****ZUI14 UPDATE****
It works fine for the most part.
There are some changes:
STYLUS SUPPORT
the tablet now supports a stylus which explains why the underlying software supported external solutions like the Lenovo M14t portable monitor. Still, it begs the question "If the hardware supports a stylus, why didn't the earlier firmware support it out of the box?" Also important, AES (1.0 AND 2.0) only pens DON'T work, MPP only pens don't work either, which makes me think it requires strong WGP. I recommend only using a Lenovo pen which has been verified to work. The one I have personally tried is the Lenovo Precision Pen 2. I read elsewhere the Lenovo Active Pen 3 works but I can't personally attest to that.
DESKTOP MODE
There have been some complains on forums of ZUI14 removing desktop mode. This isn't exactly true. If you connect to an external monitor with the tablet's USB-C port (using a USB-C capable monitor OR an HDMI adapter you can use desktop mode on an external monitor. However, you can no longer use desktop mode on the tablet itself. This was done on purpose and Lenovo, in exchange for this modification, added the ability to use multiple floating windows in the normal tablet mode. These windows are reziable but the default aspect ratio cannot be changed. Also having multiple windows open only works using the floating window swipe gesture (swipe up, hold and then swipe to the top of the screen). If you try to use the task switcher to make a window a floating window all other floating windows will disapper/be minimized). I personally think this is acceptable on the smaller Y700 but can understand how it could frustrate those using the larger P11 or P12.
LEGION APP
The original Legion app has been removed but all of its functionality has been added to the settings (there is now a "Legion assistant" section in the settings). Now rather than swiping down you swipe in from the left. The graphics are different but functionality is the same. Adding apps to the games list is easier since you get an app list and a switch on the side (similar to how you enable individual permissions in different settings). I read a comment elsewhere that the new software made the fps graphic stick on the screen. This isn't true. When you swipe the assistant off screen the fps can stick around but just for a bit and then they disappear.
Personally I think it is an upgrade worth downloading.
**************************************************************
ORIGINAL REVIEW FOLLOWS
This is a LONG and detailed review. Hopefully it will answer questions many people have. If you want to skip to a specific section, check the contents list (this is easily a TL;DR sitch).
Contents:
Inside the Box
Design
Performance
Gaming
Gaming software
Video Out
Software and Multi-tasking
Lenovo One
Battery Care
Stylus Support? (Kind of…)
Downsides
Conclusions
Y700 Legoin Gaming Tablet Review
ProsConsBuildA tad thickPlay store is easy to installOnly Chinese market version availableScreenNot OLEDSoundCould be a bit louderPerformanceSome features are game exclusivesBattery protection featuresVideo out features are lacking compared to other options out there4K output4K output at only 30hzNetflix, Paramount+ and Youtube in HD/4KPrime Video is only SD
This review is my own personal opinion based on the my experience with it and other tablets. I am not a professional reviewer but have had my fair share of (Android) tablets (original Galaxy Note 10.1, HTC Flyer, Dasung notEreader, Cube T7, Yogabook android edition, Huawei Media Pad M5 8.4”, Galaxy Tab S6 and now Legion Y700) so I believe I can provide a relatively objective and critical review.
Inside the Box
The box is a premium affair with a great design boasting the logo/brand embossed on the top. Once you open the box you will find the tablet nestled in a platform which raises it above the cardboard edges of the bottom part of the box. In my case it is the 12GB/256GB variant. Under this platform you will find small boxes holding the charger, SD card removal tool and documentation, and under this the USB-C cable.
The Charger is a quite welcome inclusion. It has two ports, one USB-C and one USB type A. The C port tops out at 50 watts by itself while the A port tops out at 20 watts. If you choose to use both at the same time the C port will top out at 40 watts and the A port at 10 watts. Given that the tablet tops at at 45 and how you’re likely to have more than one device, this charger is a great inclusion. Sadly, the USB-C cable included is less impressive. It is perfectly capable of quickly charging the tablet, but when I tried to use it to connect a portable monitor to it (using the monitor’s USB 3.1 Type-C port) it was unable to drive the monitor (most likely it doesn’t provide the necessary data throughput). Connecting a USB 3.1 Gen 2 compliant cable and it worked flawlessly.
There is no screen protector or case included.
Design
The tablet is relatively slim, solid feeling, glass sandwich design with a metal frame in the middle. The back is matte and feels nice, whilst the front has slim bezels on the long edges and slightly thicker ones on the shorter ones in order to accommodate the camera. All are perfectly symmetrical.
The tablet comes with 2 JBL speakers on either side near the top edge when holding it in landscape orientation. It might seem a bit odd to have them so near one side but this is actually on purpose so that when gaming or watching full screen videos your hands won’t cover and muffle the speakers. Below the speakers (at the half-way point) you will find the headphone jack on the left and the charging port on the right, making it possible to have both plugged in without making it too awkward while holding it and gaming. This means that in order to keep the top and bottom (landscape) bezels slim (so one can maybe hold it one-handed in portrait mode), the camera is relegated to the left bezel below the headphone jack. This makes it easy to cover when holding it two handed (or left-handed) in this orientation and at a sub-optimal level reminiscent of those laptops with the camera above the keyboard and below the screen. The P11 and P12 have the camera on the top while in landscape for easier video conferencing, bug given that this device is focused on gaming, the placement of sound and power took priority. Still in landscape orientation you will find two buttons (volume rocker and power) on the top and the “game” switch. You will find that the bottom edge has nothing other than the microSD slot so you can use that edge to rest it on a table or in a stand without fear of anything being blocked or pressed.
The fact that this tablet was designed for landscape orientation is emphasized by the fact that when booting up the logo appears in landscape orientation.
Obviously in the center you have the high res, QWHD at 2560x1600 screen with great colour reproduction, nevertheless, in a side-by-side comparison the Huawei M5 has deeper blacks and more “pleasing” colours (slightly more vibrant overall). The Y700 on the other hand has more realistic colours in general (using the “Bright” colour settings, the “Standard is supposed to be more realistic but looks too yellow on my device even when the colour temperature is set to “cold”). It also provides more more vibrant colours, but selectively. When watching HDR video, what is meant to be vibrant will be more vibrant than the M5 (rather than making everything slightly more saturated). And of course, the Y700 is capable of both HDR and Dolby Vision which help quite a bit in both colour reproduction and quality. The blacks are still not as deep as the M5 and of course don’t compare to any OLED. In the videos it is less pronounced than in real life.
The reason I previously described the tablet as “relatively” slim is because it is thick enough that it doesn’t fit great in some of my tablet stands (one which is one of those cheap folding ones with a slot… which when opened wide become too “slim” due to the angle for the tablet to enter easily, and the other one which is a folding sleeve and depends on a lip of leather to hold it in place.) Other than that the thickness provides no issues.
Performance
As has been covered elsewhere it scores over 700 thousand in Antutu and about 950/2900 in geekbench (single and multi-core respectively). When I ran them personally I got about 706 on Antutu and 937/2970. These were not run with a clean install which can explain the slightly lower results compared to other reviews as I’ll have more background processes in all likelihood.
Audio is clean and full with good bass for what is being produced. It doesn’t get as loud as some other devices though. It will fill a room but not overpower a conversation. Most importantly, it sounds great at all volumes, even maxed out with little to no distortion. Of course, results may vary depending on what music you’re playing.
Bluetooth audio supports SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX TWS+, and LDAC with aptX Adaptive theoretically allowing for low latency which should work well with gaming and movies (aptX adaptive is theoretically also backwards compatible with aptX Low Latency).
