Lenovo’s latest budget tablet can turn into a portable Bluetooth speaker

Summary

• Samsung dominates high-end Android tablets, but Lenovo offers value with its new budget Tab Plus.
• Lenovo Tab Plus features a premium design, 2K display, and JBL speakers for outstanding sound.
• Tab Plus has eight speakers, runs on a MediaTek G99 SoC, and promises two years of OS updates.

Samsung dominates the high-end Android tablet market with its Galaxy offerings. The company also has some decent mid-range and budget options, but it faces stiff competition from Lenovo in this segment. The latter has some good offerings that stand out for their value for money. Building on its strength, Lenovo has announced another Android tablet to fulfill all your entertainment and content consumption needs. The Tab Plus packs an 11.5-inch display with 2K resolution and eight JBL speakers for outstanding sound quality.

Most budget Android tablets typically feature a sub-par screen and stereo speakers. The poor build quality further ruins the experience, making them sub-par content consumption devices. Lenovo wants to change that with the Tab Plus. While made of plastic, the tablet looks a lot more premium than its competition in the same price range and even sports IP52 dust protection. It also sports a rear kickstand, providing up to 175 degrees of viewing flexibility. The 11.5-inch 2K display stands out with its 90Hz refresh rate and 400 nits brightness.

A Standby mode can turn the Tab Plus into a digital photo frame, and it activates automatically when you use the kickstand and put the device in landscape mode.

The tablet’s standout feature is its JBL-certified eight-speaker setup, which Lenovo claims delivers 26W output. This setup includes four tweeters and force-balancing woofers inside four speaker boxes, with the Dolby Atmos tuning further improving audio quality. A unique feature of the Lenovo Tab Plus is its ability to function as a portable Bluetooth speaker. You can connect your smartphone or another device to the tablet and use its eight speakers as a portable speaker.

Internally, the Lenovo Tab Plus uses MediaTek’s octa-core G99 SoC with 8GB RAM. You can get the tablet in 128GB or 256GB configuration, with a microSD card slot also available for storage expansion. A beefy 8,600mAh battery provides juice to the itnernals, with 45W fast charging enough to top it up in a claimed 90 minutes.

Out of the box, the Lenovo Tab Plus runs Android 14. The company promises 2 years of OS updates and 4 years of security patches until June 2028. Alongside the tablet, Lenovo also unveiled a sleeve case, a stylus, and a wireless keyboard accessory for the device.

The Lenovo Tab Plus goes on sale from today for $290 in the US and for €279 in select EU markets.