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MagyarLenovo Tab 2 A8 Tablet Review
The Tab A series is Lenovo's budget lineup that sits below the Yoga tablet and Miix series of tablets. Thus, they are quite inexpensive at just $129 for the starting Tab 2 A8 model in review. We've already taken close looks at the first generation Tab A8 and Tab A10 models last year, so now we'll see if the second generation Tab 2 A8 brings anything worthwhile to the table.
Our 8-inch Tab 2 A8 ships with Android 5.0 pre-installed and Lenovo promises a UI design closer to that of the stock software, which should hopefully mean less graphics and speedier performance. The tablet is also one of the first to ship with a 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT8161 SoC and integrated dual-core Mali-T720 graphics. Otherwise, its core specifications are the standard 1280 x 800 IPS display, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB eMMC, 5 MP and 2 MP rear and front cameras, and 802.11n connectivity.
Case
At first glance, the Tab 2 A8 doesn't look all that different from the previous Tab A8. Both tablets have the same "Midnight Blue" soft-touch finish and plastic encasing alongside the front glass panel. Of course, additional colors like White, Ebony, and Pink are also available. However, the Tab 2 A8 is indeed slightly smaller than its predecessor (8.9 x 210 x 125 vs. 8.9 x 217 x 136) with sharper edges and corners and a smaller bezel. This makes the newer model easier to hold and use despite it weighing about the same at 360 grams. Nonetheless, we would have liked the Tab 2 A8 to be lighter considering that many of its competitors are easier to handle like the Acer Iconia One 8 (340 g), Dell Venue 8 7000 (308 g), and Asus MeMo Pad 8 (299 g).
Case quality is good overall with no visible depressions when applying pressure on the center of the screen or back cover. A small but insignificant creak can be heard on the back of the device, so an air gap still exists between the battery and outer case. Twisting the device is possible, though its extent is again not a cause for concern.
In terms of size, the Lenovo is not notably smaller or larger than most others in its size category as seen in our comparison below. The Nvidia Shield is a bigger 8-inch tablet due in part to its larger front-facing speakers. Otherwise, thicknesses are at most a 1 mm difference.
Connectivity
Available interfaces are standard for a budget offering. Users will get Micro-USB 2.0, MicroSD, and 3.5 mm audio with no extras. A separate Tab 2 A8 configuration includes slots for Micro SIM alongside the MicroSD. Costlier and larger multimedia tablets, such as the Asus Memo Pad FHD 10, are normally equipped with HDMI ports.
Communication & GPS
All Tab 2 A8 configurations have WLAN up to 802.11n and GPS. A location fix is quick even without WLAN assistance and the tablet had no issues maintaining a lock for extended periods according to GPS Test.
WLAN had no issues connecting to a wireless-n network reliably and without drops. Signal strength at 10 meters is a bit weaker than a LG G2, but it is slightly more consistent nonetheless according to Wifi Analyzer.
The Tab 2 A8 configuration with dual Micro SIM slots for GSM/LTE support is not yet available in the States. However, it is expected to retail for $180 at launch. Such a feature is uncommon on budget tablets.
Cameras
The rear 5 MP and front 2 MP cameras are your typical tablet cameras. They have average picture quality with the usual face detection, ISO settings (100 to 1600), HDR, and other features. There is, however, no LED Flash. Images are not very sharp and look slightly muddy with hardened edges around objects even under bright outdoor conditions. There is little evidence of purple fringing that is common on cheap low-resolution cameras.
Video capture is capable of up to 1080p24 and files are saved as .3GP. Quality suffers from noise, white balance issues, and washed-out colors.
Accessories & Warranty
There are few extra accessories for the Tab 2 A8 outside of the included USB AC adapter. Lenovo sells a Folio case specifically for this model for $19. The older Tab A10 had an optional keyboard dock while this 8-inch Tab 2 A8 model does not appear to have any such proprietary add-ons.
Warranty is the standard 12-month period with one option to extend an additional year for $59.
Input Devices & Interface
An 8-inch display provides ample space for typing on both Landscape or Portrait modes. Unfortunately for the Tab 2 A8, its capacitive touchscreen is just not very accurate as the tablet would register an incorrect letter quite frequently. Also, we often had to tap on an icon or URL bar twice as it wouldn't register on the first touch. Thus, a strong or moderate tap is essentially necessary when typing or browsing. Such behavior is more common on cheap overseas smartphones and tablets than from major manufacturers like Lenovo.
Assuming you can become accustomed to the touchscreen, the tablet registers inputs quickly when typing. Speedy typists can be sure that the tablet will be able to output letters as quickly as they are inputted with no major lag.