All supported videos play great, including Dolby Vision videos which leave my Dolby Vision TCL Roky tv stuttering/buffering in high action scenes, making this an almost ideal video consumption devices.
It would be ideal if the screen were OLED but given that this is a consumption device, the choice of an LCD screen makes sense. OLED is prone to “burn in” when using there are static images (such as the controls in a mobile game along with health bars and such). This burn-in is caused by uneven deterioration of organic diodes (the subpixels). Now there are some techniques used to reduce this effect but it is limited what this can do. There are other techniques, available in some TVs, which help eliminate the burn-in, but this works by deteriorating the rest of the pixels so they even out (which effectively means reducing the life span of the screen). While an OLED would look better, it could potentially present problems for anyone who devoted a lot of time to individual games without changing things up.
There is no judder with videos or games due to the 120hz screen (clean multiple of 24 so movies display well, as do 30fps tv shows so no 3:2 pulldown is necessary). The screen rate is not truly variable. You can set the screen to 60hz, 120hz, or to automatically switch between the two but those are the only two options. If a game is running at 20fps (Chaos Rings 2, an old game which was designed to run at that frame rate) the screen remains at 120hz (the game switch tool shows the game fps, while the developers option lets you display the screen refresh rate at all times, which continues to show 120 despite the game running at 20). The same developer option lets you see it running at 60hz while in the settings app and switching to 120 on the home screen
The cameras and their software are fine and have a scanner mode (for documents and ID). There is digital zoom (5x in video, 8x in photo using the back camera) and are more than serviceable when it comes to tablet cameras, with the front one being for videoconferencing aside from the placement as has been mentioned.
Gaming
As you can see in other videos, all current Android games work great. Even some old ones which refuse to work on other devices of mine will work on this devices surprisingly (like the aforementioned Chaos Rings 2, though the other Chaos Rings won’t work). All recent games that I tried work flawlessly and look great. Depending on the game and their programming, they can go up to the full 120fps (Riptige GP: Renegade is one example).
Streaming (tested with Geforce Now) had no problems.
Nevertheless, there is the odd compatibility issue and glitch. I tried Riptide GP: Renegade which ran super fluid at 120fps but it didn’t detect me tilting the screen (my character just drove completely straight, not even a nudge to the side). But when I tried Beach Buggy Racing 2 tilt controls worked perfectly. I actually then went back to Riptide to try it with my xbox controller and the tilt was now magically working. The compatibility issue is mostly more due to differences in Android than the actual device but as any experienced Android user knows, no device is compatible with all apps/games.
I quickly tried emulation and both Dreamcast and Saturn emulation worked fine. Redream worked at 1440p no problem. When I connected it to a 4K tv it reported a generally steady 50fps (PAL game) but I did see frame drops but I don't know if that was a performance issue or that output is only 30hz so you will experience some judder with a 50hz source. (I've seen a youtube video of it emulating God of War PS2 version at 2x and the PSP version at 4x).
Colours are great, the 120hz screen is fluid and the 240hz touch sampling rate means that it is really responsive.
My Xbox controller connects and works flawlessly with the device as should most Bluetooth controllers.
The device also provides semi-real vibration which honestly feels great in the demo, but it seems to only work with three games (all Chinese of course). It’s possible there might be others which are compatible and will show up once downloaded, but they’d be Chinese in all probability. Hopefully some apps or emulators learn how to tap into it though the chances of that are low unless Lenovo releases a global version (which currently seems unlikely since they’ve just announced the Y700 Ultimate edition with premium glass back but there’s no news on the global version).
The device can get quite warm in your hands while gaming but it never gets uncomfortably hot in my opinion (your own preferences will dictate what is “comfortable” and how much it heats up might depend on your ambient temperature).
Gaming software
For gaming Lenovo provides you with their Legion Realm software, the same one found on their gaming phones. It will theoretically add any game automatically but it doesn’t always work (it missed some games and oddly added the Adobe Sketchbook app and Wacom’s Bamboo app). Thankfully you can add any game, any app for that matter, manually by swiping up (app drawer appears) then tap and holding on the app you want until two options appear. The writing is in Chinese but one has a plus sign and the other a garbage can so it’s easy to figure out.. And for the rare “compatible” app it will show you “cover art” rather than the normal icon. Unfortunately I’ve only seen this work with some Chinese games and some of the recommendations (it asks you whether you want recommendations when you first open it and you can turn them off at any time, all recommendations are understandably Chinese games).
This software is not just an easy game launcher, it provides you with the option for mapping a controller’s buttons/controls as touch input using an overlay (though they responsibly warn you that some games will ban users for this kind of behaviour). This is actually under the normal settings under “advanced features” but I include it hear as it’s game related.
It also provides you with their game control panel, “Legion Assistant”, which has various short cuts (brightness, volume, wifi, bypass charging, gpu panel, ram cleaner, screenshot, voice changer, etc.) as well as the ability to switch between Energy Saving Mode (lower CPU and GPU speeds) Balance Mode (well, “Blance Mode”) and “Beast Mode” which should max out both CPU and GPU when gaming with no regard to battery life.
The Voice Change function seems great for privacy when playing an online game with voice chat functions and the GPU panel lets you fine tune if you want the GPU to focus on picture quality, frame rate, or performance. It has 5 settings: default, save power, balanced, high quality and “custom” (Custom lets you let the frame rate at 30, 34, 60, 90, or 120, Anti-Aliasing at 1x, 2x, or 4x, Anisotropic Filtering at 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, Texture filtering at High Speed, Balanced, and High Quality and a switch to “optimize grap..” which I assume optimizes graphics in some way but who knows what the specifics are). It also lets you record short videos of your gameplay topping out at from 360p to 1080p @30fps and for 5, 10, 15 or 30 seconds and use either the game’s audio for the video or whatever the mic pics up in case you want to narrate. They do warn you that at 30 seconds or 1080p you might experience lag.
All these settings can be modified from within the Legion Realm app by tapping on the nut beneath the games (the hexagon with a circle in the middle).
The game switch at the top which provide a small overlay on the left which shows CPU and GPU speed, fps and the temperature. If you tap it, it will collapse and just show the fps.
VIDEO OUT (4K?)
The USB-C port is a full 3.1 Gen 2 port. Now if you connect it to a display, it will output at “1080p” with pillaring on the launcher. But if you open certain apps they can output full screen. The only one I’ve seen this is VLC which will output directly and not show anything on the actual tablet. The other video apps just played on the tablet and mirrored onto the tv, keeping the pillar boxing. Since VLC can output directly there might be other apps which can output in full-screen directly if we can just find them.
Now if you connect to a tv and then pull down the notification panel and tap the PC Mode button/shortcut you will get a 1080p style Desktop style environment (if connected to 4K it will actually be 4K but with icon sizes as if it were 1080p).
BUT! If you tap on the notification asking you if you want to switch to PC Mode it will output at 4K when attached to a 4K tv. YouTube will even let you play 4K HDR content. However, it seems the device doesn’t actually output HDR as the HDR settings on my tv don’t activate, which is to be expected as it also seems to be limited to 30hz. I don’t know if this is because of the dongle I’m using. At least one of them is supposedly 60hz capable but it’s a few years old and I’ve never had a DP 1.4 capable device with 4K output and when looking at USB-C hubs they just say 30hz or 60hz, I have yet to see one which mentions HDR or Dolby Vision (there are simple cables capable of HDR but I want one with power delivery or it will just kill the battery).
