I tab pro. Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) review: the best tablet screen in the world

Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) review: the best tablet screen in the world

The iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) is just Apple showing off. The mini-LED screen is beautiful, and it’s stunningly fast… it’s the peak of tablets currently, no question. But it’s also more than most people will need.

• Stunning mini-LED HDR display
• Extremely fast and powerful
• 5G now available
• Has the best tablet app ecosystem
• – No change in typical brightness
• – iPadOS can be limiting
• – Face ID is awkward at times

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The short version of this iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) review is that the best tablet on the planet just got better. This new version adds HDR image quality to rival what some of the best TVs are capable of, and more processing power than the biggest and beefiest MacBook Pro.

Other tablets still haven’t caught up to the full package Apple offered in the previous iPad Pro (2020), but Apple is still adding more and more great stuff – as well as the above, you’ve got the option for 5G connectivity, and improved cameras, including a Smart new ‘Centre Stage’ front camera that can follow you if you move.

The question isn’t whether this is the best tablet experience – it is – but whether all of this is actually overkill for you, and whether the excellent iPad Air (2020) would suffice for you instead, even the dinky iPad mini (6th Gen).

So, let’s dig into everything you need to know about the iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021), and you can decide whether it’s work the pro-level price of admission.

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) review: Price release date

The latest iPad Pro 12.9-inch model is available to order now, and is released on May 21st, 2021. It starts from £999/1,099/AU1,649 with 128GB of storage, and is available Space Grey or Silver.

You can add more storage though – there are options for 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB now. The latter will set you back £1,749/1,299/AU3,299. If you choose the 1TB or 2TB version, you get 16GB of RAM – all smaller sizes include 8GB of RAM.

5G is an optional extra, and costs £150/200/AU250 more than a Wi-Fi-only model – not including any data plan, of course.

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) review: Features what’s new

We’ve already mentioned the headline changes for the iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021), but let’s get into a bit more detail, especially about the incredible new screen. It’s a mini-LED display, which means Apple can fit thousands of tiny LEDs directly behind the screen, enabling much higher brightness than previous iPads.

Last year’s iPad Pro could reach around 600 nits of full-screen brightness – this can reach 1,600 nits for HDR peaks, and 1,000 nits for full-screen brightness. That’s a big step up – but it’s only for when you’re watching HDR video or looking at HDR photos. In regular app use, Apple actually restricts the screen to 600 nits, which helps keep the battery life at the usual 10 hours or so.

Mini-LEDs aren’t just about brightness though: having small lights helps with precision for dimming dark areas of the screen right next to bright areas, enabling contrast between the two that’s close to what OLED is famously able to deliver by having per-pixel lighting. Apple says that the iPad Pro has 2,596 individual dimming zones. For comparison, this is over triple the number of dimming zones of a flagship mini-LED 4K TV at 55 inches or bigger. So we’re talking serious levels of precision.

This screen is just for the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro model, sadly. The 11-inch model has the same screen as last year. Both models still support up to 120Hz refresh rates, and deliver P3 wide colour gamut support, plus Apple Pencil 2 support, naturally. The resolution here is still 2732×2048, which is 264 pixels per inch.

Next on the list of features is the Apple M1 chip powering things. This is an eight-core processor, with an eight-core GPU, and you get either 8GB or 16GB of RAM, depending on which storage capacity you choose.

The speed of the internal storage has been improved too – Apple says it’s up to twice as fast – which is a good pairing with an ultra-fast processor.

There’s still just a single port, but it’s now a combined USB Type-C and Thunderbolt 4 port, which means this can shift files back and forth to external storage and potentially colossal speeds, and supports external displays of up to 6K resolution.

On the rear, the dual camera setup is pretty much the same, with a 12MP wide-angle camera and a 10MP ultra-wide camera. However, the processing has been improved, and the LiDAR scanner is now used to help with autofocus in low light, like it does for the iPhone 12 Pro. On the front, however, there’s a new 12MP ultra-wide camera, which has a feature called ‘Centre Stage’, which helps to give you perfect framing in the shot – we’ll explain all later.

There’s still a Face ID sensor for face detection security – sadly, the Touch ID button from the iPad Air (2020) hasn’t made it over as a secondary option.

The design hasn’t really changed, though it’s now marginally thicker, to accommodate the new screen tech. It’s such a slight change that you won’t notice. You may have seen that Apple said that the size difference could cause an issue with older versions of the Magic Keyboard case, but we’ve tried it with the old one, and it appears to be just fine when open or closed.

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) review: Screen speakers

The new screen is super-flashy headline feature here, and it’s absolutely beautiful, no questions. First, let’s get the slightly disappointing thing out of the way: that the extra brightness only comes in when watching HDR video, or viewing HDR photos.

In general use, its brightness isn’t strong than the previous iPad Pro (2020), and we were excited about the idea of an iPad Pro that’s even more visible for use outdoors, with the extra brightness cutting through. But that’s not the case – this will only trigger when you’re watching videos in certain formats, including Dolby Vision HDR for movies. There’s no set format for HDR photos, so that may be more hit and miss, though your iPhone HDR photos should benefit.

However, that’s not to say that there’s no difference from the new screen when doing non-HDR things. It may not be brighter overall, but certain elements on screen will appear notably brighter, which appears to be thanks to the precision of the mini-LED backlight.