A small but noteworthy mention is that the display is a 10-point multitouch panel instead of the 5-point that Lenovo is currently advertising. We can confirm this with Android apps made to test multitouch functionality like YAMTT.
Display
Users shouldn't expect too much from a 1280 x 800 resolution display as texts and images are simply not as crisp as other tablets with higher pixel count per inch. Lenovo's own 8-inch Tab S8, for example, uses a Full HD display that is both brighter and sharper with higher contrast to boot. Colors do not pop as much here and while it's a step above many budget offerings, it's more than few steps below models like the iPad or even Google's second generation Nexus 7.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 90 %
Center on Battery: 381.6 cd/m²
Contrast: 909:1 (Black: 0.42 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 6.63 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.94
ΔE Greyscale 5.1 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
Gamma: 1.96
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | Asus MeMo Pad 8 ME581CL-1B027A | Huawei MediaPad T1 8.0 LTE | Dell Venue 8 7000 | Lenovo Tab S8 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | 5% | 20% | -5% | -15% | 32% | |
| Brightness middle | 381.6 | 455 19% | 543 42% | 324 -15% | 231.1 -39% | 418 10% |
| Brightness | 366 | 469 28% | 542 48% | 301 -18% | 239 -35% | 401 10% |
| Brightness Distribution | 90 | 92 2% | 91 1% | 87 -3% | 84 -7% | 85 -6% |
| Black Level * | 0.42 | 0.68 -62% | 0.4 5% | 0.39 7% | 0.22 48% | |
| Contrast | 909 | 669 -26% | 1358 49% | 831 -9% | 1900 109% | |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 6.63 | 3.88 41% | 5.74 13% | 5.96 10% | 7.45 -12% | 4.19 37% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 5.1 | 3.38 34% | 5.94 -16% | 5.33 -5% | 4.15 19% | 4.26 16% |
| Gamma | 1.96 112% | 2.74 80% | 2.5 88% | 2.19 100% | 1.72 128% | 2.41 91% |
| CCT | 7612 85% | 6537 99% | 6404 101% | 7184 90% | 6331 103% | 6246 104% |
* ... smaller is better
Color analyses with a spectrophotometer reveal generally inaccurate grayscale and hues. Color temperature is on the cool side enough where a clear difference can be seen when compared side-by-side to a Nexus 7 2013. The screen generally becomes more inaccurate at higher saturation levels, which suggests a limited color space.
The included MiraVision function allows custom color tuning and preset picture modes, such as Standard and Vivid. Users can manually adjust contrast, saturation, color temperature, sharpness, and picture brightness. It's a bit much for a low-cost tablet, though it's still a welcomed addition.
To the target user, however, these precision display measurements and settings mean little for day-to-day media and browsing use.
Outdoor usability is average at best. The glossy display makes the Tab 2 A8 difficult to use under direct sunlight or on a bright overcast day. Maximum display brightness, shade, and ideal viewing angles are all necessary for a comfortable viewing experience with this tablet.
Luckily, the IPS panel allows for excellent viewing angles on both Landscape and Portrait modes. This is compared to Lenovo's older A1000 model which uses a TN panel for very limited viewing angles.
Note that the official Lenovo specifications list mentions a light sensor on the Tab 2 A8, but we were unable to activate or use the sensor. Hardware analysis applications and even a visual inspection reveal no ambient light sensor on our particular test model.
Performance
The 1.3 GHz MediaTek MT8161 SoC, 650 MHz Mali-T720 GPU, and 1 GB RAM are all indicative of a budget device. However, that's not to say this is a slow tablet as raw performance is on par with the entry-level Snapdragon 410 according to Ice Storm Physics tests. This would put the Tab 2 A8 in the same ballpark as the HTC Desire 510 and Xiaomi Redmi 2 smartphones. Opting for the Tab 2 A10 will net users the faster 1.5 GHz MT8165 SoC.
System Performance
With only 1 GB of RAM to work with, the tablet starts off as a speedy and responsive device. Open a few too many applications without closing them, however, and the Tab 2 A8 can slow quite dramatically. Pressing Home, URL bars, or other icons will have a noticeable delay before the action even begins. This makes the tablet more difficult to use down the line without first cleaning up any unused apps.