SOFTWARE and MULTI-TASKING
While GSMarena reports it as having Android 12, mine is 11 and does not report any updates waiting.
While you can output at 4K, Lenovo really should adopt a more intuitive settings layout. The settings for video output are not under display, or PC Mode, but under “More Connections” > Projection (while casting is actually under WiFi at the bottom). Here you can choose whether to mirror or use PC Mode as default, the resolution and fps to connect at. The minimum is 720x400 @70hz and max is 4K @30hz (default). Frame rates vary between 24hz and 75hz depending on the resolution. The 4K option actually offers you TV 4K and true 4K. I have to admit it is disappointing that it does not provide 4K @ 60hz given that it is a gaming device and that the chipset supports it. Then again, the chipset also supports Bluetooth 5.2 but they opted for 5.1.
Multi-tasking is great both in PC Mode and in normal tablet mode. PC mode obviously lets you have multiple floating windows. Supposedly there’s a limit of 5 apps but I’ve gotten up to 8 apps when using it on the tablet (not using an external screen) and after that it tells me the limit is reached and one will be closed. On an external 4K screen, I didn’t get the limit reached message but it starts glitching after that (apps will start to disappear from the taskbar). The task bar has 4 anchored apps and then you can open 4 more apps which will appear in the task bar. On the tablet in PC Mode there is only space for four so if you open up more, they will also appear in the task bar but they’ll overflow to a second row (accessible through an arrow pointing left or right (depending on which row you’re on). You can open more apps but as I said that’s when they start to glitch. Using extended mode to display PC Mode on a 4K screen there is plenty of room in the task bar but it will still overflow after 4 apps.
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(PC Mode on Tablet)
(PC Mode on 4K tv using video out as extended monitor, not mirrored)
The task bar has an app drawer, a back button, a home button (minimizes all windows), a task switcher button, anchored apps, active apps, a search icon, basic notification shortcuts, a separate button for actual notifications, the battery (click to open battery settings) and the time (click to open the calendar).
In normal tablet mode (“Phone mode” as Lenovo calls it), you still have good multi-tasking. You have the normal task switching from android (task manager screen, alt+tab if using a keyboard, swiping along the bottom of the screen if using gestures). You also get a “free form” which is an app in a floating window. You are limited to one floating window, it has the aspect ratio of a phone, but you can resize it and it will automatically adjust to whatever orientation it detects as best (when I put Plex in the free form window it was in landscape orientation while playing a video but switched to portrait when I went back to the menu/video selection screen). Due to the fixed ratio, videos in free form will almost certainly have black pillars, but video apps can also use the PiP option in the settings to have their own flowing video only window which is not natively resizeable (I found if you resize the app in free form, in PiP it will then open at more or less the same size minus the ultra-wide aspect ratio).
You can also split the window to use two apps like on most devices. Tap on the divider and you can switch the two apps around or replace one of them or exit. Thankfully the split window is side to side in landscape orientation and top and bottom in portrait (this may seem obvious but my Galaxy Tab S6 insists on doing side by side, meaning in portrait orientation you have two really skinny, really tall windows which are basically only good for comparing lists).
There is a “smart split” option in the settings which allows apps to be displayed in a window more suited for landscape orientation but it actually is more of an “ignore” portrait orientation. What it does is that if an app is portrait only (like the Windscribe app), it will open it in landscape view by having it in the center of the screen and empty space to the sides. This also means you can then use said apps in split view if you want.
Split screen and a freeform app (firefox) in landscape and portrait orientation.
There is a “Security” app which provides RAM cleaning, disk space cleaning, privacy management, antivirus, autostart manager, network access, battery, advanced clean and automatic backup options.
Lenovo One
Lenovo One is actually a great feature. If you have another compatible Lenovo tablet, phone or laptop you can connect it with the tablet. My Legion 5 with 4800H AMD CPU is not on the compatibility list but works flawlessly, giving me the impression they never updated it as it only mentions older models. This software lets you control the tablet from your computer (it provides a window where the tablet’s screen appears. There is very little lag and you can use this to transfer files from and to the tablet (multiple files are fine but folders are not). File transfers are as quick as the network allows (within the device’s limitations of course).
Transferring to the PC you can drag and drop the files to whatever folder you want. The only downside to file transfers it that they are sent to the tablet, it doesn’t matter if you have the file manger open to a specific folder, they all get sent to the Lenovo One folder (a minor inconvenience).
If you open pictures, videos, audios, or installation packages on the tablet, they’ll be opened up with the corresponding app, but office files (Word, Excel, PPT, and PDF) are opened up on the computer by default.
You can also set the interface to full screen on your computer to play games or watch videos if you want.
Smart switch
One detail which is appreciated is that the physical game switch which will show you game states in an overlay can be "remapped" in settings to turn on/off adaptive brightness or to lock/unlock the screen auto-rotate. This can be done in the settings via the "Custom Switch" setting.
Battery care
The phone provides three options to actually protect your battery (unlike the “battery saver” which just prolongs battery life):
Health charging: it will supposedly learn from your habits to “intelligently control” charging past 80% to prolong battery life and slow down battery aging.
Battery Protection Mode: it will keep it charged between 40% and 60% when plugged in to keep it healthy.
Battery bypass: it will power your device when connected to a charger and not charge the battery. This is good for prolonged usage/gaming sessions. It is especially good for games as it noticeably lowers the heat level. I turned it on while playing Injustice 2 and I could actively feel the device cooling in my hands, it was VERY impressive.
The only downside to battery bypass is that 1) you can only activate it from the Legion Assistant. This means that you have to have added the program you want to use to the Legion Realm and then while using the app, swipe down for the assistant and then activate it. This means that 2) you cannot activate it from the desktop mode since even if you open up a compatible program, swiping from the top will not summon the Legion Assistant. What you CAN do is, if you’re not mirroring PC Mode, is open up a compatible app on the phone and activate bypass charging that way.
There are other small perks like “region screenshot” where you can take a screen shot of just part of your screen (you choose what, as long as it’s a rectangular area). You can also have the system give you a different background or blur it when using the camera (like with skype and zoom, but app independent). The backgrounds are nice but limited and you cannot add any.
Stylus support? Kind of…
Now the documentation and such never mentioned stylus support but some people have asked about it, no doubt due to the P11 and P12 both supporting it.
No, the tablet’s screen does not support a stylus, but the software actually does.
What do I mean? Well, I have the Lenovo m14t portable monitor which supports stylus input. When I have connected it to my Galaxy Tab S6 and my LG V60, both of which DO have stylus support, they both just detected the stylus on the portable monitor as a simple touch input with no pressure sensitivity and no tilt detection (and abnormal lag to be honest).
But the Y700 works perfectly with it. There’s no lag and it detects both pressure sensitivity and tilt detection in apps like Concepts and Adobe Sketchbook.
What does this mean for users? You can’t use an active stylus to take notes on the tablet while out and about but you can use it for artistic purposes if you have an external stylus capable monitor (and who knows, maybe it even works with non-screen drawing pads). The device is fast and has plenty of RAM so you can definitely take advantage of that. It also means if you have such a monitor you can whip it out at café and annotate documents by hand and the like.
As for note taking on the go? The screen is really sensitive and responsive so basic handwritten notes are possible with a simple capacitive stylus. Of course, you won’t get palm rejection or anything of the sort.
Downsides
Prime Video and Netflix work, but Prime video doesn’t allow for HD video (it reports the movie as having it available, but it streams SD). Netflix on the other hand looks like HD to me.