White text or icons on a dark background, for example, are bolder and clearer on the new iPad Pro 12.9-inch. This makes sense – on the older model, the simpler backlight has to attempt to balance the darkness needed in the background with the brightness of the white. What you tend to end up with is the white brightness being held back as a compromise, so the dark part doesn’t become too grey.

But this screen has tighter control of its backlight, so the white parts are able to be visibly punchier while the dark background can actually be darker and more visibly black.

In situations like this, it means the new screen actually gives those bright elements a more defined edge, so they appear sharper on-screen, even though the number of pixels hasn’t changed.

The new screen also benefits general use because even though the maximum brightness hasn’t shifted, what it can do with dark areas has. Blacks are a truer black, rather than the telltale soft grey of LCD screens. Images that mix light and dark get more depth in their shadows. This applies to SDR videos too – they get improved contrast, and colours appear a little more vibrant even without HDR.

However, hop into a video with HDR and you’ll really see what the screen can do. First, we should say that despite the dazzling high number of Apple‘s quoted 1,600-nit brightness, that peak will be fairly rarely reached, just because of how HDR video works. But the overall video quality is a huge, huge step up over every other iPad, and over OLED screens in tablets.

The sheer range that this screen can produce is just gorgeous, with bright lights right next to dim areas. But unlike most LCD screens where the dim areas tend to flatten and lose detail, here everything has depth and clarity. OLED screens can achieve this too, but they can’t hit the brightness that this screen manages, making the total experience more like a high-end TV than any other tablet.

Compared directly to last year’s iPad Pro, the difference is clear, but it’s more something the video connoisseur will appreciate rather than blowing the mind of anyone who sees it. But when you compare it to compare it to the iPad Air, or cheapest iPad 10.2-inch (2020), the difference starts to look like it’s really on another level – and even more so when compared to cheap tablets, or your average PC monitor, even.

Happily, Apple has kept its astounding speakers in this iPad Pro, which use drivers in all four corners to create seriously good stereo if you’re close to the iPad, or just generally remarkably loud and full audio if you’re not.

It all makes this the ultimate video tablet, whether you’re a pro or just want to watch stuff in the best quality wherever you are. The only downside is that a widescreen film doesn’t take up that much of the screen, because it’s not a very widescreen tablet.

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) review: Performance software

It may not surprise you to learn that the famously fast Apple M1 chip – described as such in our MacBook Air (M1, 2020) review, and MacBook Pro 13-inch (M1, 2020) review, and iMac 24-inch (2021) review – is very fast.

In general use, this iPad is screamingly quick to load apps or switch between them – but so was the previous model, and the iPad Air. Speed hasn’t been much of a concern for the iPad recently.

There’s still a big boost in power here, with the Geekbench 5 scores of 1720 for single-core and 6869 for multi-core absolutely smashing the previous models’ scores of 1126 and 4539, respectively.

The iPad Air (2020), with its A14 processor, scores 1574 and 4031, which means that iPad Air is very nearly as powerful for the most common tasks (which are single core), but the iPad Pro offers around 50% more power for really intensive multi-threaded tasks.

The question is whether you’ll ever really need as much power as the M1 offers? At the moment, it feels like a solution in search of a problem on the iPad. We’ve seen some really impressive displays of power on this iPad Pro using the M1, and we know that apps such as Affinity Designer will use as much power as they can take to make complex things runs smoothly. Similarly the upcoming upgrade to the LumaFusion video editing app that adds multi-camera editing is astoundingly powerful… but to use software like this to the extent where it requires the M1’s power, and not just the power of the A14 in the iPad Air, is really very niche.

And that’s okay – this is a ‘pro’ machine, after all. But I want to make sure people understand that the M1 processor is massively overkill for general tablet use.

On this topic, we hope that iPadOS 15 may actually unlock what the new iPads can do more. The biggest speed issue with working on the iPad and performing complex tasks tends to happen if you need to ship a file or data from one app to another. The exporting of data and the connection between apps can be slow and awkward. Just opening a file in a specific app you want involves a pop-up menu that may or may not actually offer you the app you’re looking for quickly.

Multitasking can be great with apps side by side, but the system is clumsy to invoke, and switching between different app combinations is one of the least intuitive things I’ve ever done on a computer.

The quality and capabilities of the apps you’ll use keeps the iPad ahead of the game, and neither Android nor Windows is better on a small-screen tablet… but I always feel like I’m working less quickly than I could be when I’m moving between apps, and the M1’s extra power won’t change this, because power isn’t the bottleneck.

The other big speed boost on offer from the iPad Pro is 5G connectivity, which is an optional extra. It works great, where supported – we measured 300Mbps down, and 65Mbps up using the EE network in the UK. Downloading a 2GB movie from iTunes took 96 seconds.

Apple’s claims of around 10 hours of battery life in general use is about right based on our time using the iPad, but as ever, more intensive stuff will drain it faster – games being one of the main culprits.

The HDR video also seems to increase battery loss, with two hours of HDR video streamed from Netflix (with speakers on) cutting the battery by 25%.

The battery use in 5G is good, though – downloading the 2GB movie didn’t even knock the battery down by 1%. On iPhone 12 Pro, the same movie download reduced battery by 3%.