Most benchmark applications below rank the Tab 2 A8 in line with other inexpensive 8-inch tablets. eMMC performance is especially good according to AndroBench where it even outclasses the Nvidia Shield Tablet.
| PCMark for Android - Work performance score (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab Active | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| Google V8 Ver. 7 - Google V8 Ver. 7 Score (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Asus Memo Pad 8 ME181CX | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab Active | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Asus Memo Pad 8 ME181CX | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab Active | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Asus Memo Pad 8 ME181CX | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab Active | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| WebXPRT 2015 - Overall (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| Peacekeeper - --- (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab Active | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| AndEBench | |
| Java (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| Native (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| ANDEBench PRO | |
| 3D (sort by value) | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Platform (sort by value) | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Storage (sort by value) | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Memory Latency (sort by value) | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Memory Bandwidth (sort by value) | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| CoreMark-PRO/HPC (Base) (sort by value) | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Device Score (sort by value) | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Epic Citadel | |
| Ultra High Quality (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| High Quality (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| High Performance (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| Geekbench 3 | |
| 32 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Asus Memo Pad 8 ME181CX | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab Active | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| 32 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W | |
| Asus Memo Pad 8 ME181CX | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab Active | |
| Huawei MediaPad X1 | |
| 64 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
| 64 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F | |
* ... smaller is better
Games
The integrated Mali-T720 is an uncommon GPU compared to the Mali-400 on budget devices, but performance differences are narrow. Its Ice Storm Graphics score at 720p is about 20 percent lower than the old Tegra 3 and on par with a single-core PowerVR SGX544.
Luckily for the Tab 2 A8, its low resolution display is a great fit for the GPU when gaming. 3D titles like N.O.V.A. 3 play smoothly at the native resolution. Performance would have suffered tremendously if the tablet had a 1080p panel as 3DMark Ice Storm at 1080p runs well below 30 FPS.
Emissions
Temperature
Idling surface temperatures are flat across the board. The maximum temperature difference is only about 5 to 6 C even under very high stress, so while the entire tablet will experience a noticeable rise in temperature, no one particular spot becomes uncomfortably warmer than the other. With that said, the left side of the tablet (nearest the camera) will see a faster temperature rise than the opposite side as the IC components are directly underneath this particular area.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 34.4 °C / 94 F, compared to the average of 33.7 °C / 93 F, ranging from 20.7 to 53.2 °C for the class Tablet.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 33.8 °C / 93 F, compared to the average of 33.2 °C / 92 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 22 °C / 72 F, compared to the device average of 30 °C / 86 F.
Speakers
The front-facing speakers are the first from Lenovo to include Doly Atmos technology, which is essentially a built-in App not unlike that on many multimedia notebooks with Dolby Digital Plus. The manual equalizer and sound enhancements add depth to the otherwise hollow speakers.
Sound quality is thus better than expected from a budget tablet as the speakers are loud and do not degrade at higher volume settings. Bass is still lacking, however, and no amount of software enhancements can alleviate this common drawback of small tablets.
Battery Life
The non-removable 16 Wh (4290 mAh) Li-Ion polymer battery is a tad on the small side compared to other 8-inch tablets. Nonetheless, runtimes are about where we expected compared to even more expensive models like the Asus MeMo Pad 8 or Huawei MediaPad T1 8.0. Users can expect just over 9 hours of constant WLAN use at 150 nit brightness (around 40 percent setting) or about half of that when running intensive applications at maximum brightness.
Lenovo claims a runtime of up to 8 hours on a single charge, so our own looping WLAN test shows the official count as a slight underestimate. Of course, this is good as manufacturers normally overestimate product runtimes.
| Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F 16.3 Wh | NVIDIA Shield Tablet P1761W 19.8 Wh | Asus MeMo Pad 8 ME581CL-1B027A 15.2 Wh | Huawei MediaPad T1 8.0 LTE 16.9 Wh | Dell Venue 8 7000 18.2 Wh | Lenovo Tab S8 21 Wh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | -45% | -19% | 12% | 41% | 12% | |
| Reader / Idle | 1390 | 856 -38% | 790 -43% | 1545 11% | 1790 29% | 1425 3% |
| WiFi v1.3 | 558 | 633 13% | ||||
| Load | 263 | 128 -51% | 276 5% | 402 53% | 315 20% | |
| WiFi | 347 | 424 | 495 | 610 |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
The Tab 2 A8 is a respectable tablet for its asking price of $129. Display brightness and battery life are both above average and sound quality is quite good considering its budget market. Unfortunately, not much else about the device can be praised. We can't help but feel that both its 1 GB RAM and 800p resolution display feel lacking for a tablet in 2015. It's also a little heavier than other 8-inch models and its touchscreen makes a habit of registering inputs incorrectly.
We recommend Lenovo's Tab S8 over the Tab 2 A8 for users looking to own an 8-inch tablet. The Tab S8 is lighter, thinner, brighter, and all-around better than the Tab 2 A8 and currently retails for $169. The extra $40 would be well spent.
We recommend Lenovo's Tab S8 over the Tab 2 A8 for users looking to own an 8-inch tablet.
Lenovo Tab 2 A8-50F
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06/25/2015 v4 (old)
Allen Ngo
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