There are glitches, when playing around with split screen and settings and such my screen became off center. Now, this isn’t normal usage so if it doesn’t repeat during normal usage it should be fine.
In PC Mode some apps aren’t fully compatible. The top bar which has the minimize, maximize, close buttons and which you use to drag the window around…, well, retroarch doesn’t have that bar (you can resize it by dragging the edges/corners) but that means if you want to move it you’ll have to do it by resizing it and you’ll never have to maximize it in PC Mode.
When using the AOSP keyboard in the search bar in PC Mode it would glitch and refused to work with Firefox in the same mode. I could not sign in to my Kobo account in PC Mode because as soon as I tried and the keyboard appeared, the sign in screen would disappear (and if I tried to write and then minimize the keyboard, nothing had happened). Oddly enough in normal phone mode I couldn’t upgrade my redream account as it would crash the app but it worked in PC Mode.
The bluetooth profiles are a bit wonky. Like they work, but despite my Logitech M720 Triathlon mouse working perfectly with it, it officially recognizes it as a keyboard. In the bluetooth panel it shows a moouse icon next to it, but in the physical keyboard section of language and input it shows the mouse as the physical keyboard. So if it's connected, the virtual keyboard won't pop up any time I click in a text field. I can force it to show the virtual board while a physical keyboard is connected, but then if I do and am actually using a physical keyboard I have to deactivate that option so the virtual keyboard doesn't unnecessarily block half the screen.
As mentioned, it could be a bit louder (my Tab S6 is slightly louder and slightly deeper bass but then again it is bigger with twice the speakers).
Notifications don’t really work so it is not ideal as a primary communications device (since people won’t be able to reach you). Of course, if you open up your mail app or your chat app it will show you your messages without a problem but you have to open it first. This is most likely not a problem with wechat or QQ but as I don’t have an account with either I cannot check.
I was using skype and an incoming call did not show up on the tablet despite the app being open (actually open, not just in the background). But I was able to make a call with it.
It’s a Chinese device, this means that it interprets Money symbols which should be the dollar sign as the yuan sign ¥. If I find a way to install my own font this should be fixed but I haven’t found that out yet.
No GPS so no using it for navigation or with GPS dependent games like Pokemon Go. Of course it also doesn’t have mobile data capabilities so that might be a moot point (unless you planned on using your phone as a hot spot).
Conclusion
It’s a great tablet for gaming, media consumption and productivity but not communications. It was designed FOR GAMING and you can tell. If those use cases are your primary focus it will work great for you despite it being from China. If you want a Language other than English you’ll need a language switching software but from what I saw from a Spanish user online it should be fine.
I bought the 12GB Ram, 256GB Rom version from Aliexpress for $470 plus shipping (express in my case as aliexpress shipping in my country was proven undependable during the pandemic).
Edited it to add the mention of PS2 emulation.
Thank you for the very detailed review! I have been hanging on to my MediaPad M5 8.4" since it works fine for my needs and I have not found a suitable replacement yet except for the M6 which I can't locate anymore and now potentially the Legion Y700.
Still on the fence about upgrading as I would prefer not to have another device with limited support (not an official Global release) and I don't do any gaming (productivity and media only).
The M5 is essentially a clone of my Note 20 Ultra with the same Nova Launcher setup. Still worth considering and it is interesting to see it recognized as a P8 with the rumors floating around that it may be released globally with that moniker.
Thank you again, very informative review.
Thank you for a detailed review, @solsearch . It's so difficult to find them for China-only devices.
I'm thinking about getting this tablet, but I'm wondering if it has support for hardware-accelerated HEVC (H.265) 10-bit playback. Would it be possible for you to check that? It'd be especially great if you verified it with MX Player, as sometimes despite other programs reporting such capabilities, there's no support in practice.
why dont they give this its own forum. so annoying having to dig through a 17 page thread
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I would love to be able to run Windows 10 in this device for some productivity.
I've noticed Android, even in PC mode, lacks absurd features to do some work like open 2 excels at the same time.
solsearch said:
Notifications don’t really work so it is not ideal as a primary communications device (since people won’t be able to reach you). Of course, if you open up your mail app or your chat app it will show you your messages without a problem but you have to open it first. This is most likely not a problem with wechat or QQ but as I don’t have an account with either I cannot check.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a known issue in all CN ROM devices - be it Lenovo, Xiaomi, Oppo etc.
CN ROM devices are missing some APIs related to notification (which could be part of any Google-related app framework)
Quick fix? - Press and hold the app and go to app info. Select 'Battery' and choose "Unrestricted".
Lenovo is actually aware of this. Motorola China phones (under Lenovo) built a nifty app called "Device Shield" where you can manually set any app to run in background hence, fixing the notification delay/not receiving notification unless you open the app.
ijuanp03 said:
This is a known issue in all CN ROM devices - be it Lenovo, Xiaomi, Oppo etc.
CN ROM devices are missing some APIs related to notification (which could be part of any Google-related app framework)
Quick fix? - Press and hold the app and go to app info. Select 'Battery' and choose "Unrestricted".
Lenovo is actually aware of this. Motorola China phones (under Lenovo) built a nifty app called "Device Shield" where you can manually set any app to run in background hence, fixing the notification delay/not receiving notification unless you open the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there, I can't find the "Press and hold the app and go to app info. Select 'Battery' and choose "Unrestricted"."
I just see :Notifications, Permissions, Data usage ans Storage.
TH4N1X said:
Thank you for a detailed review, @solsearch . It's so difficult to find them for China-only devices.
I'm thinking about getting this tablet, but I'm wondering if it has support for hardware-accelerated HEVC (H.265) 10-bit playback. Would it be possible for you to check that? It'd be especially great if you verified it with MX Player, as sometimes despite other programs reporting such capabilities, there's no support in practice.
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Hey, sorry for not responding earlier. I don't seem to get the notifications in my e-mail and I don't frequent the forums too much.
Yes, it supports hardware acceleration for 10-bit and also 12-bit (Dolby Vision is 12-bit and it's hardware accelerated, working on the default player and mx player but not VLC). On MX player HW decoding works better than HW+ (Dolby Vision doesn't work on HW+ for example).
elm0nch said:
I would love to be able to run Windows 10 in this device for some productivity.
I've noticed Android, even in PC mode, lacks absurd features to do some work like open 2 excels at the same time.
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One workaround for that is use two different office apps (like WPS and Sheets for example). Theoretically you could install windows (ARM version) on this as it uses a Qualcomm processor but it would require someone taking an interest in it and developing it for this device)
LisaMaria said:
why dont they give this its own forum. so annoying having to dig through a 17 page thread
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Yeah. The main thread gets really annoying since half of it is dedicated to rooting and flashing and the other half is for people who don't do that so it gets tedious sifting through all the posts which are unrelated to your interest.
solsearch said:
One workaround for that is use two different office apps (like WPS and Sheets for example). Theoretically you could install windows (ARM version) on this as it uses a Qualcomm processor but it would require someone taking an interest in it and developing it for this device)
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solsearch said:
If just someone did that, this tablet would become the ultimate machine
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I have updated the review to include the changes I have seen in ZUI14. The changes are at the beginning so there's no need to reread or to scroll down.
I assume this review is for the Chinese stock ROM or is this the "global" one (bootloader unlocked with something else flashed)? Is it usable in English if using the Chinese default ROM?
