has a 1080p screen and Dolby Atoms speakers.
Lenovo Tab M10 Tablet is one of the latest tablets from Lenovo, which was originally founded in 1984 as Legend. The tablet comes with a 10-inch screen and weighs about 1.1 pounds. It supports Dolby Atoms audio technology, creating a more immersive sound experience while you are watching movies or playing games on it.
The Lenovo Tab M10 tablet has a powerful octa-core MediaTek processor and Android Oreo 8.1 installed from the factory, so most tasks you throw at it will run smoothly and without lag. It also has 3GB of RAM on board to keep things running at an optimal level.
Cameras
The Tab M10 has a 5 MP rear-facing camera and a 2 MP front-facing sensor. The Tab P10, meanwhile, has an 8 MP rear-facing sensor and a 5 MP front-facing camera.
The Tab M10 has a GA pixel rear-facing camera that supports autofocus. It can also record in 1080p at 25 FPS for great quality video chats with your friends. The front-facing camera has the same resolution but can record by 30 FPS which means you’ll be able to take better photos with it, too.
The default camera app has several camera modes including candlelight, landscape, the sports scene, and snow. Users can also customize a photo’s settings for ISO and white balance before or as they take the picture. Lenovo also provides HDR support (although it doesn’t work with panoramas) & has a panorama feature.
The Tab M10 takes decent photos, but they are lower quality like the one in Scene 1. The rear camera doesn’t do a good enough job at capturing details in large expanses of color, which you can see by looking at the t-shirt that the toy rabbit is wearing. We feel that the objects are disproportionately zoomed in on and this makes Scene 2 seem artificial. The camera is bad at taking photos in low-light conditions and the last scene is too dark for us to see our toy rabbit.
The front-facing camera isn’t much better either. The 2 MP sensor produces blurry-looking images that are often full of image noise. The cameras on these phones are not so great when it comes to video recording. The front-facing cam is better than the rear-facing cam but both are not as good as other phones in this range.