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Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 Review: Better Than Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite?

In my Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 review you learn if this tablet with Android 12L and keyboard cover is better than the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite.

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The Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 is a very exciting tablet for me, as it competes directly with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 2022, which I often recommend due to its good price-performance ratio. Lenovo offers us a larger display that even supports 120Hz, as well as a keyboard cover and an optional stylus. Can it beat Samsung? That’s what you’ll learn in this Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 review.

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 on* Amazon

Design & Keyboard Cover

Lenovo hasn’t changed much regarding its design in the last couple of years. The Tab P11 Gen 2 looks exactly like almost all Lenovo tablets. The back is made of 2/3 metal and 1/3 plastic. Overall, the build quality is solid, but the transition from the display to the body is not as seamless as on many premium tablets.

Good & Affordable
Lenovo Tab P11 (2nd Gen)
$234.29 $199.99

The Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 is a great choice if you're looking for an inexpensive Android tablet with keyboard or a good but affordable entertainment tablet. It offers a large 120Hz screen, a good build quality, almost pure Android and it's well made overall. However, if you need a great pen, Samsung's competition is a better choice.

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03/21/2024 05:18 pm GMT

It’s 7.5mm thick and weighs 520g.

I like the fact that it has a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a MicroSD card slot. It is charged via a USB C 2.0 port, which can also be used to connect many accessories, but not an external monitor.

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 design

There is an 8-megapixel webcam in the front, right in the center, which is a bit blurrier than Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6 Lite. The 13-megapixel main camera, on the other hand, is good and very similar on both.

Lenovo’s Keyboard Cover

You can buy a keyboard pack for the Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 and usually, you’ll have to buy it separately. I actually like this keyboard – it makes it the best budget Android tablet with a keyboard. This also makes it interesting for students and as an alternative to the Lenovo Duet 3 Chromebook with Chrome OS.

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 with Microsoft Word

The keyboard cover consists of two parts. We get a plastic back cover that protects the tablet from all sides. Unlike many competitors, even from Lenovo, where often only the back is protected, but not the edges. Here, the tablet is better protected, but it feels relatively thick because of that good protection.

A folding stand is built into the back cover. So, you can put it onto a table without the keyboard, if you want to watch a Netflix movie, for instance. There is also a pull-out loop at the top for the optional stylus.

The keyboard is then connected magnetically and the display is protected when folded.

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 with keyboard

Since we have an 11.5-inch display, the keyboard can be quite large. Quite a bit larger than your usual 10-inch device. I took the P11 Gen 2 on a trip to Warsaw and wrote a lot in that city. The keyboard is made entirely of plastic and also feels a bit cheap, but it works really well. I enjoyed writing with it especially when considering how inexpensive it is.

There is also a touchpad underneath the keyboard, which is relatively small, but it works fine.

Display & Speakers

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 display

The Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 has an 11.5-inch display that has a resolution of 2000 x 1200 pixels. While that’s common for 10-inch tablets in this price range, 11.5 inches are quite a bit bigger. So, you see more pixels and I always notice that when I write with the pen because then my nose hovers closer above the screen.

This is also noticeable compared to the smaller Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, which has the same resolution but a slightly higher pixel density because the display is a bit smaller.

In return, Lenovo has more stable viewing angles compared to Samsung and it supports 120 Hz. That is quite rare. Competitors like the Redmi Pad support 90 Hz, and the S6 Lite only 60 Hz. Animations look nice and smooth on the Lenovo.

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 speaker

The brightness is pretty good – good enough to work properly on a train when bright daylight shines through the window.

On the sides, the P11 Gen 2 has a total of four speakers that are nice and loud and also have a decent sound. It is thus well suited for watching YouTube or Netflix – the latter can be played in HD thanks to a Widevine Level of L1.

Lenovo Precision Pen 2

The Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 supports an active pen, namely the Lenovo Precision Pen 2. Usually, the pen has to be purchased separately. It’s a pressure-sensitive stylus that feels well built, has two buttons, and charges via USB C just like the tablet.

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 with Precision Pen 2

I have already tested many Lenovo tablets with the Precision Pen 2. And indeed, I think the P11 Gen 2 is better compared to some predecessors. The pen works okay. However, in direct comparison to the competition, it is clear that the Samsung S Pen and Apple Pencil are much more precise. Handwriting simply does not look as clean with the Precision Pen 2, and you can forget about detailed drawings. I gave it to an artist to play around with and she would never use it for any serious work.

