Lenovo Smart Tab M10 Plus, 10.3″ Android Tablet, Alexa-Enabled Smart Device, Octa-Core Processor, 128GB Storage, 4GB RAM, Plantinum Grey, ZA6M0017US, Silver

After anxiously awaiting this tablet’s arrival for the past 10 days, I set it all up only to find that you can’t make it part of your Alexa speaker group. I wanted this to replace my echo dot in the kitchen, and now I’ll need to have an Alexa speaker next to an Alexa speaker just to hear music. That makes no sense at all and seems more than a tad redundant. Lenovo says that it’s up to Amazon to fix this, so don’t go passing the buck. It either is Alexa enabled or it isn’t, none of this halfway nonsense. Apparently, even though it is a Google device, it also won’t pair with Google speaker groups, lol. I like my technology to play well with others, and this does not cut it.

I have also since found out that it cannot tell you or show you what is on your lists. It will only say how many items you have on your list.

It does not turn the tablet fully into a Show. It’s a very limited version of Alexa. I’m only keeping it because I needed a tablet. I did speak to Amazon about it, and they are asking the developers to at least see if the “list” feature can be fixed. The adding it to groups feature will never work because it’s an app, and she won’t recognize it as a device.

Looks great, sounds pretty good, nice battery life, but it’s not quite what I expected.

Setup right out of the box is nothing but update after update. It probably took me about 2 hours before I could fully use it between the tablet updating from Pie to Q, the dock itself updating, and all of Google’s apps… Took a while but worked out.

This is a beautiful display. Shame about that Widevine DRM, though. No HD Disney+, Netflix, or Vudu here. No sir/ma’am. BUT… HBOMax, Prime Video, Movies Anywhere, Google TV/Play Movies & TV, and YouTube (if your digital collection is connected to Movies Anywhere) will all play in 1080p without a hitch. In fact, it’ll jump to 1080p in seconds, with little to no buffering.

Overall speed of the tablet is silky smooth. I recommend turning on Developer Options and disabling animations. (You honestly don’t need them on any Android device, they’re just a needless pretty thing that eats up performance.)

The dock is impressive in its feature set, even if the sound is just okay. It’s a Bluetooth speaker, it’s a speakerphone, it’s a charging cradle/Alexa Show display, and it does all of these things well. There are two, not four (some listings will say this incorrectly) 3w speakers in it. The rest of the body is housing for the logic board and the hollowness (doesn’t feel that way) gives it a passive radiator-like feel to the sound. (It’s room-filling sound, btw.)

This brings us back to the sound (overall) and I have to say it’s…okay. Either in the dock (which sounds leaps and bounds better than the tablet speakers, of course.) or the speakers in the tablet, even with Dolby Atmos baked in (controllable via app). I will say the sound separation on the tablet is much better than that of the dock. If nothing else, you’ll at least get a basic Atmos experience out of it. (It’s better than no Atmos at all!) You can’t use all four speakers at once, unfortunately. Believe me, I tried. lol

I’d say the specs are on par with Amazon’s own Fire HD tablets, and the only thing they’re really missing is the Lenovo dock. (I mean, they have Atmos baked in, a gorgeous screen, dual speakers (for channel separation), and they have proper Widevine DRM which makes a world of difference on a screen this size and quality. Although, this has one thing the Fire doesn’t (aside from the dock) …the full Dolby Atmos version of Amazon Music Unlimited in the app. The Fire has a custom version installed like bloatware that only offers Ultra HD and 3D and not all the time. (And yes, there’s an audible difference.)

Do I recommend this? Well, if you’re into Alexa, want a lovely dock/Show Mode device, and are okay with jumping through hoops to get your videos in 1080p, with okay Atmos, then yes. If you’re willing to skip the dock and you’re fine with Ultra HD/3D instead of Atmos, then you should save the money and go wth the Fire HD 10 Plus. (Yes, it’s absolutely worth the extra money with 4GB of RAM in it.)

I think this tablet had a lot of promise, I think the Widevine issue was a bad case of dropping the ball just before the goal. So close, yet so far. Still…a very nice Lenovo tablet, pretty all the way around.

This is my 3rd Lenovo Alexa pad. I have 2 in my home and 1 at my country house. I am a big Alexa enthusiast and use it for everything. This Lenovo pad I have in my kitchen so when I need to watch tv I connect to my cable provider app and voila I have a small tv while I work on the counter. I also have taken the pad out of the speaker base and used as a pad and have taken it with me to a friends house. I connected to my hotspot and again I had my Alexa w me. FYI this pad does NOT work w an Alexa group and the other Alexas you may have in your home if you play music. ( I have about 5 Alexas connected as a group for music throughout the house ). That is the only downside to the pad but then again that is an amazon choice of been proprietary with their own Alexa products. As a standalone pad with Alexa this one is just superb. I have it scrolling beautiful images. Highly recommend it.