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) review: Cameras other features

The iPad Pro relies on Face ID for its security, just like the model before – and unlike the iPad Air, which features Touch ID fingerprint security, despite sharing the same design. I had hoped to have the option of both on this device, because while Face ID works great when the iPad has a clear view of your face, that’s not really how tablets work – they’re often flat on tables, or in your lap, or half covered by an arm.

On iPhone, you don’t have to think about Face ID – it just works, as the old saying goes. On iPad, you need to make sure you get the iPad into the right position – you have to think about unlocking it. That’s unless it’s in its Magic Keyboard case or an equivalent, so it’s looking straight at you – then it works totally smoothly.

Adding Touch ID as well would just give you a seamless alternative for the times when it’s not in face-viewing range. But it’s not to be.

So Face ID hasn’t changed, but the front camera has. It’s an all-new 12MP ultra-wide cam, with support for a new feature called ‘Centre Stage’. The camera crops into its ultra-wide view, to just show your face and torso. If you move around, the view follows you, without the iPad needing to move. If someone else joins you, it reframes around two people.

It works incredibly well, and the angles it can reach mean that you really have to wander right off in order to be out of its view.

On the rear, the 12MP wide-angle and 10MP ultra-wide are impressive cameras, with the M1’s image processing giving a small boost to overall image quality compared to last year’s models.

The LiDAR can help massively with autofocusing in low-light conditions, which really helps you to actually capture a shot before things change – while also being useful for accurate AR, which Apple continues to say is right on the cusp of changing everything. I remain unmoved – it can be really useful on occasion, but those occasions aren’t that common for me, at least.

Apple Pencil 2 works just as well here as it does on previous models – the 120Hz screen helps it to feel perfectly responsive, and helps with accuracy when compared to the 60Hz screen on the iPad Air.

The Magic Keyboard continues to be a controversial accessory. Its price of £329/349/AU549 is just hideous for something that’s just a keyboard, trackpad, charging passthrough, and a case. However, nothing does the same job better – they keyboard is excellent, the trackpad works great, and the hinge aspect is totally solid.

It’s annoying that it doesn’t offer more flexibility for portrait use or anything like that, but if you want to be able to use your iPad as a laptop when necessary, it’s the best option. It’s just that you’ll likely resent it at this price, even when making good use of it. At least it comes in white now.

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) review: Verdict

No surprises here: the iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) is the most technologically superior version of the best tablet family. For those who love video, it offers the best screen out there. It’s future-proofed thanks to its ridiculous processor. It has a cool new feature that’s ideal for video calls. It’s just excellent.

iPadOS is its weakest link in some ways, for those who want to use it for as a real pro machine, at least. But even then, it remains the best option available to buy, beating both Android and Windows tablets as for the overall touchscreen apps experience.

As we hinted at earlier, though, the big question is whether you really need all of this if you’re not one of the pros who’ll push the M1 to its limits, or whether the lower-price iPads would do the job you want, and leave you money for all those accessories.

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021) review: Also consider

The iPad Pro 11-inch (2021) includes all of the features of the 12.9-inch model except for the HDR screen, so that’s one option – it starts cheaper than the bigger-screened version.

The iPad Air (2020) is the big one here, though. Its 10.9-inch screen is a great size, the A14 processor is extremely fast of its own accord, it supports Apple Pencil 2 and has a great design with cool colours. Compared to the iPad Pro, the main downsides are that the screen is 60Hz and only hits 500 nits of brightness, and it features less fancy speakers. Here’s our full iPad Air (2020) review – for most people, this is probably still the most sensible iPad to buy, even if the iPad Pro is better.

Of course, you might be thinking that the 2020 iPad Pro could be a good bargain if stock gets sold off cheap now that this version is out. If you want the big 12.9-inch screen but don’t mind about the M1 power and HDR prowess, we’d absolutely recommend it. It still feels extremely fast, and has almost all the other advantages of the iPad Pro. Here’s our full iPad Pro (2020) review.

Lenovo Tab P12 Pro review: The flagship Android tablet shoots for the Galaxy

There is no shortage of display performance and power with the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro. But to compete against the iPad Pro and Galaxy S tablets, it needs a heavy lift from Google.

June, who often goes by Kerry, serves as Reviews Editor of ZDNET and is based in New York City. He reviews the latest consumer gadgets and shares advice to make the most out of them.

June, who often goes by Kerry, serves as Reviews Editor of ZDNET and is based in New York City. He reviews the latest consumer gadgets and shares advice to make the most out of them.

It’s easy to make a case for Samsung as the top manufacturer of high-end Android tablets. On any best Android tablet list you’ll find its Galaxy of A and S models, front and center. The Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is here to challenge the status quo.

On paper, the Android tablet’s specs rival that of Apple and Samsung’s best, including a large 12.6-inch display with 120Hz refresh rate, a massive 10,200mAh battery, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor to carry the workload. The device is sleek and fashioned in a way that will appeal to most consumers.

At a starting price of 599. the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is not as expensive as the iPad Pro or Samsung Galaxy Tab S8. But I would still put the tablet as a close second behind either of its competitors. Here’s why.

