Meet Lenovo Smart Tab M8 - Long battery life and Dolby Atmos speakers

Lenovo has loaned team GIZGUIDE with one of its latest tablets, the Smart Tab M8 HD with Google Assistant and smart charging station.

Lenovo Smart Tab M8

On paper, this tablet might not excite anyone given its specifications but the main reason why you should read this review is because of its surprising battery life and its Dolby Atmos sound feature.

READ ON!

Meet Lenovo Smart Tab M8 HD

What's inside the box?

The tablet arrives in a white box accented with purple-blue on the side with the render of the tablet outside. Inside are, of course, the Tab M8 HD, smart charging dock, USB-A to micro-USB cord, 5V/2A wall charger, SIM ejector tool, and paper documents. 

8-inch HD IPS LCD

On top, it features an 8-inch HD IPS LCD with 1280 x 800 resolution. It has a bright enough screen but as expected it is not crisp. The top, side, and bottom bezels are just thin enough to allow your finger rest on them, so you don't have to worry about the tablet slipping off your hands.

At the back are the Lenovo and Dolby Atmos branding and a single rear camera. 

On top are the 3.5mm headphone jack and the first set of grille speakers. Meanwhile, the second set of grille speakers along with the micro-USB port lies at the bottom of the tablet.

Top

Bottom

The smart charging station attachment to the tablet which is kind of magnetic plus the SD card and SIM slot tray can be found on the left side. On the right side are the power button, volume rocker, and two microphones.

Left

Right

Lenovo Smart Tab M8 HD is powered by MediaTek Helio A22 2.0GHz quad-core processor, Integrated IMG GE8300 GPU, LPDDR3 2GB RAM, and 32GB of storage. 

The Smart Tab M8 garnered a score of 149 and 479 in GeekBench's single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.

Lenovo Smart Tab M8 Geekbench scores

With our more than two weeks of experience with the Lenovo Smart Tab M8 HD, we experienced very minimal hiccups and lag. It isn't the fastest around, but it works and could fast enough for browsing the internet and watching HD videos.

We had a nice time with it, and our favorite feature of it is that we can still use it while doing some house chores, thanks to its smart charging station and Google Assistant.

Communicate with Smart Tab M8 through Google Assistant!

Lenovo Smart Tab M8 on its smart charging dock

In terms of the battery, Smart Tab M8 HD is packed with 5,000mAh of battery, and using the PCMark battery benchmark test, it lasted for 16 hours and 10 minutes. 

Strong battery life!

In real usage, Lenovo Smart Tab M8 can last up to more than a day with casual browsing and music, and more than 12 hours of video playback. Surprisingly, when fully charged and left alone with WiFi on and little usage, Lenovo Smart Tab M8 can last up to three days.

Long battery life

From flat to 100 percent, Lenovo Smart Tab M8 charges for a total of 2 hours and 42 minutes using its 5V/2A wall charger and micro-USB to USB-A package cord.

At the back of the tablet is the single 5MP rear camera without flash. There's nothing interesting with its camera UI since it only has the basic photo, video, and in-app filters: sepia, aqua, whiteboard, mono, negative, and blackboard. It can record up to 1080p video resolution.

5MP rear camera

Lenovo Smart Tab camera interface

Rear Camera Samples

Daylight

Indoor

Low light

As expected, the photos are decent but not that good most especially at night. In daylight, Lenovo Smart Tab M8 takes better photos.

Meanwhile, this tablet is equipped with a 2MP selfie camera placed on the center top of the screen.

2MP selfie camera

Selfie Camera Samples

Indoor selfie

Lowlight selfie

The rest of the features

A tablet that rests well on hands

Aside from being a tablet, the Lenovo Smart Tab M8 HD can also act as your smart home's control dock, thanks to its Google Assistant feature. You can easily work on your house chores and get a virtual helping hand with Lenovo Smart Tab M8 HD.

We also appreciate this tablet's far-field microphones that easily pick up the voice command.

Android 9 on Lenovo Smart Tab M8

How can we forget about its edge? The Dolby Atmos speakers. It has dual speakers placed on top and bottom. With this, the Lenovo Smart Tab M8 delivers a crisp and clear sound.

Dolby Atmos audio!

Using the Dolby Atmos built-in app, the music experience can be customized based on the user’s preference. Options include Dynamic, Movie, Music, and Custom.

Dolby Atmos built-in app control

Lenovo Smart Tab M8 has also a SIM slot which means you can text, call, and browse using your data.

It has a Screen Assistant with the following features: do not disturb mode, eye-protection mode, color mode, screenshot, and screen recorder. Smart Tab M8 has also a virtual pen where you can put doodles and notes on the screen. However, this tablet does not come with a stylus.

Lets you write on screen without a stylus

This tablet has a Kids Mode that can be perfect for parents who have little ones that would want to use this device. Its parental controls can be set to only allow safe, curated, preloaded content.

Lenovo Smart Tab M8 Specs

Display: 8-inch LCD (IPS) screen w/ HD 1280 x 800 resolution at 184 ppi

CPU: 2.0GHz 64-bit Helio A22 quad-core processor

GPU: PowerVR GE8300

RAM: LPDDR3 2GB

ROM: 32GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 128GB

Back Camera: 5MP

Selfie Camera: 2MP

Battery: 5,000mAh

OS: Android 9.0 Pie

Connectivity: WiFi a/b/g/n/ac, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou

Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity, light

Others: Stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos, IP52 water splash resistance, Colors: Iron Grey, Onyx Black

Dimensions: 199.1 x 121.8 x 8.15 mm

Weight: 305 g

Price: PHP 9,990 (PHP 8,490 sale price)

Quick thoughts

A budget equipped with long battery life & Dolby Atmos stereo speakers

You may be thinking that you can get a smartphone with better specs at this price point instead of getting the Lenovo Smart Tab M8, you're right. BUT, if you're looking for a "phablet" (phone + tablet) with long battery life, nice sounds, and a pretty nice screen and doesn't care about cameras, then this tablet might be for you.

We think it's obvious that what we liked about the Lenovo Smart Tab M8 are its long battery and the Dolby Atmos speakers. But is it worth it? For the price, we might have to say no, but in case this gets a price cut, we'll say yes to it!

Do you agree with us?