Lenovo Tab 2 A8 Review

Last Updated on March 29, 2020

The Lenovo Tab 2 A8 is a noble attempt at creating a budget all-rounder. It competes with the Amazon HD 7 on price.

Dimensions & Build Quality

With dimensions of 8.54 x 0.35 x 5.35 (inches), the A8 is thin and feels thin – it sits beautifully in the hand. It weighs 360 grams, which is a fair bit more than the best-in-class iPaid Air 2.

It’s slimness and thin bezels make it seem more like a 7 inch device, which makes the 8 inch screen a pleasant surprise.

Exterior Features

Our device ran Android 5.0 Lollipop. The capacitive touchscreen boasts a 1280×800 resolution running at 720p. Viewing angles are not amazing and the screen seemed a bit shiny. A microSD slot allows up to 32GB of extra storage to accompany the 16GB of flash memory you get on the basic model.

One of the coolest features is the dual front-facing speakers bolstered by Dolby Atmos technology. Audio lovers should be satisfied with that addition, though it really shines though headphones. Both movies and games sound awesome on this tablet, and it really makes a difference to the overall experience.

Internals & Software

At the heart of the Tab 2 is a 64-bit quad-core from MediaTek (the MTK 8161), which runs at 1.3GHz. It’s got 1GB of LPDDR3 RAM, but performance gets somewhat laggy. This isn’t a device for high-end gaming. A 4,290mAh battery gives 8 hours of battery life, which is decent though unspectacular.

The back camera is 5 megapixels (but no flash), while the front lens is 2 megapixels – good enough for the odd Skype call.

Networking Options

There’s an optional SIM-card slot that will allow you to use 4G, turning your A8 into a massive phablet. Be wary – if you’ve read that the A8 has dual wifi bands, it doesn’t. It’s 2.4 Ghz only. At the price, I’m amazed people expect different.

The Verdict

There’s nothing to really differentiate the Lenovo Tab 2 A8, nothing that makes it really stand out from the crowd. It’s a cheap Android tablet that does what you expect it to, and not much more. Lenovo tried to make a competitive budget all-rounder, and they succeeded.

Consider buying this in a sale – depending on the price point it’s a much better option than the Amazon Fire HD 7 – the bigger screen, access to the Google Play store. It’s also much better than its cousin, the Lenovo Tab 2 A7-30, having a faster processor and greater screen resolution.

Lenovo Tab2 A8, 8-Inch 16 GB Tablet

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Watch this for a second opinion from the good people at Android Authority.

 

Lenovo TAB 2 A8 Review