The pandemic has meant that many families have looked for additional devices for work, learning or whatever entertainment one can grab during these very difficult times. There are often just not enough screens to go around in the house. That’s how the tablet market has seen an uptick just when it was being overshadowed by larger and larger smartphones.

Among the prominent tablets brands available there are iPads, of course, and in the Android world, ones from Samsung. But there has been another option and that’s Lenovo’s less-talked-about tablets. Unfortunately, we don’t often get to see them for review, but recently we did receive Lenovo’s high-end P11 Pro tablet. Let’s see how it checks out.

Tall tablet

There is a regular P11 tablet, but luckily we got to see the Pro version which undoubtedly will be the more interesting of the two. It’s a very tall (or very wide, depending on how you hold it) tablet. Seen diagonally across the screen it’s 11.5 inches. But because people now specially want their tablets to double up as a notebook, the form factor has tended to be more legal sized than A4. Very unfortunately Lenovo didn’t give us a keyboard with which to check out how exactly it feels to use when typing and using different work related software nor a digital pen of any sort. It definitely isn’t included in the package which is entirely barebones. In fact, you’ll have a bit of work to do finding the accessories you need for it — a back case, perhaps or a keyboard case. All you get in the box is the charger and the tablet and a SIM card tool.

The P11 Pro doesn’t exactly feel light. Held in one hand to read something or perhaps play a game, it tends to get to be a bit of a strain. It is a slim and flat tablet with an interesting carbon coloured back with a brushed metal look. It has a barely noticeable dual tone on one side. It looks straightforward and business-like. Users aren’t as involved with their tablet designs as they are with their phones’ but the P11 Pro is in any case quite premium looking.

On the edges, you’ll find the power button on the top and somewhere in the vicinity a SIM card tray. Volume buttons are way up high on the right. Other than that, you’ll see antenna lines and top and bottom the grill for four speakers. The screen on this tablet has slim enough bezels and lots of real estate with the front camera tucked away on the top edge — no need for notches and punch holes here. It’s a very bright display with quite good colour depth and vibrancy. The resolution is 2560 x 1600 and it’s an OLED display with Dolby Vision and HDR support. Watching movies on it was a good experience with that nice expansive screen and great viewing angles.. Browsing however did leave me with a few crashes and hangs. This may be a bug in some software, almost certainly fixable with the right updates.

The P11 Pro works on the Snapdragon 730G, on phones a mid-range processor. It has 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. It doesn’t feel snappy as such but it isn’t sluggish. The tablet happens to be still working on Android 10, which is a pity. Lenovo’s interface is not a very heavy or clunky one and actually doesn’t have intrusive annoyances, which is a relief. Unfortunately, I couldn’t try out the Productivity Mode which kicks in when you use its keyboard, which wasn’t included in the review package. The keyboard has a lot of special keys and features that would perhaps add significant value to this tablet, but this was not something we can check out at this time. We also couldn’t test out the pen which would further bring out the usefulness of the P11 Pro.

Quick charge battery

The tablet has a fingerprint sensor built into the power button and it’s a bit fussy and not exactly supersonic. There’s a big 8600mAh battery on this tablet with Quick Charge 3. It lasts more than the day quite easily, including with a good deal of movie watching.

The smart thing is that the front camera, an 8MP lens, is placed so that it can be in the right position for video conferencing when the tablet is in landscape mode. So when you use it, you find your gaze turning out just right. The rear cameras are 13MP and 5MP wide and mostly good for scanning documents since the tablet is really too large to make sense for regular photos.

The Lenovo P11 Pro can make for an alternative to the top-end Samsung tablets if one wants a tablet that isn’t in the Apple ecosystem, but when considering it, explore the availability of accessories first and factor that into the cost.

Price: ₹44,999

Pros: Premium design, good build, great expansive bright 2x OLED display,

Cons: Needless removal of 3.5mm jack, no extras in box, still on Android 10

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