Is Lenovo’s new tablet a smart speaker with an attached display or a tablet with an integrated sound grill? Why not both? In the end, all you need to know is that the Lenovo Tab Plus Gen 2 finally lets you use its supposedly “room-filling” sound system with any other Bluetooth-connected device you own.
Lenovo’s $400 Tab Plus Gen 2 promises to bring the noise with a 9-unit speaker system developed by JBL. The original Lenovo Tab Plus that first launched in 2024 features side-firing speakers built into a hump behind the tablet. Sure, the audio quality was good enough that you wouldn’t immediately reach for a pair of headphones, but it didn’t change how you may use a small-scale Android tablet. The speakers promise to have enough oomph to fill your room with sound and also support Dolby Atmos for an ad hoc spatial audio experience. What’s easily the most unique feature of this thicker-than-normal tablet is the Bluetooth mode that turns the Tab Plus Gen 2 into a wireless speaker. That speaker is accessible by any other Bluetooth-connected device through the the Table Plus Gen 2’s novel Bluetooth mode. © Lenovo It’s the kind of “duh” feature that just makes sense if you’re going to stick high-end speakers onto a relatively small 12.1-inch screen. Compared to some other tablets with OLED displays, the Lenovo Tab Plus Gen 2 sports an IPS LCD screen that hits a max brightness of 800 nits in HDR. It also packs a surprising 120Hz refresh rate, though we’d be curious to learn how capable this device is for gaming to make use of those higher refresh rates.