Lenovo Tab P12 Pro

pros and cons

• Large 12.6-inch display with 120Hz
• Lenovo Precision Pen 3 included in the box
• Long-lasting 10,200mAh battery
• Competitively priced
• Software can be buggy and stutter
• Update policy includes just one major OS upgrade
• No 3.5mm headphone jack

Specifications

Operating system

6/8GB of RAM, 128/256GB of storage, expandable up to 1TB via MicroSD

12.6-inch, 2K (2,560 x 1,600) OLED panel with 120Hz

13MP rear camera (auto-FOCUS) with a 5MP wide angle, 8MP front (fixed-FOCUS)

Connection ports

Micro USB-C 2.0, 4-point Pogo pins, keyboard connector slots, MicroSD card slot, stylus port

Gazing at the spec sheet, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is unquestionably geared for productivity and entertainment. These may appear to be polar opposites but both take advantage of the same high refresh rate screen and battery. The tablet also operates on Android 11, which isn’t the latest flavor of Google’s operating system, but it still retains useful one-handed features and multitasking quirks. An upgrade to Android 12 was previously slated for March 2022, but has since been pushed to June 30. on software and update policies later.

Design

There’s no denying that Lenovo has yet again built an industrial and sleek tablet. The Tab P12 Pro weighs 565 grams (1.24lbs) which is a sliver less than competing 12-inch devices. Naturally, the tablet only gets heavier when you snap on the included Precision Pen 3 stylus and optional keyboard accessory. Both bring quality of life improvements to the device and have been attached to my review unit since I unboxed it.

The Tab P12 Pro is built with a blend of aluminum and metal, which keeps it durable but lightweight. It’s easily one of the thinnest tablets that I’ve used at 5.6mm, making it a solid option for users who seek portability. Even then, Lenovo managed to squeeze in a bevy of ports and connectors around the tablet, including USB-C for data transfer and 30W fast charging, four side-firing JBL speakers, a fingerprint sensor, pins for the keyboard accessory, and a microSD card slot.

The only thing missing here is a 3.5mm headphone jack for the audiophiles and gamers who thrive with zero latency audio. I should tip my hat to Lenovo for including a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle in the box, though.

On the back of the tablet are two features to note: a dual-camera array and a magnetic zone for a stylus. The main camera is a 13MP shooter capable of auto-focusing and the second is a 5MP wide-angle lens. While photos and videos look tolerable on the Tab P12 Pro.- with decent contrast and processing that doesn’t over-sharpen.- as I said in my Lenovo Tab P11 Plus review, you should never buy a tablet for its camera quality. A smartphone or DSLR is much more reliable for capturing your whereabouts, family, and friends.

There’s no question that Lenovo took a page out of Samsung’s book with the magnetic housing for the Precision Pen 3. By clipping snuggly on the upper backside of the tablet (in landscape orientation), the stylus can be carried around and remain charged when not in use. The accessory itself has a cylindrical shape, a physical feature button, and a spring-loaded tip that supports 4,096 levels of pressure. Sensitivity-wise, the Precision Pen 3 rivals Samsung’s S Pen.

To doodle on, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro has a beautiful display. It’s a 12.6-inch OLED panel that refreshes at 120Hz, but it’s also surrounded by slim and rounded bezels. This combination makes the tablet look and feel smaller than the numbers make it out to be.

Putting it beside the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 or S8 Plus. you will likely need an extra second or two to discern which is the Lenovo. That’s a good thing; the Galaxy tablets are as good as Android tablet designs come.

With an OLED panel, the Tab P12 Pro delivers color-accurate, Dolby Vision-enabled visuals that make it perfect for streaming content and gaming. I also found the tablet very capable of handling outdoor viewing with its peak brightness of 600 nits. While not as luminous as the iPad Pro’s 1,000 nits, the Lenovo is a top performer.- and the display only gets better when used indoors.

That is, until you’re using the tablet at night or binge-watching shows in bed. In terms of dimming, the Tab P12 Pro just doesn’t get dark enough to make nighttime viewing pleasurable to the eyes. (Then again, you should probably give your eyes a rest when it’s time for bed.)

Lenovo offers the tablet in only one color: Storm Grey. As triumphant as the name sounds, it’s just a bland grey finish. The paint is not as dark as a matte-black colorway but appears in an undertone that is just neutral enough to be accepted by casual, student, and enterprise users. On the bright side, the back’s satin finish helps to reduce fingerprints and smudges. The overall feel and finish is A-tier.

Performance

In terms of everyday performance, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro holds itself well thanks, in part, to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 processor. The chipset is not the latest and greatest from Qualcomm, but it’s powerful and efficient enough to run high-graphics games, edit 1080p/60fps video, and run multiple apps at once. Coming in 6GB and 8GB RAM configurations, the Tab P12 Pro is able to switch between apps gracefully, while keeping older ones running in the background. Rarely did an app need to restart itself when opened after a period of time.

These performance gains paint a picture that we often see with flagship Android tablets. While they’re capable of running mobile apps and games, the overall experience is nerfed by the operating system within. The Tab P12 Pro runs on Lenovo’s take on Android 11. From my experience, gesture-based navigation was helpful, the dynamic media controls played well with entertainment, and all the other Android perks were greatly appreciated.

often than not, though, the tablet would need a second register.- whether it’s a pinch out or swipe.- to understand my inputs. From expanding YouTube videos to swiping picture-in-picture content away, the Tab P12 Pro had occasional delays and/or just didn’t understand what I was trying to do.

Taking advantage of the 12.6-inch screen, I spent a good part of my testing in split-screen mode and productivity mode. The former is when two apps fill the left and right halves of the screen. Like on Android smartphones, not every application is compatible with this behavior, which makes the tablet experience somewhat limited.