This tablet seems like ideal hardware for what I'd like to use (actually a bit of overkill) since I would like something with more than 4gb ram and at least full hd screen. It is very difficult to find these kind of specs in an 8 to 9 inch tablet from any other manufacturer and there seems to be a big hole in the market. There are many Android cheap kids or reader tablets in the size range with skimpy memory and lower resolution displays but not much that even matches a midrange or higher phone.
I've been using a Huawei Media Pad M5 8.4” until recently when I bought a tab P11 plus since it was on a good sale and the last security update on the Huawei was in 2020 and the updates and support were always terrible. The p11 plus is good enough for me aside from the size. It's too big to really use in bed or hold comfortably in one hand for long or put in a large coat pocket. The larger form factor works for desk or on lap use but it's too big for extended handheld use and the weight is a lot more than the 8.4.
I really wish they'd release a real global or US edition, but I don't believe they ever will despite some unfounded rumors.
I'm really torn about getting this since I'll likely need to do all the updates and maintenance myself and it's basically unsupported which was something I also disliked about the Huawei in the US. Also it's rare enough outside of China that there isn't much of a community or information about fixing problems for it on outside ROMs. I know project treble ROMs are supposed to help yet it seems like there are always parts that don't work in the reviews of these ROMs and risks of bricking the device when updating ROMs.
I've considered an iPad mini since it would have good ongoing support and updates (unlike many of the Android manufacturers) but it doesn't allow some choices that Android gives (like web browser engine) and only comes with 4gb ram and it's Apple expensive pricing.
It still seems like you're liking this tablet after 6 months or more of use? Can you imagine that it will be possible to use for the next 3 years without major issues?
I'd wait if I thought something better supported was coming, but not sure anything is on the way that I can wait for.
I hate the state of the 8" to 9" tablet market these days.
Hello! I have the global rom variant. When you say the legion app is removed. Do you mean legion realm ? Because I only have Google play store. And zero legion named apps.
I finally ordered and received mine since I'd had enough of my Huawei media pad M5 8.4 with no security updates since 2020, Huawei blocking all updates to Android 9 for US users and making rebranding to European or 3rd party ROMs as difficult as possible.
I really like this Lenovo tablet a lot and at least they seem more open to unlocking than Huawei. The notifications thing is a little annoying, but I generally ignore notifications anyway and still get them on my phone so can live without them.
To the previous poster, there is a Legion assistant in the tablet settings and a Legion Zone app in the Chinese ROM in ZUI version 14 which I have. From what I understand, the "Global ROM" isn't a real ROM that has been released by Lenovo, but is probably a third party GSI ROM that someone else made and some vendors are unlocking the bootloader and flashing the custom ROM before sending out the tablets. That's my understanding, anyway, but never had one to compare.
Some vendors like Giztop switch the language to English and install Google Play before sending out, which is what they did on mine. But that's still a Chinese ROM with the language set to English.
There seem to be quite a few people on the mega thread who have decided to flash back to the standard Chinese ROM in order to get the Lenovo-specific features and optimizations.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/guide-unbrick-lenovo-y700-tablet.4509297/ is a thread about unbricking and re-flashing the original Chinese ROM after some problems. Seems some people that flash back from the "global" don't automatically get over the air updates unless they can relock the bootloader or get on a VPN to China.
I'm glad Giztop didn't install the "global" ROM for me, but just switched the language to English and installed Google Play.
solsearch said:
****ZUI14 UPDATE****
It works fine for the most part.
There are some changes:
STYLUS SUPPORT
the tablet now supports a stylus which explains why the underlying software supported external solutions like the Lenovo M14t portable monitor. Still, it begs the question "If the hardware supports a stylus, why didn't the earlier firmware support it out of the box?" Also important, AES (1.0 AND 2.0) only pens DON'T work, MPP only pens don't work either, which makes me think it requires strong WGP. I recommend only using a Lenovo pen which has been verified to work. The one I have personally tried is the Lenovo Precision Pen 2. I read elsewhere the Lenovo Active Pen 3 works but I can't personally attest to that.
DESKTOP MODE
There have been some complains on forums of ZUI14 removing desktop mode. This isn't exactly true. If you connect to an external monitor with the tablet's USB-C port (using a USB-C capable monitor OR an HDMI adapter you can use desktop mode on an external monitor. However, you can no longer use desktop mode on the tablet itself. This was done on purpose and Lenovo, in exchange for this modification, added the ability to use multiple floating windows in the normal tablet mode. These windows are reziable but the default aspect ratio cannot be changed. Also having multiple windows open only works using the floating window swipe gesture (swipe up, hold and then swipe to the top of the screen). If you try to use the task switcher to make a window a floating window all other floating windows will disapper/be minimized). I personally think this is acceptable on the smaller Y700 but can understand how it could frustrate those using the larger P11 or P12.
LEGION APP
The original Legion app has been removed but all of its functionality has been added to the settings (there is now a "Legion assistant" section in the settings). Now rather than swiping down you swipe in from the left. The graphics are different but functionality is the same. Adding apps to the games list is easier since you get an app list and a switch on the side (similar to how you enable individual permissions in different settings). I read a comment elsewhere that the new software made the fps graphic stick on the screen. This isn't true. When you swipe the assistant off screen the fps can stick around but just for a bit and then they disappear.
Personally I think it is an upgrade worth downloading.
**************************************************************
ORIGINAL REVIEW FOLLOWS
This is a LONG and detailed review. Hopefully it will answer questions many people have. If you want to skip to a specific section, check the contents list (this is easily a TL;DR sitch).
Contents:
Inside the Box
Design
Performance
Gaming
Gaming software
Video Out
Software and Multi-tasking
Lenovo One
Battery Care
Stylus Support? (Kind of…)
Downsides
Conclusions
Y700 Legoin Gaming Tablet Review
ProsConsBuildA tad thickPlay store is easy to installOnly Chinese market version availableScreenNot OLEDSoundCould be a bit louderPerformanceSome features are game exclusivesBattery protection featuresVideo out features are lacking compared to other options out there4K output4K output at only 30hzNetflix, Paramount+ and Youtube in HD/4KPrime Video is only SD
This review is my own personal opinion based on the my experience with it and other tablets. I am not a professional reviewer but have had my fair share of (Android) tablets (original Galaxy Note 10.1, HTC Flyer, Dasung notEreader, Cube T7, Yogabook android edition, Huawei Media Pad M5 8.4”, Galaxy Tab S6 and now Legion Y700) so I believe I can provide a relatively objective and critical review.
Inside the Box
The box is a premium affair with a great design boasting the logo/brand embossed on the top. Once you open the box you will find the tablet nestled in a platform which raises it above the cardboard edges of the bottom part of the box. In my case it is the 12GB/256GB variant. Under this platform you will find small boxes holding the charger, SD card removal tool and documentation, and under this the USB-C cable.
The Charger is a quite welcome inclusion. It has two ports, one USB-C and one USB type A. The C port tops out at 50 watts by itself while the A port tops out at 20 watts. If you choose to use both at the same time the C port will top out at 40 watts and the A port at 10 watts. Given that the tablet tops at at 45 and how you’re likely to have more than one device, this charger is a great inclusion. Sadly, the USB-C cable included is less impressive. It is perfectly capable of quickly charging the tablet, but when I tried to use it to connect a portable monitor to it (using the monitor’s USB 3.1 Type-C port) it was unable to drive the monitor (most likely it doesn’t provide the necessary data throughput). Connecting a USB 3.1 Gen 2 compliant cable and it worked flawlessly.
There is no screen protector or case included.
Design
The tablet is relatively slim, solid feeling, glass sandwich design with a metal frame in the middle. The back is matte and feels nice, whilst the front has slim bezels on the long edges and slightly thicker ones on the shorter ones in order to accommodate the camera. All are perfectly symmetrical.