If the pen is important to you, I think the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 2022 with S Pen is a much better choice. Mainly because of the better S Pen, but also because software like Samsung Notes is a good deal better.

Hardware & Performance

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 Geekbench 5

Lenovo’s Tab P11 Gen 2 is equipped with a MediaTek Helio G99 processor, which is supported by 4GB or 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage. You can also get it with LTE as an option. I have the version with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage.

The P11 Gen 2 is slightly more powerful than the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite in the Geekbench 5 benchmark test, and it is significantly faster than the first P11. At the same time, it’s significantly weaker than the P11 Pro Gen 2.

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 3D Mark Test

In the 3D Mark Wild Life test, it’s also stronger than Samsung’s competition and, by the way, better than the Xiaomi Redmi Pad, which is also in a similar price range. At the same time, it’s weaker than the Xiaomi Pad 5 and Pad 6.

In my gaming test, it does not get great results but it performs well for its price class. PUBG Mobile runs smoothly if you set the graphics to HD. Although it sometimes looks a bit pixelated, the colors are rendered well. Unfortunately, higher graphics settings cannot be selected.

Asphalt 9 and Apex Legend also run smoothly – but not with high graphics settings in both cases. So, you can play almost every game with the P11. But it’s not a high-quality gaming tablet; you need a device with a better chipset for that.

Software: Android 12L with updates?

The Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 runs Android 12L out of the box, which I think is really good. Android 12L is the tablet-optimized version of Android, which is otherwise only available on a few Samsung tablets. With the L version, we mainly get a taskbar at the bottom.

I also think it’s great that Lenovo promises updates up to Android 14. That is pretty good and clearly better than Lenovo has been in the past.

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 with productivity mode

We get almost pure Android here and almost all apps from Google are preinstalled – including Google Entertainment Space and Kids Space. There are some additional features for the stylus and a productivity mode.

The productivity mode is useless in my eyes due to Android 12L. The only advantage is that you can open apps in freely movable windows.

Battery Life

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 battery life

In my battery test, the Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 got a runtime of 6 hours – which is pretty low. I performed this test with the refresh rate set to 120Hz. It will last longer at 60Hz. For my battery test, I always run an HD YouTube video at maximum brightness in an endless loop.

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 Test: Final Verdict

So, is the Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 a good tablet, and can it beat the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 2022? In many aspects, yes. The P11 Gen 2 gives us a good display, a good design, a pretty nice keyboard cover, and almost pure Android. I think the P11 G2 is a much better choice than the Samsung if you’re looking for a budget Android tablet with a keyboard. And also if you want a good entertainment device.

Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite

However, Samsung still leads in one aspect. The S Pen and especially the software features for the pen are much better on the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 2022. So, if you are looking for an inexpensive Android tablet with a great pen, Samsung is still the better choice. In all other cases, however, not anymore.

If you need a good keyboard and a good pen together, you can look at the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro Gen 2. It is more expensive, but it has an OLED display and supports the Precision Pen 3, which is more on par with the S Pen.


8
Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 tested
Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 Review: The Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 is a great choice if you're looking for an inexpensive Android tablet with keyboard or a good but affordable entertainment tablet. It offers a large 120Hz screen, a good build quality, almost pure Android and it's well made overall. However, if you need a great pen, Samsung's competition is a better choice.
Positive
  • Solid design
  • Good screen
  • Decent performance
  • Good keyboard cover
  • Affodable
  • Android 12L + updates
Negative
  • Short battery life
  • Pen okay only
  • Low resolution
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9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Scotty

    June 2, 2023 at 5:52 pm

    It can be the absolute best in the world and better than anything and I still won’t buy Lenovo Anything.i bought the Lenovo yoga tab 3 pro when it came out thinking Lenovo should be an excellent tablet which it was BUT it had android 6 at the time,well it’s now 2023 and the ONLY update went from 6 to 6.1,that’s right “6.1”,Poor show from Lenovo.

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  6. David J Munro

    July 24, 2023 at 6:00 pm

    Just bought the Tab P11 Gen 2 while it was on sale during Prime Day, it seems like a good tablet but the only things that puzzle me is that the SD card cannot be formatted as “internal/adoptable storage” anymore, just external storage. I am also not sure if I have 12L or just 12. When I search for accesories, the keyboard does not come up as an option on the Lenovo site.

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