An 11.5 inch display, a lot of memory, the latest Android with 4 years of updates and speakers from JBL; the new Lenovo Tab Plus promises a lot of features for less than 300 Euro. Interesting enough for me to test the accessibility of this upper entry level device.
Why a tablet at all?
Admittedly, my smartphone offers me everything I want to use Android for. Radio, TV, and podcasts are all available on any standard smartphone. I’ve also had an Amazon Fire TV for a while now, so I don’t really need a tablet. Still, there are situations where I want to spread out my media consumption so I don’t have everything on one device. For example, I mainly use my smartphone for communication, whether via messenger or social networks. I have always enjoyed audiovisual media elsewhere to avoid being disturbed by notifications on my phone or simply for the better sound quality without having to pair a Bluetooth speaker. Having already purchased an Amazon Fire tablet and becoming increasingly dissatisfied with its limitations and inadequate and error-prone screen reader, I wanted to try a real Android tablet. The Lenovo Tab Plus looked exactly what I needed.
Accessories
As is now common with many manufacturers, the Tab Plus comes without a charger. Only a two-sided USB-C cable is included. Lenovo recommends a minimum of 10 watts to charge the tablet and offers a 68-watt wall charger as an accessory. Other than a card-slot opening tool and a quick start guide, there are no other accessories included. If you need a stylus, protective cover or keyboard, you will have to pay extra.
Design:
At 11.5 inches, the device is quite large, and at 650 grams, it may not be a lightweight for some people to hold for long periods of time. However, the controls and ports are easy to reach and well placed. The 8 JBL speakers are distributed along the narrow sides of the tablet, which promises a very spatial sound. Below the speaker on the narrow left side is a classic 3.5mm jack, which has completely disappeared from many devices. Above the speaker is the power button, which starts the voice assistant by default when pressed and held. The volume buttons, microphone array and micro SD card slot are located on the top. The USB-C port is located on the narrow right side below the speaker. On the back, a kickstand folds out from the bottom edge, allowing the device to be placed almost anywhere. An upright position is ideal for watching videos, while a flat position is better for writing.
Setup and usage impressions
The setup process is not fundamentally different from other so-called stock Android devices or has any notable issues and therefore does not need to be explained further. After setting up the Wi-Fi, Google account and services, a few Lenovo services and settings are offered, but these can be skipped if you don’t like them. What is relevant for our user group is the fact that TalkBack can be used without any problems during setup and can be activated by pressing and holding the two volume buttons twice. After pressing the buttons once, you will hear an English message asking you to release the buttons and press them again if you want to activate TalkBack. This will open the tutorial, which you can also exit if you’re already familiar with TalkBack. For non-English-speaking users, however, it is recommended to leave the device language in English until Wi-Fi is set up, and only return to the language selection once a network connection has been established. This will prevent the device from going silent if no Google TTS voices are installed for the desired language. Lenovo has installed the Android Accessibility Suite as a downloadable service, which can cause problems with some applications that rely on a screen reader to be properly registered with the system. However, this usually only affects a few security-related applications, such as online banking.
After setting up the tablet, you will be presented with an Android launcher that is very similar to the standard launchers from many manufacturers. The app icons can be edited with a long press or TalkBack actions, and a two-finger swipe up opens the app drawer with all installed apps. As you would expect from an entertainment tablet, there are a few apps pre-installed that are unnecessary for us, but most of them can be easily uninstalled. During setup, it can happen that some notification windows overlay the launcher and cause focus problems, but this can be quickly resolved after a short period of familiarization. A notable feature is the taskbar at the bottom, where open or frequently used applications can be stored, just like on a Windows computer. If you have set the system navigation mode to the classic three buttons “Back”, “Home” and “Recent apps”, these will also appear in the taskbar. Personally, I find the taskbar’s default settings rather superfluous and sometimes even annoying. It is not part of the launcher and cannot be completely hidden in the preferences. You can only configure it so that no unnecessary entries appear and it behaves like a normal navigation bar.
The settings are somewhat different from the settings menu on a smartphone, as Lenovo has added many of its own features here. The screen is also structured differently from what you would expect from a smartphone. In both landscape and portrait mode, the main settings menu is on the left, while the settings for the selected category open on the right. When you select a category, it is easy to focus on its settings. Still, it’s a good idea to scan the entire screen with your finger from time to time so you don’t get lost on the go. Unfortunately, there is a problem with the automatic scrolling of items in the main settings menu, so you have to use a two-finger swipe gestures to see all the items in the menu.
TalkBack users will immediately notice that the voice output is accompanied by a reverb effect. The reason for this is Dolby Atmos, which is designed to give movies and music more spatiality. While Dolby Atmos cannot be turned off in the sound settings when using the tablet’s speakers, it can at least be configured to make the sound more enjoyable. You can choose between Dynamic, Movie and Music, although the Music setting is the most useful for us. There is also an equalizer, but unfortunately the controls are not accessible at all, so you can only switch between the presets.
The sound is quite impressive if you are used to the rather shrill sounding speakers of other tablets and smartphones. Music and speech are reproduced with a bandwidth that makes it hard to believe that you are actually dealing with a tablet speaker that is only a few millimetres thick. Of course, you shouldn’t expect excessive bass and treble, but the sound is more than adequate for an entertainment tablet, and even beats the speakers on some big-screen TVs. The tablet even offers the option of using its speakers as a Bluetooth receiver for other devices.
Other than that, there are no other notable issues, and the Tab Plus can be used just like any other Android device. I replaced the default launcher with the Nova launcher because it offers better configuration. I also changed some of the Default TalkBack gestures because I had problems with some of the angled gestures on the large screen. In the general settings under “Quick gestures” you can configure some system gestures which I’m not sure if they can cause issues with TalkBack. In any case they can also be disabled completely.
Conclusion
After a few weeks of use, I am still very happy with the Lenovo Tab Plus. It currently sits on my nightstand and I mainly use it to listen to podcasts, radio dramas or documentaries in the evening before going to sleep. Even if there are a few small stumbling blocks in its operation, these are by no means unavoidable and I can recommend it without hesitation to anyone who doesn’t want to buy a device from Samsung, Amazon or even Google’s Pixel tablet, which in my opinion is a bit overpriced.
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