To remedy this, you can use productivity mode, Lenovo’s tablet-to-desktop toggle that presents apps in dedicated pop-up Windows with a taskbar at the bottom for navigation. You can also snap Windows by dragging them to the left or rightmost side of the screen, similar to a traditional PC. Like Samsung DeX, productivity mode can be turned on via the notification panel or the shortcut on the optional keyboard accessory. (For the ultimate mobile workstation, I’d highly recommend picking up the 149 keyboard as it provides an enhanced layer of input, alongside a slew of functional keys.)

There is one major annoyance that I have with productivity mode: it looks practically the same as when it’s turned off (see comparison below). Unlike Samsung’s tablet-to-desktop approach, which changes the orientation of the home screen, Lenovo’s just adds a taskbar and calls it a day. Unless you know for sure that you need pop-up Windows, this visual indifference may not be the best incentive for the average consumer to switch modes.

For productivity, I’d recommend using Lenovo Project Unity (LPU) instead. Announced in late 2021 and now available to use on the Tab P12 Pro, LPU allows the tablet to pair wirelessly to a Windows laptop or desktop and effectively mirror or extend from it. This is quite the value proposition because the 599 tablet now doubles as a secondary display, which typically costs upwards of 400.

Again, LPU only works with Windows laptops and desktops, and it requires you to download the companion app through the Microsoft Store. But once you have it, pairing the computer to the tablet is as simple as typing in a code. I found this feature particularly useful when multitasking, as I needed numerous Windows open at once. From reviewing devices to setting the Tab P12 Pro as my dedicated music player, LPU effectively integrates the tablet into any workflow.

Speaking of music playing, the sound quality of the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro’s JBL speakers is loud and punchy. The four grilles span across the sides of the tablet and support Dolby Atmos for immersive sound. My two gripes are: how tinny the audio can get when the volume is set higher than 65% and how the speakers are easy to muffle when held in landscape orientation. It’s no problem when watching shows on a stand, but for mobile gaming or handheld use, you’ll unknowingly find yourself covering the speakers half of the time.

Battery and longevity

The 10,200mAh cell in the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is similar in size to the larger tablets from Apple and Samsung. On average, I scored about two days of usage before needing to charge the tablet with the included 30W adapter. And for faster speeds, you can plug the device into a 45W brick to take advantage of its Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 technology.

Two-day battery life is to be expected from a tablet that operates on such a big screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. Keep in mind that the two-day timeframe included hours of gaming and video streaming. With light to moderate use, I can easily see the Tab P12 Pro lasting until a third or fourth day. It all depends on your personal usage.

On the topic of longevity, here’s the lowdown of Lenovo’s software upgrade policy: The Tab P12 Pro will receive one major OS upgrade (to Android 12) and three years of security patches (until September 2024). This cadence is typical of Lenovo but certainly not as extensive as its competitors. For perspective, Samsung offers up to four years of OS upgrades and five years of security updates to its flagship line of tablets, while Apple remains in a league of its own with up to seven years. Those numbers put Lenovo’s 599 tablet to shame.

To give Lenovo some credit, the Tab P12 Pro is among the first Android tablets to receive Android 12L, Google’s rejuvenated (and promising) operating system that’s optimized for large-screened devices, including foldables. We’ll have more on that when the official version hits the market.

Bottom line

As a standalone tablet, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is priced competitively and makes for a stellar entertainment device. The large 12.6-inch display is great, and I appreciate Lenovo for including the Precision Pen 3 for those who need it. Until the official version of Android 12L arrives, I remain conservative in claiming that the Tab P12 Pro is the best of its breed. Minor inconveniences, like gesture bugs and input lag, disrupt what is a rather polished tablet, hardware-wise.

Alternatives to consider

Along with our running list of the best Android tablets, here are some worthy alternatives to the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro:

Samsung Galaxy Tab Active Pro: A Tough Tablet For Road Warriors

Personal electronics take quite a beating. Think for a moment about all the places your smartphone can end up: on top of the car, buried in a bag, shoved into a along with keys, tossed on a seat where it may bounce off and hit the floor, and so many other situations. Just like a phone, a tablet can end up in a lot of those same places, too. Environmental factors come in to play for users who are active as well, be it in a delivery vehicle, on a factory floor, or as a first responder in a vehicle. In those situations, the peace of mind brought by paying for extra-durable devices can be totally worth it.

For smartphones, Samsung’s Galaxy Active family has served as the rugged device built to withstand a tougher environment. In October, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Tab Active lineup for business customers that want something ultra-mobile, but in a larger format than a smartphone. Samsung says these tablets are built to withstand rough environments while delivering the performance and connectivity that businesses need to keep their field agents productive. The Galaxy Tab Active family has a pair of members: the Galaxy Tab Active 2 is an 8 tablet, while the Galaxy Tab Active Pro is a 10.1 device. Otherwise, they have very similar specs. Today, we’re looking at the Pro model with the specs listed below.

Samsung says that the Galaxy Tab Active Pro has an octa-core SoC that runs at up to 2.0 GHz, but doesn’t specify exactly which in its specs. According to both AnTuTu and Geekbench on the device, the SoC in question is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 SoC with a pair of 2 GHz Kryo 360 Gold cores and six 1.7 GHz Kryo 360 Silver cores. The pair of Kryo 360 Gold cores should be plenty of oomph for lightly-threaded performance sensitive tasks like browsing the web and running the vast majority of apps. Meanwhile, six Kryo 360 Silver cores should be more than enough to handle background tasks.