The tablet comes with 2 JBL speakers on either side near the top edge when holding it in landscape orientation. It might seem a bit odd to have them so near one side but this is actually on purpose so that when gaming or watching full screen videos your hands won’t cover and muffle the speakers. Below the speakers (at the half-way point) you will find the headphone jack on the left and the charging port on the right, making it possible to have both plugged in without making it too awkward while holding it and gaming. This means that in order to keep the top and bottom (landscape) bezels slim (so one can maybe hold it one-handed in portrait mode), the camera is relegated to the left bezel below the headphone jack. This makes it easy to cover when holding it two handed (or left-handed) in this orientation and at a sub-optimal level reminiscent of those laptops with the camera above the keyboard and below the screen. The P11 and P12 have the camera on the top while in landscape for easier video conferencing, bug given that this device is focused on gaming, the placement of sound and power took priority. Still in landscape orientation you will find two buttons (volume rocker and power) on the top and the “game” switch. You will find that the bottom edge has nothing other than the microSD slot so you can use that edge to rest it on a table or in a stand without fear of anything being blocked or pressed.
The fact that this tablet was designed for landscape orientation is emphasized by the fact that when booting up the logo appears in landscape orientation.
Obviously in the center you have the high res, QWHD at 2560x1600 screen with great colour reproduction, nevertheless, in a side-by-side comparison the Huawei M5 has deeper blacks and more “pleasing” colours (slightly more vibrant overall). The Y700 on the other hand has more realistic colours in general (using the “Bright” colour settings, the “Standard is supposed to be more realistic but looks too yellow on my device even when the colour temperature is set to “cold”). It also provides more more vibrant colours, but selectively. When watching HDR video, what is meant to be vibrant will be more vibrant than the M5 (rather than making everything slightly more saturated). And of course, the Y700 is capable of both HDR and Dolby Vision which help quite a bit in both colour reproduction and quality. The blacks are still not as deep as the M5 and of course don’t compare to any OLED. In the videos it is less pronounced than in real life.
The reason I previously described the tablet as “relatively” slim is because it is thick enough that it doesn’t fit great in some of my tablet stands (one which is one of those cheap folding ones with a slot… which when opened wide become too “slim” due to the angle for the tablet to enter easily, and the other one which is a folding sleeve and depends on a lip of leather to hold it in place.) Other than that the thickness provides no issues.
Performance
As has been covered elsewhere it scores over 700 thousand in Antutu and about 950/2900 in geekbench (single and multi-core respectively). When I ran them personally I got about 706 on Antutu and 937/2970. These were not run with a clean install which can explain the slightly lower results compared to other reviews as I’ll have more background processes in all likelihood.
Audio is clean and full with good bass for what is being produced. It doesn’t get as loud as some other devices though. It will fill a room but not overpower a conversation. Most importantly, it sounds great at all volumes, even maxed out with little to no distortion. Of course, results may vary depending on what music you’re playing.
Bluetooth audio supports SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX TWS+, and LDAC with aptX Adaptive theoretically allowing for low latency which should work well with gaming and movies (aptX adaptive is theoretically also backwards compatible with aptX Low Latency).
All supported videos play great, including Dolby Vision videos which leave my Dolby Vision TCL Roky tv stuttering/buffering in high action scenes, making this an almost ideal video consumption devices.
It would be ideal if the screen were OLED but given that this is a consumption device, the choice of an LCD screen makes sense. OLED is prone to “burn in” when using there are static images (such as the controls in a mobile game along with health bars and such). This burn-in is caused by uneven deterioration of organic diodes (the subpixels). Now there are some techniques used to reduce this effect but it is limited what this can do. There are other techniques, available in some TVs, which help eliminate the burn-in, but this works by deteriorating the rest of the pixels so they even out (which effectively means reducing the life span of the screen). While an OLED would look better, it could potentially present problems for anyone who devoted a lot of time to individual games without changing things up.
There is no judder with videos or games due to the 120hz screen (clean multiple of 24 so movies display well, as do 30fps tv shows so no 3:2 pulldown is necessary). The screen rate is not truly variable. You can set the screen to 60hz, 120hz, or to automatically switch between the two but those are the only two options. If a game is running at 20fps (Chaos Rings 2, an old game which was designed to run at that frame rate) the screen remains at 120hz (the game switch tool shows the game fps, while the developers option lets you display the screen refresh rate at all times, which continues to show 120 despite the game running at 20). The same developer option lets you see it running at 60hz while in the settings app and switching to 120 on the home screen
The cameras and their software are fine and have a scanner mode (for documents and ID). There is digital zoom (5x in video, 8x in photo using the back camera) and are more than serviceable when it comes to tablet cameras, with the front one being for videoconferencing aside from the placement as has been mentioned.
Gaming
As you can see in other videos, all current Android games work great. Even some old ones which refuse to work on other devices of mine will work on this devices surprisingly (like the aforementioned Chaos Rings 2, though the other Chaos Rings won’t work). All recent games that I tried work flawlessly and look great. Depending on the game and their programming, they can go up to the full 120fps (Riptige GP: Renegade is one example).
Streaming (tested with Geforce Now) had no problems.
Nevertheless, there is the odd compatibility issue and glitch. I tried Riptide GP: Renegade which ran super fluid at 120fps but it didn’t detect me tilting the screen (my character just drove completely straight, not even a nudge to the side). But when I tried Beach Buggy Racing 2 tilt controls worked perfectly. I actually then went back to Riptide to try it with my xbox controller and the tilt was now magically working. The compatibility issue is mostly more due to differences in Android than the actual device but as any experienced Android user knows, no device is compatible with all apps/games.
I quickly tried emulation and both Dreamcast and Saturn emulation worked fine. Redream worked at 1440p no problem. When I connected it to a 4K tv it reported a generally steady 50fps (PAL game) but I did see frame drops but I don't know if that was a performance issue or that output is only 30hz so you will experience some judder with a 50hz source. (I've seen a youtube video of it emulating God of War PS2 version at 2x and the PSP version at 4x).
Colours are great, the 120hz screen is fluid and the 240hz touch sampling rate means that it is really responsive.
My Xbox controller connects and works flawlessly with the device as should most Bluetooth controllers.
The device also provides semi-real vibration which honestly feels great in the demo, but it seems to only work with three games (all Chinese of course). It’s possible there might be others which are compatible and will show up once downloaded, but they’d be Chinese in all probability. Hopefully some apps or emulators learn how to tap into it though the chances of that are low unless Lenovo releases a global version (which currently seems unlikely since they’ve just announced the Y700 Ultimate edition with premium glass back but there’s no news on the global version).
The device can get quite warm in your hands while gaming but it never gets uncomfortably hot in my opinion (your own preferences will dictate what is “comfortable” and how much it heats up might depend on your ambient temperature).
Gaming software
For gaming Lenovo provides you with their Legion Realm software, the same one found on their gaming phones. It will theoretically add any game automatically but it doesn’t always work (it missed some games and oddly added the Adobe Sketchbook app and Wacom’s Bamboo app). Thankfully you can add any game, any app for that matter, manually by swiping up (app drawer appears) then tap and holding on the app you want until two options appear. The writing is in Chinese but one has a plus sign and the other a garbage can so it’s easy to figure out.. And for the rare “compatible” app it will show you “cover art” rather than the normal icon. Unfortunately I’ve only seen this work with some Chinese games and some of the recommendations (it asks you whether you want recommendations when you first open it and you can turn them off at any time, all recommendations are understandably Chinese games).
