The Lenovo A series carries a set of affordable tablets. They aren’t always packed with the best of features, but are designed for casual use. We had reviewed the A7-50 a couple of months back and liked the product for its price. Now, there is new generation model we’re taking a look at, called the A8-50. Lenovo has made a few design changes, but the build still seems to be the same. The hardware still seems to be a little on the mediocre side but one feature we’re excited to see is the support for 4G LTE with the calling feature. At the price of Rs, 14,000*, it certainly gives the A8-50 an edge over its similarly priced counter parts. Let’s find out if it’s really worth it.
Design and build
Compared to the curved designs of the older model, the new A8-50 tablet has a simple blockish design. The Tab 2 A8-50, like the last model has an 8-inch screen. When compared side-by-side, it looks a bit smaller, all thanks to the thinner bezel. This makes it a lot easier to hold the tablet while making phone calls or undertaking other one hand operations. Its 9mm slim profile and low weight of 330g also make it portable and easier to work with.
The design change hasn’t worked all that well. When using the tablet horizontally, it’s a little difficult to move your thumbs around the screen. If you have small hands, then long typing sessions will be a little
difficult. The same goes for gaming.
At the front you’ll also see same two speakers like the ones on the older A8-50. The Lenovo tag has been shifted below the screen. There’s a glossy glass finish. It’s too reflective in bright lighting conditions. It also makes the tablet look a bit cheap.
At the back is the polycarbonate shell. It feels extremely solid. There is no texture on it but it still provides a comfortable grip. The matte finish is available in four colours. As opposed to the last variant, Lenovo has chosen much classy looking colours with this variant.
The button are placed on the right side. They have designed to be thinner because of the design. It’s a little tricky to access them when you’re holding the tablet in one hand. You have to adjust your hand a little bit. The feedback isn’t much, but it is prominent. The microUSB port and the 3.5 jack are placed at the top. Overall, the tablet is designed very well. It has nicely cut corners. It’s better and sturdier than most tablets we’ve seen in that price range.
Features
The tablet runs on a MediaTek 8735 processor. It’s a 64-bit quad-core processor that is clocked at 1.3GHz. It leans a bit towards the lower side, but the processor is designed to perform well while consuming little battery. Its biggest highlight though is the LTE support. With good internet speeds, the tablet should serve very well for surfing content heavy, beautifully structured websites and watching HD videos on YouTube. Its media performance still remains under the question, but we’ll find out how it is a little later in our review. The tablet supports two micro SIMs.
Along with the portable design, the Tab 2 A8-50 might be good enough to replace your smartphone. Tagged along with the processor is 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, both good enough for the price. Out of 16GB you get approximately 12GB to your disposal. The expandable storage allows memory cards up to 32GB, which should be enough store HD movies and music. The 8-inch screen supports the standard resolution of 1280 x 800, with a pixel density of 184 ppi. It’s not the sharpest display you’ll see but the colours look good though. All the icons looked sharp and clear. It’s an IPS, so we can expect good viewing angles.
The rear 5MP AF (Auto-focus) camera sounds decent, but we’re a little disappointed about the missing flash. Clicking images at night is going to be a little tricky.
The camera app looks minimalistic, but there are many modes to play around with, including the basic ones we see today, like Beauty mode, Panorama and the Multi-angle view (360 degree shot). Lenovo has also added Live shot mode and a Motion track mode. The front camera only supports the Beauty mode though. You also get Smile detection and gesture control for clicking photos easily.
The tablet comes loaded with Android 5.0.2 (Lollipop) operating system. Lenovo has layered it with their launcher, but has still tried to keep the interface as close to the stock Android interface. The icons on the homescreen look a bit bigger. Besides the stock Google apps, there is Lenovo’s SHAREit and SYNCit app, both which are of good use. Packed on the inside is the 4,200 mAh battery that is said to last for up to 8 hours.
Performance
There were some issues we faced with the A8-50. For starters, the interface was very slow. Basic navigation around the interface was smooth. However, opening heavy apps took a lot of time. There was a lot of delay sometime while switching apps as well. The quad-core processor isn’t the best for multi-tasking, but basic apps seem to be running fine. Websites were loading quickly and even looked good on the 8-inch HD screen. Heavy games though ran surprisingly well. We were playing games like Brothers in Arms and Walking Dead for over more 30 minutes and besides the occasionally long loading time, we didn’t face any stuttering while playing the game. The polycarbonate shell does a good job of keeping the heat levels down.
The touch on the 8-inch screen isn’t very accurate. We noticed this while using the keyboard. Even with plenty of spacing, we found ourselves making a lot of mistakes. Often there was a delay as well. That’s also because the touchscreen isn’t very responsive. It requires a little more pressure to register touch on the screen. However, it’s worth mentioning that the tablet supports 10-point, multi-touch, which works out well once you get used to the touchscreen. It helps in playing games like Fruit Ninja. The HD screen produces vibrant colours, but it isn’t very sharp. HD movies don’t look very detailed. While watching action sequences we could see minor glitches happening in scenes. The brightness levels are also low and the as a result the screen looks a bit dull.
The audio quality however is great. Be it movies, music or games you’re playing on the tablet, the dual speakers are loud. They are also clear at high volumes. The Dolby app does make a lot of difference. With the feature enabled, music had a little more depth. Gaming experience is made a lot more immersive because of the speaker’s placement at the front.
Picture taken on the rear camera look blurry. The camera takes time to focus images, even with plenty of light around. Surprisingly, the camera is still very good for macro photography. Even the finer details look sharp and the clear. The rear camera though is only good for still images. The front camera also faces the same problem with the focusing. It’s not very clear and struggles to maintain the right exposure level. Even with decent lighting around, our selfies looked a bit washed out. However, we like the fact that there is no visible framing, which of course means clear video calls, under ideal lighting conditions.
Verdict
Most people buy tablets for a great media experience and the Tab 2 A8-50 is not the best at that. It falls behind mostly because of the poor screen quality and the slow interface. For the price of Rs. 14,000* though we think it’s not a very bad casual use. You can still enjoy games and HD videos without major glitches and the dual speakers just sound great. Above all, getting 4G support at an affordable price, which also compensates for its shortfalls.