While the Galaxy Tab Active Pro isn’t exactly a gaming device, the built-in Adreno 615 graphics should be enough for most games without a lot of stuttering or jank. 4 GB of LPDDR4x memory back the SoC, which doesn’t sound like much in an age of 8 GB and 12 GB smartphones, but should still be adequate for a decent amount of multi-tasking. For primary storage, the Galaxy Tab Active Pro relies on 64 GB of internal flash along with a micro SD slot for additional space.

There’s plenty of network connectivity in the Galaxy Tab Active Pro. The device supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Band and Bluetooth 5.0 with the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) for high quality sound. While our test unit doesn’t support it, Samsung does have a version of the Galaxy Tab Active Pro with 4G LTE cellular connectivity, too.

Samsung gave the Galaxy Tab Active Pro a pair of cameras, with one on each side of the tablet. While taking photos with a tablet can look downright silly to the casual observer, the rear-facing camera looks pretty solid on paper with its 13 megapixel sensor and wide f/1.8 aperture. The front camera is no slouch, boasting an 8 megapixel sensor and a slightly narrower f/2.0 aperture. Both sensors should have no problem gathering light, but we’ll test it in dimmer scenarios.

Since the Samsung aimed the Galaxy Tab Active Pro at professional markets, it has a suitably large battery. The unit in our test unit was rated at 7,400 mAh at 3.8v, which works out to 28.12 Watt-hours. That’s not quite as big as the typical ultrabook battery at around 50 Wh, but we’re not trying to drive a 15W

Intel Core processor, either. The battery life in the Galaxy Tab Pro Active should be pretty solid, but there’s only one way to find out. Hint: it’s on the next page.

Hardware Features and Industrial Design

Externally, the biggest eye catcher is all the effort that went into making this device rugged enough to meet the MIL-STD-810G specification. This means that the tablet meets certain criteria, for example, it can survive extreme temperatures, dust, shock, vibration, and low pressure/high altitude usage. As part of that certification process, the Galaxy Tab Active Pro also has an ingress protection rating of IP68, which means it can withstand 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes and is dust resistant.

Secondly, the Galaxy Tab Active Pro has physical hardware buttons, just like the ATT exclusive Galaxy Active smartphones. The hardware buttons are in Samsung’s default configuration, which differs from stock Android by putting the back button on the right and the multi-tasking button on the left. If you’ve ever used a Samsung phone before, this should be familiar, but users of just about any other Android phone will have a little bit to get used to. Anybody who’s used a touch screen with gloves on knows these buttons are pretty handy. The home button also doubles as a fingerprint reader for the only form of biometric authentication in the tablet. This hearkens back to the days when the fingerprint reader was on the front of many Galaxy S phones like the Galaxy S5 and S6. Below those hardware buttons sits a set of pogo pins for use with some third party add-ons like docks and mounts.

In the box, Samsung includes a polycarbonate case that the tablet slips into easily. Holstered in that case is an S Pen which carries the same IP68 rating of the tablet. The S Pen is an active stylus that connects via Bluetooth, but if the battery dies it can still be used for writing. The Bluetooth features like hover do need the battery. The lack of battery also means that there’s no Bluetooth connection or Air Action compatibility like the Note 10, though. For the target audience, we think skipping those extra features and excluding the battery was the right call. The S Pen itself is a solid stylus about as large as a nice ballpoint pen.

The tablet itself is made from a matte textured polycarbonate body like the case. Hearkening back to the Good Old Days, the Galaxy Tab Active Pro has a pop-off back cover, which grants access to a user replaceable battery and micro SD slot. Since this device is targeted at businesses, having a user-replaceable battery should extend the usable life of the device should the juice pack go south. What’s unfortunate is that seemingly every flagship smartphone followed Apple‘s lead and denies the same experience to consumers. We like it the serviceable battery in the Galaxy Tab Active Pro an awful lot, though.

The 1920×1200 display on the Galaxy Tab Active Pro is an IPS panel with 10-point touch responsiveness, and as a result the viewing angles are nice and wide. The display gets pretty bright indoors, measuring 350 nits at maximum brightness on our light meter. However, that’s not really bright enough for outdoor use without being in the shade. Since the hardware buttons are present on the tablet, none of the screen real estate is lost to a wide navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. Bixby is present on the tablet, but not assigned to any hardware buttons by default.

Above the display sits an 8 megapixel front-facing camera for taking selfies or (perhaps more likely, on a business device) streaming video for video conferencing apps. We’ll examine still performance later on, but for video conferencing this does the job. The image isn’t particularly sharp but it’s certainly enough to get by in a WebEx meeting. Around the back is a 13-megapixel camera for taking stills or video up to 4K at 30 fps or 1080p at 60 fps. The microphones on the Galaxy Tab Active Pro do a decent job of capturing the environment on video, and canceling out background noise in video calls when used with the front-facing camera. For audio playback, the tablet has a single speaker on the right side, when holding the tablet with the front-facing camera on top. It works for video conferencing, but not much else. Fortunately, there’s also a headset jack for typical four-pole analog headsets.

