By The Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3, which retails for $469.99, is a little tablet made for gamers who desire excellent performance in a portable form factor. It has a strong processor, an excellent battery life, a speedy radio, good audio, and even decent cameras in an attractive 8.8-inch form. The Tab Gen 3 is still a fantastic choice if you’re searching for a tiny, specialized gaming device, though we wish it had more storage and a little brighter screen. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE (starting at $499.99) is our Editors’ Choice winner in this price range because it offers a better overall experience for a little more money. This is because of its larger and brighter screen, great software, and included stylus.
Design
The Legion Tab Gen 3 weighs 0.77 pounds and has dimensions of 5.10 by 8.21 by 0.31 inches (HWD). It is smaller than the Tab S10 FE (6.53 by 10.01 by 0.24 inches, 1.09 pounds) and the $499 RedMagic Nova gaming tablet (6.48 by 9.97 by 0.29 inches, 1.17 pounds), both of which have larger 10.9-inch screens, but it is comparable to the $499 Apple iPad mini (5.30 by 7.69 by 0.25 inches, 0.65 pounds).
The Legion Tab is lightweight and features a stylish, robust design with an aluminum alloy casing and Gorilla Glass 5 protecting the screen. No matter how you carry it, it’s comfy and easy to grasp. Additionally, the tablet has an IP52 rating, meaning that dust and water droplets won’t harm it. In contrast, the iPad mini and Nova tablet are not IP-rated at all, whereas the S10 FE is waterproof with an IP68 classification.
The Legion Tab’s bezels are thinner on the long sides and thicker on the short sides when viewed from the front. Unfortunately, when holding the tablet in landscape mode, it is simple to obscure the front-facing camera, which is located in the short bezel on the left side.
The glossy Legion wordmark is imprinted in the center of the tablet’s black reverse side (Eclipse Black is the sole color available). The rear camera module, a raised rectangle with two lenses and a flash, is also located on the back. Sound is emitted from grilles set into the left and right side edges by two Dolby Atmos speakers.
A USB-C (v2.0) connector for charging and data transmission is also located on the right side, and a USB-C (v3.2 Gen 2) port for charging, data transfer, and display out is located on the bottom rail. To safeguard the battery while plugged in, the tablet has bypass charging capabilities at both USB ports. At the upper left corner are a textured power button and a volume rocker.
Display
The Lenovo Legion Tab has an 8.8-inch LCD with 2,560 by 1,600 pixels of resolution, 500 nits of brightness on average (900 nits at its highest), and a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz. The screen’s 165Hz sampling rate allows for fluid animations and fast touch input response. Although the display is easy to see indoors, using it outside is challenging due to its shiny glass surface and low brightness.
In contrast, the Tab S10 FE boasts a 10.9-inch LCD with 2,304 by 1,440 pixel resolution, 800 nits of brightness, and a 90 Hz refresh rate. In addition, the Nova features a 10.9-inch LCD with 2,880 by 1,800 pixel resolution, 550 nits as the standard output, a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz, and a higher touch sampling rate of 840 Hz. The iPad mini, on the other hand, has an 8.3-inch LCD with a static 60Hz refresh rate, a maximum brightness of 500 nits, and a resolution of 2,266 by 1,488 pixels.
Performance
Lenovo’s Legion Tab, which boasts 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage and 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 engine. And you’ll only get that much storage: This is the only variant available, and it lacks a microSD card port.
The Lenovo received a single-core score of 2,266 and a multi-core score of 7,126 in Geekbench 6, a test that gauges raw CPU output. This places the gadget below the iPad mini (2,972 and 7,362) but ahead of the Nova tablet (2,214 and 6,989) and the Tab S10 FE (1,358, 3,886).
The Legion Tab outperformed the Nova with a score of 21,106 and the Tab S10 FE with a score of 13,361 on the PCMark Work 3.0 test, which evaluates general mobile workloads. Apple devices are not compatible with this test.
We utilize the GFXBench Aztec Ruins high-tier test to evaluate graphics performance. The iPad mini achieved 38.8 frames per second, while the Lenovo achieved 60 frames per second, which was only two frames faster than the Nova gaming tablet.
Battery
The 6,550mAh battery of the Legion Tab may be charged using either a USB-C connection at up to 68W. Neither wireless nor reverse wireless charging is supported.
The tablet lasted nine hours and forty-five minutes in our usual rundown test, which involves streaming a 1080p video over Wi-Fi while keeping the screen at full brightness. In comparison to the iPad mini, which lasted 7 hours and 23 minutes, and the Tab S10 FE, which lasted 7 hours and 45 minutes, the Nova’s 10,100mAh battery only lasted 5 hours and 55 minutes after charging at up to 80W.
The 65W charger that comes with it makes recharging quick. The drained tablet reached 36% after 15 minutes, 65% after 30 minutes, and 100% after 60 minutes when connected. Compared to most tablets, which often take two or more hours to recharge, that is significantly faster. Additionally, pass-through charging enables you to use USB-C to power the tablet for extended gaming sessions without concurrently draining the battery. This improves gaming performance and safeguards battery health over time.
Conclusion
For less than $500, the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 offers outstanding productivity and gaming capabilities in a portable design. It is ideal for serious mobile gamers because of its quick processor, quick Wi-Fi, and long battery life. Although we wish it had expandable storage and a better screen, Lenovo’s little gaming tablet is a great choice for mobile gaming if those features aren’t a deal breaker for you. We believe that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE is a better choice for a broader audience for more general use because of its larger, brighter display, superior software, and Samsung’s long-term support promise.
