Lenovo Tab P12 ZACH0173AU

Big screen Android tablet that excels in many ways but has battery issues maybe? – Purchased 09/2024 from Lenovo for about $550 to replace a smaller Samsung "A" series that was running out of storage space. My configuration has a 12.7inch 3k screen with 8gb ram and 256gb internal storage. Wifi only. shame there is no LTE/5g option, but as I will be using it mainly round the house or in hotels, no great sacrifice. I have added… Read more

a 512gb micro SD card for more storage ($65), and a 3rd party protective folio case with keyboard for about another $70. The onscreen keyboard is actually great so I may not have needed the keyboard, but the screen always needs protecting as it is the most vulnerable component, so I guess it was necessary. If Lenovo make one I haven't found it but would have bought it for preference over a 3rd party one. AMENDED 1104: Finally found the official Lenovo P12 keyboard via Amazon for $172. big price for a tablet keyboard, and it took 2 weeks to arrive from Europe. fantastic quality and gets power from the 3 pongo pins on the bottom of the tablet. One killer problem....some the keys are in the wrong place... for example it is not QWERTY, but QWERTZ, and the Y is on the bottom row. It also has mystery keys, and some weird Northern European keys, and some keys just don't work. I am very sad as the construction quality and ergonomics are brilliant. I sent it back and will stick with the small Bluetooth keyboard I already have.

It comes with a screen pen which baffles me and may take some time to learn or master. Never had one of them before. And it is preloaded with Android 14 as its operating system, which is similar to 13.which I already know. Also comes with a powerful charger to speed up recharging. All USB C plugs of course.

So why did I buy or need a 12.7inch screen? Diminishing eyesight.

First impressions:

Absolutely gorgeous high resolution screen that knocks my socks off. Heavy! That's the downside of a larger form factor and screen. Sturdy metal case that is well screwed together.

Fast OS and generous 8gb of. ram. Implementation of Android not quite as slick as Samsung does, but pretty good. Not. much bloatware to delete. Just a few annoying kids games. No obvious way to port all my programs and data from my old Samsung to the new Lenovo wirelessly or wired, so has to be done bit by bit manually. Not a big problem, always good to start afresh, and get rid of programs and data I rarely used. But I could be wrong, maybe I just couldn't figure out how to clone the old programs and data to the new machine. Samsung makes it very easy. Lenovo could learn from Samsung.

Terrible documentation and manual. More like a chewing gum wrapper in size. and it is called a Quick Start Guide, which is accurate, though it's not much help. I pity anyone new to Android trying to get their head around it.

Performance is impressive. I have had 7 tabs open simultaneously with no slow downs, freezes or juddering. Video playback is especially impressive, and video quality is brilliant. Download speeds and wifi buffering is also great. No complaints despite the relatively unknown processor, and 8gb ram.

Several of the more obscure irrelevant programs included with the machine have crashed, but no great loss ro me. They are just buggy, and peripheral to me anyway. Microsoft 365, including Outlook and OneDrive, go like the clappers with no issues. Email implementation is swift and elegant for both my accounts. Specialist marine programs I use also run perfectly. There is so little to gripe about I am truly thankful. I have downloaded about 40 programs from the Android store and all run without a problem and with each other.

AMENDED 102024: Battery life is now a big question mark. YouTube reviews of the P12 estimate battery life between 5 and 10 hours. I am getting 4 and a half hours. That is a huge range. I suspect endurance may be heavily influenced by screen brightness settings and use of Bluetooth and wifi. But there must be something draining the battery even when it is asleep, as I have not been watching videos or multi-tasking to any extent. Less than 5 hours is a poor result and indicates Lenovo need to upgrade their software or firmware.. It is the only major disappointment with this tablet but means I cannot give it more than 3 stars. ( Changed to 4 stars as I love everything good about this so much.) But I cannot recommend it as a purchase. Time will tell whether an update fixes this problem.

Only other gripe is warranty. Warranty: some confusion here, mine arrived with only 6 months warranty left but in mint new condition and all the wrapping and boxing you would expect? Something is wrong here somewhere. The tablet Settings tell me the warranty period started in April, but I purchased in September and it arrived in as new packaging and condition. Go figure. AMENDED 112024: When I registered the purchase with Lenovo online, I got the option to amend the warranty start date, which I did, and they approved the next day. Now have a full 12 month warranty.

Conclusion:

The Lenovo P12, after 4 weeks of use, is a joy to own and use . It has so much going for it, but the poor battery life was a shock. It is an absolute winner and a letdown at the same time at a fraction of the price , (maybe one third) ,of technically comparable machines, but I hesitate to recommend it if you use your tablet mostly away from a power socket.