All of the side buttons are on the same edge of the Galaxy Tab Active Pro as the camera, so changing the volume or waking the display is all along the top edge of the device. There’s a fourth button here, dubbed the Active Button, which is programmable and can launch two apps. Unlike the Bixby button on the Galaxy S smartphone lineup, this button is fully programmable. By default tapping it will launch the camera, and long presses will open the calendar, but either of these actions can be tied to any of the apps on the system.

Software Experience with Android 9 and One UI

On the software side, the Galaxy Tab Active Pro runs Android 9 Pie with Samsung’s One UI. With a public unveiling of Android 11 right around the corner and given the premium price of this tablet, it’s a little disappointing that the OS hasn’t been kept totally current. Still, the OS is plenty modern for just about every app and use case, since many Android app developers are stuck supporting Android 6 Marshmallow just to make sure that their apps will run on the largest number of devices.

The default Home screen of the Galaxy Tab Active Pro

Anybody who’s touched a recent Samsung phone knows that One UI is pretty solid. While Samsung does make its own customizations to Android’s user interface, those changes not as heavy-handed as they used to be in TouchWiz. The stock launcher is swift and smooth to navigate, and apps launch pretty quickly. The Galaxy Tab Active Pro has a built-in selection of no-nonsense applications without unnecessary always-on bloatware. A couple of important apps for business users are DeX, the Knox security platform, and Citrix Intelligent Workspace.

The Galaxy Tab Active Pro also supports Samsung DeX, the desktop PC-style interface for Android devices. Samsung supports DeX through a variety of first and third-party accessories, including keyboard cases, mutli-port adapters, and HDMI cables. DeX can also mirror the tablet’s display to another computer using an application for Windows and Mac OS. Even without DeX, the software keyboard has some extra tricks that the stock keyboard from Google doesn’t have, like a Control key. Hold Ctrl on the keyboard and access several common keyboard shortcuts, like CtrlA to select all, CtrlX and CtrlC to cut and copy, and CtrlV to paste. Typing directly on the device using the touch display is a pretty good experience overall, considering the lack of buttons. Samsung’s keyboard supports dragged gesture input, which is always welcome on touch devices.

Samsung partnered with Citrix to bring Citrix Intelligent Workspace to the Galaxy Tab Active Pro. This allows businesses to give employees secure access to applications and data they need to get their jobs done. While we’re on the subject of security, the Galaxy Tab Active Pro also has Samsung’s Knox security platform. IT administrators can also use Knox to push applications and configurations to a fleet of devices across the business to give users the tools they need and lock down the device to protect against unauthorized access.

The number of default apps is pretty light, which we appreciate. There’s little bloat taking up precious storage.

The S Pen works out of the box with the a couple of apps: Samsung Notes, which has some interesting tricks up its sleeve, and Penup. Samsung describes Penup as a creative social network in which where artists can share their creations with other Penup users or the internet at large. Going beyond that, Penup also hosts Live Drawings, which are videos that show how an artist created a sketch, un-colored sketches for coloring, and drawing challenges.

Taking notes in the Notes app using the S Pen and then double-tapping them with a finger will prompt the Galaxy Tab Active Pro to convert handwriting to text. We had some hit-and-miss results with ours, as my handwriting isn’t great. The number of mistakes it made on my sloppy scribbles made it a bigger hassle to fix text than it was to just type it out in the first place. However, when I took my time and wrote legibly, the Samsung Notes app did a reasonably good job of interpreting my chicken scratches into text. Cursive was a bigger problem than just printing. With enough practice, we were finally able to get it to translate our notes into something legible.

Top: my handwriting. Bottom: writing to text via OCR

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro S W700N Tablet 2-in-1 Review

Super AMOLED style. The Samsung Galaxy TabPro S is a Smart 12-inch tablet that comes with a usable keyboard good battery life and an impressive screen.

The Samsung Galaxy TabPro S is the first Windows tablet Samsung have had in a while. It’s positioned towards productivity rather than entertainment but is small, light and quiet enough to be used for almost anything. There are limits though and there are a lot of competitors in this growing segment. The Huawei Matebook, Lenovo Miix 700, HP Spectre X2, Surface Pro 4, iPad Pro and Dell XPS 12 Asus UX305-CA and Toshiba Portégé Z20t-B-10C all offer similar size, weight and features in price bracket from around 800 and rising to over 2000.

We’ve got the Core m3 model here (Core m3 6Y30) with 128 GB SSD and 4 GB RAM which is regarded as entry level in the world of Windows productivity. The launch price for this model in Europe is 1000 Euros (about 810 Euros pre tax.) It’s also available with Windows 10 Pro. There are currently no other variants available which indicate that Samsung aren’t aiming for the high-end in this space. This is clearly a product targeted directly at people considering the Core m3 version of the Surface Pro 4 or even the Surface 3.

Galaxy Tab Pro S price update: The price of the Galaxy TabPro S has just dropped to 899 in the USA (pre-tax.)

In this review we’ll give you all the performance scores you need, our lab tests results for the screen, heat and battery life, highlight a few unique features and compare with the devices listed above.

