Lenovo Tab P12 Pro review: a versatile 12.6-inch Android tablet

Want a big-screened tablet to use for work and play? This Lenovo Tab P12 Pro review is a good place to start. 

An Android slate with a 12.6-inch display, it only weighs 565g and quite easily matches up to the best tablets you can buy in all of the key scoring areas. That includes its display, performance and battery although you might find its camera system a little disappointing and the stylus isn't as accurate as you can get elsewhere. 

In this Lenovo Tab P12 Pro review, you’ll be able to find out everything you need to know about this premium tablet to figure out if it's the right choice for you, or not. 

Lenovo Tab P12 Pro review: price and what’s new 

You can buy the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro directly from the Lenovo store starting from $700 in the US and £750 in the UK. Take a look at the widgets on this page to find out where else you can buy the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro in your region and our Lenovo discount codes page to help lower the cost.

The Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is quite different to its predecessor, the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro. The biggest change is the screen which is now a 12.6-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 600 nits peak brightness, upgraded from an 11.5-inch OLED with only a 60Hz refresh rate and 500nits peak brightness. 

You’ll also get an improved processor, that being the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro had a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730GB CPU with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage so you can expect the newer model to be much more powerful than what came before it. 

This time around there’s also a bigger 10,200mAh battery so you should get more use out of it before it needs to be plugged in, and when you do, the Tab P12 Pro also supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0. 

Another change is in the operating system, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro uses Android 11 and above, as opposed to Android 10 in the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro. 

Lenovo Tab P12 Pro review: design and display 

A slim, sleek slate with a stunning blasted metal finish across the back and around the frame, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro looks like a premium device. It measures 5.63 x 285.61 x 184.53mm and weighs about 565g so, even despite the big 12.6-inch screen, it doesn’t feel like a burden to slip into your bag. My only issue with the design is that it picks up stubborn fingerprint marks and they don't rub away very easily.

Surrounding the screen are thin black bezels, one of which houses the 8MP camera and ToF sensors, meanwhile, a two-lens camera notch sits on the back of the tablet next to a magnetic wireless charging point for the stylus. Unlike other tablets, you won’t get a 3.5mm headphone jack so you’ll need to use Bluetooth buds or an adaptor if you were to buy this. 

Unlock the display is simple and secure. You get the choice of facial recognition or a fingerprint scanner hidden inside the power button. Whichever you choose, they work quickly and efficiently each and every time. 

You get a lot for your money because, in the box, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro comes with a charging adapter, a 1.5m USB-C charging cable, a USB-C to 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter and the Lenovo Precision Pen 3. You can also snap on a 2-in-1 keyboard but you will have to buy that separately.

The Lenovo Tab P12 Pro has a 12.6-inch 2K (2560 x 1600p) AMOLED screen with a peak brightness of up to 600 nits, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support. Long story short, it looks great and easily competes with other similarly priced slates. Big enough to work on but small enough to be portable this feels like a very versatile piece of kit. 

Sharp and colourful, the screen is just as good for streaming Netflix as it is for scrolling social media or firing off emails. I would have liked it to go a touch brighter but you can’t have it all. 

One huge improvement here versus its predecessor is the 120Hz refresh rate which opens up doors for what this tablet can be used for, notably mobile gaming, but it’ll make all scrolls and swipes across the whole system feel seriously smooth. 

Lenovo Tab P12 Pro review: performance and battery

Packing in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor with the Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro isn't the most powerful slate in town but it’s not lacking in that area either. The model I tested had 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage but you can buy it in other configurations if you’re looking to keep the price down, and it's worth knowing that the onboard memory can be expanded using a MicroSD card slot. 

Using the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro was dead easy, it’s fast and efficient, opening up apps in seconds and coping well when you flick through a series of open windows. On the Geekbench 5 benchmarking test, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro picked up scores of 950 in single-core and 3009 in multi-core, which isn't actually far off some of the most powerful Android tablets in the world like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra. 

As you’d expect, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro supports both Wi-Fi 6 and it has a 5G SIM slot so you’ll get the fastest possible internet speeds whether you’re at home or working on the go. 

I was largely impressed at how long the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro lasted, and no wonder given the fact that it boasts a huge 10,200mAh battery. Lenovo claims it will last up to 17 hours of video or up to 10 hours of web browsing and while that may be a bit of a stretch, it’s not miles off. 

To test it out, I ran a video on full brightness for two hours, in that time the battery level dropped by 18% suggesting it would have lasted over 11 hours in total. Charging it back up again took about an hour and a half which is pretty good for a tablet. 

Running on Android 11, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is well set up for all sorts of tasks be those work-related or for leisure. It comes with all of the Google apps pre-installed including Gmail and Google Drive as well as a couple of other essentials like Netflix and Microsoft Office. 

The only major downfall of it is that it’s not as well suited to creative work as iOS, for example, because the selection of sketching and editing apps is a lot better on Apple devices and they tend to be a touch more precise as well. 

You can use the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro as a wireless second screen for your laptop which makes it a great office companion and it also comes with the Lenovo Precision Pen 3 for quick note-taking and sketching. 

I found the stylus worked quite well, it was responsive and when I applied different levels of pressure it successfully gave me different weights. But it did lack the fine tip and level of precision that you get from some of the best creativity tablets, like the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6. 

Lenovo Tab P12 Pro review: cameras and speakers  

When it comes to the cameras, you don’t ever really expect much from a tablet. The Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is pretty ordinary in that sense. You’ll be perfectly fine using its 8MP front camera for video calls but you won’t be snapping your next social media selfie on it. 

The rear setup on the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is made up of a 13MP autofocus camera and a 5MP wide-angle lens. The pictures I took on it weren't awful but they weren't award-winning either. They have a decent level of detail but the colours are a little dark and dull. 

Four JBL speakers take charge of the audio, and they have Dolby Atmos surround sound as well. They're surprisingly powerful for tablet speakers offering a much more effective surround sound experience than a lot of other slates I've tried out. 

Lenovo Tab P12 Pro review: verdict 

The Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is a versatile, premium tablet that will be great for working on during the day and chilling out with in the evening - that’s partly due to the big 12.6-inch AMOLED screen, and partly down to its performance because it will be able to cope with anything you could throw at it. 

The huge battery means that this will last if you need to use it when you’re out and about, or to entertain you during long journeys. Plus, it will charge back up again very quickly. 

To play devil's advocate, this tablet isn't completely perfect because the camera system leaves a lot to be desired and if you plan to use it for tablet art or sketching then the stylus might not be precise enough, but those points won’t be dealbreakers for most people.

You do get plenty of bang for your buck because while the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro is expensive, it's not as expensive as other tablets with similar screen sizes. I think it's well worth considering! 

Lenovo Tab P12 Pro review: also consider  

If you need a tablet with a big screen to use for work, then you might be better off buying the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, a windows tablet that can be transformed into a PC. It is more expensive and quite a bit heavier than the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro but it’ll do a better job of coping with hefty workloads. 

Creative people should consider the Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch, it’s very pricey but it’ll be the best choice for you if you need a tablet for photo editing, sketching, graphic design or even video editing. The mini-LED HDR display is an absolute beauty and it’s incredibly accurate too. Pair that with its powerful performance and a broad choice of apps, and you’re onto a winner.