Lenovo Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.6 Full Review: The Best Android tablet just got Upgraded!

In addition to being a top PC brand, Lenovo has strangely become one of the most popular tablet brands in 2021. The Xiaoxin Pad series, also known as the Lenovo Tab P series, stands out for its excellent value for money. Especially the Xiaoxin Pad Pro 2021, also known as Lenovo Tab P11 Pro, comes very close to the premium tablet category. And just six months later, we now have an upgraded option. A bigger and better AMOLED 120Hz display is now featured on the latest Lenovo Tab P12 Pro. Along with the upgraded display, the new tablet also comes with a larger battery and an upgraded Memory and storage combination. Since we loved the Tab P11 Pro, now we really wonder how exactly the new tablet performs as a higher-level model.

Enough of an introduction. Let’s find out what we got on this Tab P12 Pro!

WHERE TO BUY

Xiaoxin Pad Pro 11.5 @Fondsale.com

Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.6 @Fondsale.com

Let’s start with its pricing. Probably some of you don’t consider it as value for money as for the Tab P11 Pro. Indeed, now you have to pay around 200 to 300 dollars more for the upgraded P12 Pro, but the performance will be more or less the same, since they are both powered by the Snapdragon 870 chipset. However, the 870 chipset is still the best chipset that you can have on an Android tablet. And if you compare it with the SAMSUNG Tab S7+, the P12 Pro is obviously an excellent cheaper option with much better value for money. The S7+ tablet uses a 120Hz 2K AMOLED display powered by a Snapdragon 865+ chipset, which can deliver a very close performance in terms of hardware capacity. With this in mind, just think about whether it’s worth paying the extra money to upgrade to a Tab S7+?

Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.6 2021: Design

Let’s look at its design. These two Lenovo tablets come with exactly the same design and form factor. The P12 Pro has the same integrated metal body without any seams. It still feels pretty premium and no doubt has the best built among all the Android tablets. The P12 Pro’s bezels are as narrow as the predecessor, but it’s visually narrower because of the bigger display. As for the thickness, It’s physically 2mm thinner and feels even thinner than what the figure gives us when holding it in hand.

And to guarantee a stable wireless signal, the antenna band is also reserved. Other details like the quad speakers tuned by JBL, fingerprint unlock, and Micro-SD card slot are also present. You may note that the camera module seems to be different from the P11 Pro, but actually, the hardware used inside doesn’t change at all. Another most significant difference is about the attached stylus. The second generation of the stylus finally supports magnetically attaching at the back with wireless charging support. But I also want to remind you that the first generation of the stylus designed for the P11 Pro also works with the P12 Pro, although it won’t charge magnetically.

And the new tablet also comes with a new keyboard kit, which now supports Bluetooth connectivity besides a contact connection. Like its predecessor, the P12 Pro can be considered a 2-in-1 tablet with a keyboard kit.

Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.6 2021: Display

The display is definitely the most important factor in making your choice between the two Xiaoxin tablets. First, the new model is bigger and smoother with better pixel detail. The new tablet’s display applies the same pixel arrangement as the SAMSUNG Tab S7+. And this new pixel arrangement significantly improves the font blurring issue that we found on the Lenovo P11 Pro during its comparison with the Xiaomi Pad 5 Pro.

When compared to its predecessor, the sharper text edge on the P12 Pro brought a much better reading experience, which is pretty close to what we have on LCD panels. And it’s not only a better reading experience, the new design of pixel arrangement also brings out more vibrant colors where blue pixels are involved. Without comparison with the P12 Pro, I wouldn’t realize that the older P11 Pro’s colors were a bit dull but the new display is much more vibrant. And it continuously supports Dolby Vision and HDR content. As you can see in the video, although our camera may not exactly show the difference, I believe most of you already can pick out which one looks better.

And the better color presentation also makes it an excellent option for photo or video editing. In the latest ZUI 13 operating system, users can turn the tablet into a second screen for a PC by wireless connection. However, by far it only supports the projection at 2K 30Hz signal with perceivable latency. And under this mode, the wireless projection cannot really show the strength of this display as it should.

In addition, for professional image processing, it’s also important to note that the tablet supports 100% of the P3 gamut and no other gamut for conversion.

In addition, the 120Hz takes the whole system to another level of fluidity, which is also the highest refresh rate that you can have on a tablet product. No matter, for a high-frame-rate video or gaming, it can provide excellent support for users.

On the other hand, its 2k resolution is still the same as the Lenovo P11 Pro. And the peak brightness also remains at around 600nit, which is only available in partial area. And this time the new tablet supports an enhanced-brightness mode in strong sunlight, which makes it pretty convenient to use outdoors.

As for audio performance, the P12 Pro still uses 4 x JBL speakers for stereo sound. And if you are going to use it for watching Dolby vision or listening to Dolby Atmos, the tablet will not let you down.

Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.6 2021: Performance

Like the P11 Pro, the new tablet has taken full advantage of the Snapdragon 870 chipset. So the performance tests didn’t bring us much surprise. No matter for the benchmark results or the actual gaming performance, the P12 Pro is still the most powerful beast among all the Android tablets. By the way, playing games on this 12.6-inch 120Hz display is really delightful.

On the P12 Pro, Lenovo eventually updated the operating system to ZUI 13 for Pad, which aims to give users a better experience with tablet products and make it more suitable for tablet use scenarios.

But the upgrade is not very effective. While we did find some optimization for the existing features, but very few new features were added in the latest version of the OS. The PC Mode is still the most successful feature for the new software, but there’s no obvious update for the PC mode. You can still open 5 app windows at the same time; there is still the same interface as what we had on the P11 Pro. Even so, it’s still the best solution for a 2-in-1 tablet that you can have in the market now. One of the few new features that we mentioned above is the wireless capacity of being a second screen for PC. But just like I said, it doesn’t really work well for the latency and poor colors.

Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.6 Review: Cameras

As for its camera module, we shot a few samples for you with its 13MP main camera and 5MP wide-angle camera. The tablet is not exactly designed for photography, and of course, its performance doesn’t compare to some mid-range phones. So here, just check for yourself whether it meets your needs.

Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.6 Review: Battery Life & Charging

Another small upgrade is the power solution. The P12 Pro features a 10200mAh battery, which is 1,600mAh larger than the P11 Pro, with up to 45W QC fast charge. But the charger included is just a 30W one.So if you want to speed up the charging, you will have to get a 45W charger that supports the Quick Charge 4 protocol. Here are the results of our charging test and battery-life test. No doubt it can last for more than an entire day as long as you don’t play games all day.

So that’s the new Xiaoxin Pad Pro 12.6, also known as the Lenovo P12 Pro. Obviously, it’s a more refined version of the P11 Pro, coming with a brand-new perfect display and a higher configuration for memory and storage. And it brings a slightly better power solution too. Apart from it, all the features are retained from its predecessor.

So, if the display was the main reason that stopped you from buying the Lenovo P11 Pro, we would happily recommend the new tablet to you. But if you are not that sensitive to displays, I would rather say that the P11 Pro is already good enough, at least better than most Android tablets in the market.

Meanwhile, if you decide to buy the P12 Pro, please note that you are also going to pay more money for the exclusive stylus and keyboard case.

Unfortunately, we still haven’t got the exclusive stylus and keyboard case. But we will show you all about the new accessories in the next video about this tablet. Please stay tuned!