Intel Core m3-6Y30 Intel HD Graphics 515

Convertible. 04/27/2016. v5.1

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12.10 inch 3:2, 2160 x 1440 pixel 215 PPI, 10 Fingers, Digital Flat Panel (NoName), sAMOLED, glossy: yes, detachable screen

Speakers: Stereo, Keyboard: Flat, mechanical, full size, Keyboard case, Volume rocker, power and Windows buttons. fanless

Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

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Case

Let’s first look at the tablet itself. The smooth metallic edges give a nice feel to this 12.1-inch tablet. Switch-gear seems good quality. One can’t moan at a 693 gram productive Windows 10 PC but one could moan about the size and weight of this tablet if you were thinking of using it as a consumption-oriented tablet. The weight and size are just short of providing long-term hand-held comfort although if you’re only planning to use it for short periods as a tablet it works well.

The keyboard case is both good and bad. It weighs 385 grams and gives the tablet a cover, a stand and a keyboard in one. The material, plastic, feels high quality and it’s good to hold. The case can be used as a two-position stand and obviously the lack of infinitely variable adjustment (as on the Miix 700, Spectre X2 and Surface 3 / Pro 3 and Pro 4 models is a big disadvantage.

Combined weight of the keyboard and tablet is very good at 1070 grams (measured) and the charger doesn’t add much weight or bulk. The Dell XPS 12 tested recently is quite a bit heavier at 1300 grams. The Lenovo Miix 700 is slightly heavier with keyboard (1100 grams.) The iPad Pro comes in at 1049 grams with keyboard and the Surface Pro 4 (m3) at 1161 grams.

Take a look at some of the images below and then continue with our review of the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S.

Razer Blade Stealth UHD i7-6500U Lenovo ThinkPad X260-20F60041GE Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Core i7 Dell XPS 12 9250 4K Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro S W700N DIN A4 ❌

Connectivity

One USB-C port. In April 2016 this is a problem. In a years time, perhaps not but this reviewer got caught out when it came to transferring our suite of test files. Fortunately the USB-C port does support the full high-speed 10 Gbps transfer speed but there’s no Thunderbolt support. We weren’t able to test it with third party docks or adapters. The USB-C port also serves as the charging port so keep this in mind when trying to use accessories on a low charge.

Internally there’s an AC Wi-Fi module, Bluetooth 4.1 and NFC support. We were able to transfer across an AC network (used by multiple people) to a Gigabit Ethernet connected storage at a maximum of 40 MB/s. We didn’t test NFC.

Without native digital video, USB 3.0 or even a Micro SD card slot it’s difficult to rate connectivity highly. Cloud-based storage may not be a viable option when on the move and local network based file transfers may have speed and security issues. The ideal solution is a USB-C / USB 3 storage device that can be used as a backup / file history and transfer device but that adds to complexity, cost and weight. NFC tap-and-go transfers or Wi-Fi-Direct transfers may be an option for some people.

In addition to the USB-C port there’s also a headset port.

Communication

A Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4A AC Wi-Fi BT 4.1 performs local area networking duties. Wi-Fi is dual-Band and dual-channel and we were solidly connected to a 5Ghz AC network at 867 Mbps during the review. Quality and range seems good too. In a busy city-center test we were able to remain connected at full speed to the same network at 10 meters away.

Security

Windows 10 Home doesn’t support Bitlocker encryption so although there is a TPM device you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro to take advantage of it. There’s no fingerprint reader or Windows Hello login support.

Maintenance

Don’t expect to be able to upgrade or replace any components in the TabPro S without specialized tools. Even then we don’t expect much to be removable if you get inside the device. The TabPro S has been designed as a sealed unit and will probably remain that way for nearly all owners. Warranty will vary globally.

Input Devices

Keyboard

Before we get onto the details of the screen let’s consider this keyboard case as a primary input mechanism. Is it good enough to use all-day or is it just for brief usage? If you’ve used the Type Cover 3 for the Surface Pro 3 and Surface 3 you’ll know exactly the type of mechanics that are in the Samsung TabPro S keyboard. In fact it’s difficult to see how the two keyboards could have come from a different source because they are so close in design, feel and sizing. The similarity with the Microsoft Type Cover 3 makes it easy to position in terms of rating because, quite simply, the Type Cover 4 and Miix 700 keyboard are better. This author has used the Type Cover 3 for well over a year though and can say that it’s good enough for most purposes.

There’s no backlight on the TabPro S keyboard and you can’t raise the rear of the keyboard as you can on the Surface Type Covers but it does provide a better lapping experience in the second, laid-back position. It takes a similar surface area to the Surface Pro 3 / 4 but the back of the case provides a lot more friction and stability on the lap. As the keyboard lays directly on the work surface there’s little to no flex on the keyboard. An NFC receiver is provided in the keyboard.

As far as a thin keyboard case goes, this is one of the better ones on the market but at this price we would expect the backlight which is becoming more and more popular on laptops and tablet keyboards.

Touchpad

The touchpad is very good and again, very similar to that found on the Surface Type Cover 3. Smooth multi-finger scrolling and zooming is available and up to four fingers are recognized across the system. Mouse button clicks are well-defined and there’s enough space to be able to move the mouse pointer around the screen without any problems. Configuration is available in the Windows 10 settings menu.

Touchscreen

The 10 finger capacative touchscreen gave us no issues during our test and scaling across the Windows 10 system supported the 2160 x 1440 resolution well. Be aware that some older Windows desktop applications don’t scale well to these high resolutions and can result in unusable user interfaces with finger touch.

Samsung Bluetooth C-Pen Stylus

Samsung have announced a stylus for the TabPro S but it wasn’t part of our review package. It should support pressure and hovering.