This software is not just an easy game launcher, it provides you with the option for mapping a controller’s buttons/controls as touch input using an overlay (though they responsibly warn you that some games will ban users for this kind of behaviour). This is actually under the normal settings under “advanced features” but I include it hear as it’s game related.
It also provides you with their game control panel, “Legion Assistant”, which has various short cuts (brightness, volume, wifi, bypass charging, gpu panel, ram cleaner, screenshot, voice changer, etc.) as well as the ability to switch between Energy Saving Mode (lower CPU and GPU speeds) Balance Mode (well, “Blance Mode”) and “Beast Mode” which should max out both CPU and GPU when gaming with no regard to battery life.
The Voice Change function seems great for privacy when playing an online game with voice chat functions and the GPU panel lets you fine tune if you want the GPU to focus on picture quality, frame rate, or performance. It has 5 settings: default, save power, balanced, high quality and “custom” (Custom lets you let the frame rate at 30, 34, 60, 90, or 120, Anti-Aliasing at 1x, 2x, or 4x, Anisotropic Filtering at 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, Texture filtering at High Speed, Balanced, and High Quality and a switch to “optimize grap..” which I assume optimizes graphics in some way but who knows what the specifics are). It also lets you record short videos of your gameplay topping out at from 360p to 1080p @30fps and for 5, 10, 15 or 30 seconds and use either the game’s audio for the video or whatever the mic pics up in case you want to narrate. They do warn you that at 30 seconds or 1080p you might experience lag.
All these settings can be modified from within the Legion Realm app by tapping on the nut beneath the games (the hexagon with a circle in the middle).
The game switch at the top which provide a small overlay on the left which shows CPU and GPU speed, fps and the temperature. If you tap it, it will collapse and just show the fps.
VIDEO OUT (4K?)
The USB-C port is a full 3.1 Gen 2 port. Now if you connect it to a display, it will output at “1080p” with pillaring on the launcher. But if you open certain apps they can output full screen. The only one I’ve seen this is VLC which will output directly and not show anything on the actual tablet. The other video apps just played on the tablet and mirrored onto the tv, keeping the pillar boxing. Since VLC can output directly there might be other apps which can output in full-screen directly if we can just find them.
Now if you connect to a tv and then pull down the notification panel and tap the PC Mode button/shortcut you will get a 1080p style Desktop style environment (if connected to 4K it will actually be 4K but with icon sizes as if it were 1080p).
BUT! If you tap on the notification asking you if you want to switch to PC Mode it will output at 4K when attached to a 4K tv. YouTube will even let you play 4K HDR content. However, it seems the device doesn’t actually output HDR as the HDR settings on my tv don’t activate, which is to be expected as it also seems to be limited to 30hz. I don’t know if this is because of the dongle I’m using. At least one of them is supposedly 60hz capable but it’s a few years old and I’ve never had a DP 1.4 capable device with 4K output and when looking at USB-C hubs they just say 30hz or 60hz, I have yet to see one which mentions HDR or Dolby Vision (there are simple cables capable of HDR but I want one with power delivery or it will just kill the battery).
SOFTWARE and MULTI-TASKING
While GSMarena reports it as having Android 12, mine is 11 and does not report any updates waiting.
While you can output at 4K, Lenovo really should adopt a more intuitive settings layout. The settings for video output are not under display, or PC Mode, but under “More Connections” > Projection (while casting is actually under WiFi at the bottom). Here you can choose whether to mirror or use PC Mode as default, the resolution and fps to connect at. The minimum is 720x400 @70hz and max is 4K @30hz (default). Frame rates vary between 24hz and 75hz depending on the resolution. The 4K option actually offers you TV 4K and true 4K. I have to admit it is disappointing that it does not provide 4K @ 60hz given that it is a gaming device and that the chipset supports it. Then again, the chipset also supports Bluetooth 5.2 but they opted for 5.1.
Multi-tasking is great both in PC Mode and in normal tablet mode. PC mode obviously lets you have multiple floating windows. Supposedly there’s a limit of 5 apps but I’ve gotten up to 8 apps when using it on the tablet (not using an external screen) and after that it tells me the limit is reached and one will be closed. On an external 4K screen, I didn’t get the limit reached message but it starts glitching after that (apps will start to disappear from the taskbar). The task bar has 4 anchored apps and then you can open 4 more apps which will appear in the task bar. On the tablet in PC Mode there is only space for four so if you open up more, they will also appear in the task bar but they’ll overflow to a second row (accessible through an arrow pointing left or right (depending on which row you’re on). You can open more apps but as I said that’s when they start to glitch. Using extended mode to display PC Mode on a 4K screen there is plenty of room in the task bar but it will still overflow after 4 apps.
View attachment 5675383
(PC Mode on Tablet)
View attachment 5675385
(PC Mode on 4K tv using video out as extended monitor, not mirrored)
The task bar has an app drawer, a back button, a home button (minimizes all windows), a task switcher button, anchored apps, active apps, a search icon, basic notification shortcuts, a separate button for actual notifications, the battery (click to open battery settings) and the time (click to open the calendar).
In normal tablet mode (“Phone mode” as Lenovo calls it), you still have good multi-tasking. You have the normal task switching from android (task manager screen, alt+tab if using a keyboard, swiping along the bottom of the screen if using gestures). You also get a “free form” which is an app in a floating window. You are limited to one floating window, it has the aspect ratio of a phone, but you can resize it and it will automatically adjust to whatever orientation it detects as best (when I put Plex in the free form window it was in landscape orientation while playing a video but switched to portrait when I went back to the menu/video selection screen). Due to the fixed ratio, videos in free form will almost certainly have black pillars, but video apps can also use the PiP option in the settings to have their own flowing video only window which is not natively resizeable (I found if you resize the app in free form, in PiP it will then open at more or less the same size minus the ultra-wide aspect ratio).
You can also split the window to use two apps like on most devices. Tap on the divider and you can switch the two apps around or replace one of them or exit. Thankfully the split window is side to side in landscape orientation and top and bottom in portrait (this may seem obvious but my Galaxy Tab S6 insists on doing side by side, meaning in portrait orientation you have two really skinny, really tall windows which are basically only good for comparing lists).
There is a “smart split” option in the settings which allows apps to be displayed in a window more suited for landscape orientation but it actually is more of an “ignore” portrait orientation. What it does is that if an app is portrait only (like the Windscribe app), it will open it in landscape view by having it in the center of the screen and empty space to the sides. This also means you can then use said apps in split view if you want.
View attachment 5675387View attachment 5675389
Split screen and a freeform app (firefox) in landscape and portrait orientation.
There is a “Security” app which provides RAM cleaning, disk space cleaning, privacy management, antivirus, autostart manager, network access, battery, advanced clean and automatic backup options.
Lenovo One
Lenovo One is actually a great feature. If you have another compatible Lenovo tablet, phone or laptop you can connect it with the tablet. My Legion 5 with 4800H AMD CPU is not on the compatibility list but works flawlessly, giving me the impression they never updated it as it only mentions older models. This software lets you control the tablet from your computer (it provides a window where the tablet’s screen appears. There is very little lag and you can use this to transfer files from and to the tablet (multiple files are fine but folders are not). File transfers are as quick as the network allows (within the device’s limitations of course).
Transferring to the PC you can drag and drop the files to whatever folder you want. The only downside to file transfers it that they are sent to the tablet, it doesn’t matter if you have the file manger open to a specific folder, they all get sent to the Lenovo One folder (a minor inconvenience).
If you open pictures, videos, audios, or installation packages on the tablet, they’ll be opened up with the corresponding app, but office files (Word, Excel, PPT, and PDF) are opened up on the computer by default.
You can also set the interface to full screen on your computer to play games or watch videos if you want.
View attachment 5675381
Smart switch
One detail which is appreciated is that the physical game switch which will show you game states in an overlay can be "remapped" in settings to turn on/off adaptive brightness or to lock/unlock the screen auto-rotate. This can be done in the settings via the "Custom Switch" setting.
Battery care
The phone provides three options to actually protect your battery (unlike the “battery saver” which just prolongs battery life):
Health charging: it will supposedly learn from your habits to “intelligently control” charging past 80% to prolong battery life and slow down battery aging.
Battery Protection Mode: it will keep it charged between 40% and 60% when plugged in to keep it healthy.
Battery bypass: it will power your device when connected to a charger and not charge the battery. This is good for prolonged usage/gaming sessions. It is especially good for games as it noticeably lowers the heat level. I turned it on while playing Injustice 2 and I could actively feel the device cooling in my hands, it was VERY impressive.
The only downside to battery bypass is that 1) you can only activate it from the Legion Assistant. This means that you have to have added the program you want to use to the Legion Realm and then while using the app, swipe down for the assistant and then activate it. This means that 2) you cannot activate it from the desktop mode since even if you open up a compatible program, swiping from the top will not summon the Legion Assistant. What you CAN do is, if you’re not mirroring PC Mode, is open up a compatible app on the phone and activate bypass charging that way.
There are other small perks like “region screenshot” where you can take a screen shot of just part of your screen (you choose what, as long as it’s a rectangular area). You can also have the system give you a different background or blur it when using the camera (like with skype and zoom, but app independent). The backgrounds are nice but limited and you cannot add any.
Stylus support? Kind of…
Now the documentation and such never mentioned stylus support but some people have asked about it, no doubt due to the P11 and P12 both supporting it.
No, the tablet’s screen does not support a stylus, but the software actually does.
What do I mean? Well, I have the Lenovo m14t portable monitor which supports stylus input. When I have connected it to my Galaxy Tab S6 and my LG V60, both of which DO have stylus support, they both just detected the stylus on the portable monitor as a simple touch input with no pressure sensitivity and no tilt detection (and abnormal lag to be honest).
But the Y700 works perfectly with it. There’s no lag and it detects both pressure sensitivity and tilt detection in apps like Concepts and Adobe Sketchbook.
What does this mean for users? You can’t use an active stylus to take notes on the tablet while out and about but you can use it for artistic purposes if you have an external stylus capable monitor (and who knows, maybe it even works with non-screen drawing pads). The device is fast and has plenty of RAM so you can definitely take advantage of that. It also means if you have such a monitor you can whip it out at café and annotate documents by hand and the like.
As for note taking on the go? The screen is really sensitive and responsive so basic handwritten notes are possible with a simple capacitive stylus. Of course, you won’t get palm rejection or anything of the sort.
Downsides
Prime Video and Netflix work, but Prime video doesn’t allow for HD video (it reports the movie as having it available, but it streams SD). Netflix on the other hand looks like HD to me.
There are glitches, when playing around with split screen and settings and such my screen became off center. Now, this isn’t normal usage so if it doesn’t repeat during normal usage it should be fine.
In PC Mode some apps aren’t fully compatible. The top bar which has the minimize, maximize, close buttons and which you use to drag the window around…, well, retroarch doesn’t have that bar (you can resize it by dragging the edges/corners) but that means if you want to move it you’ll have to do it by resizing it and you’ll never have to maximize it in PC Mode.
When using the AOSP keyboard in the search bar in PC Mode it would glitch and refused to work with Firefox in the same mode. I could not sign in to my Kobo account in PC Mode because as soon as I tried and the keyboard appeared, the sign in screen would disappear (and if I tried to write and then minimize the keyboard, nothing had happened). Oddly enough in normal phone mode I couldn’t upgrade my redream account as it would crash the app but it worked in PC Mode.
The bluetooth profiles are a bit wonky. Like they work, but despite my Logitech M720 Triathlon mouse working perfectly with it, it officially recognizes it as a keyboard. In the bluetooth panel it shows a moouse icon next to it, but in the physical keyboard section of language and input it shows the mouse as the physical keyboard. So if it's connected, the virtual keyboard won't pop up any time I click in a text field. I can force it to show the virtual board while a physical keyboard is connected, but then if I do and am actually using a physical keyboard I have to deactivate that option so the virtual keyboard doesn't unnecessarily block half the screen.
As mentioned, it could be a bit louder (my Tab S6 is slightly louder and slightly deeper bass but then again it is bigger with twice the speakers).
Notifications don’t really work so it is not ideal as a primary communications device (since people won’t be able to reach you). Of course, if you open up your mail app or your chat app it will show you your messages without a problem but you have to open it first. This is most likely not a problem with wechat or QQ but as I don’t have an account with either I cannot check.
I was using skype and an incoming call did not show up on the tablet despite the app being open (actually open, not just in the background). But I was able to make a call with it.
It’s a Chinese device, this means that it interprets Money symbols which should be the dollar sign as the yuan sign ¥. If I find a way to install my own font this should be fixed but I haven’t found that out yet.
No GPS so no using it for navigation or with GPS dependent games like Pokemon Go. Of course it also doesn’t have mobile data capabilities so that might be a moot point (unless you planned on using your phone as a hot spot).
Conclusion
It’s a great tablet for gaming, media consumption and productivity but not communications. It was designed FOR GAMING and you can tell. If those use cases are your primary focus it will work great for you despite it being from China. If you want a Language other than English you’ll need a language switching software but from what I saw from a Spanish user online it should be fine.
I bought the 12GB Ram, 256GB Rom version from Aliexpress for $470 plus shipping (express in my case as aliexpress shipping in my country was proven undependable during the pandemic).
Edited it to add the mention of PS2 emulation.
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Thank you so much for such extensive review. Are you still using this tablet? Is zui14 latest version still causing any issues or glitches or reboots? I lso heard that for Zui14 one can download APK where you can switch to PC mode manually, wander if you tried that app and what are your thoughts?
nebo0919 said:
Thank you so much for such extensive review. Are you still using this tablet? Is zui14 latest version still causing any issues or glitches or reboots? I lso heard that for Zui14 one can download APK where you can switch to PC mode manually, wander if you tried that app and what are your thoughts?
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Yes just search in this forum zui PC mode switcher. It work fine but I don't use PC mode on a small tablet like this.
I don't have any issue with latest zui 14 doing office work and watching movie
Mrxyzl said:
Yes just search in this forum zui PC mode switcher. It work fine but I don't use PC mode on a small tablet like this.
I don't have any issue with latest zui 14 doing office work and watching movie
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Can you confirm that pc mode switcher on zui14 actually turns on pc mode on tablet without it being connected to external monitor, like it was on zui13? Or perhaps I misunderstood something?
nebo0919 said:
Can you confirm that pc mode switcher on zui14 actually turns on pc mode on tablet without it being connected to external monitor, like it was on zui13? Or perhaps I misunderstood something?
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Yes I confirmed it work
Has anyone managed to find or enable the GPU Panel which was on the Legion App in Zui13, but is missing on the new Legion Zone App on Zui14.
Here's a screenshot from youtuber ETA Prime of how it looked like on ZUI13.