I purchased a Lenovo Legion Tab Y700.
High performance with 8.8″ screen
A number of high-end Android tablets have been introduced by various companies since 2021, but all of them have been 10 inches or larger.
Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 is small with an 8.8-inch display, but it comes with Snapdragon 870, LPDDR5 memory + UFS 3.1 storage, and JBL stereo speakers.
It also has a 3.5mm earphone jack, which is now rare in the high-end class, a microSD card slot, and a USB Type-C port with USB 3.1 Gen2 with video output support.
This review is done with the 13.0.586 ST version, 12GB+256GB version.
- 8.8″, 120Hz refresh rate support
- High performance with Snapdragon 870 + VC
- JBL stereo speakers
- 6550mAh battery with 45W fast charge support
- Supports bypass charging to prevent battery damage
- MicroSD card & 3.5mm earphone jack support
- No fingerprint sensor
- LCD display
- No GPS support
| Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 TB-9707F | |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 11 |
| RAM | 12GB LPDDR5 |
| Storage | 256GB UFS 3.1 microSD card supported |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 |
| Display | 8.8″ 2560 × 1600（WQXGA） 120Hz LCD |
| Size | 207 x 128 x 7.9 mm |
| Weight | 375g |
| SIM | — |
| Rear Camera | 13MP (OmniVision ov13b10) |
| Front Camera | 8MP |
| Battery | 6550mAh |
| USB Port | USB Type-C (USB3.1 Gen 2) |
Index
- 1 High performance with 8.8″ screen
- 2 Equipped with 8.8″ LCD display
- 3 Back is a little easy to see fingerprints
- 4 USB Type-C port for high-speed data transfer
- 5 JBL stereo speakers & 3.5mm earphone jack
- 6 A game switches to display CPU and FPS
- 7 GPS not supported
- 8 High enough performance to play the highest quality Genshin at average of 57 fps
- 9 GMS supported
- 10 Bootloader Unlockable
- 11 Conclusion
Included is a USB Type-C cable, charger, and instructions.
Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 has only one model, but for some reason the manual clearly states that it is a Wi-Fi model so that it can be distinguished, and the support page also lists another model number, TB-9707N.
The model with an “N” is the LTE model, so there may be plans to add it in the future.
“Lenovo Tab P8” appears when connecting to a PC with the pre-installed firmware, and Lenovo Tab P8 is mentioned in the search field on the support page, so it appears that there are plans to release a global version as part of the Lenovo Tab P series rather than the gaming brand.
The included charger has one USB Type-C port and one USB Type-A port, allowing charging of items other than Lenovo Legion Tab Y700.
The USB Type-C port has Lenovo’s own output of 10/5A = 50W.
It is described as if PDO had 10/5A, but in fact it was only supported as part of the PPS 3.3 – 11V / 5A.
Equipped with 8.8″ LCD display
The Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 has an 8.8-inch 2560 × 1600 resolution display.
Unfortunately, it is LCD rather than AMOLED, but it is vivid and viewing angles are fine.
The average touch latency measured by the touch latency measurement app was 89.4 ms.
It weighs 376.2g.
Basically, it is better to hold it with both hands, but it is not impossible to hold it with one hand.
Refresh rate can be selected from 120Hz and 60Hz.
Widevine L1 allows streaming in HD quality on Amazon Prime Video (beta) and others.
Back is a little easy to see fingerprints
The back seems to be processed to be somewhat fingerprint resistant, but fingerprint smudges are easily visible due to light reflection.
The camera sticks out a little.
Since the step is small, there is little rattling when placed on a desk.
It is difficult to focus on the object in the foreground.
It can be used only for note-taking.
The front camera has a feature called “Global Video Beauty” that allows background blurring and background change in any application.
The contour detection was quite accurate.
USB Type-C port for high-speed data transfer
The right side of Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 features a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port.
Xiaomi, OPPO, and others tend to cut costs with USB 2.0 ports, but Lenovo has done a great job of thinking about wired data transfer.
Video output with DisplayPort Alt Mode is also supported.
However, as of the 13.0.586 ST version, the resolution is very low and the aspect ratio is not correct, making it unusable for now.
In addition to mirroring, there is also a mode that can be used like a PC.
In PC mode, Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 can be used as a touchpad.
PPS-compatible chargers other than the included charger can also be used for fast charging.
The battery is charged at a maximum of 45W, usually around 30W, and drops to around 26W when the battery is over 80% charged.
The maximum temperature during charging is only about 29℃.
You can also choose Battery Protection Mode, which maintains battery life at 40-60% to extend battery life.
JBL stereo speakers & 3.5mm earphone jack
The Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 has stereo speakers in symmetrical positions.
Bass is strong and treble is audible.
The highs had a three-dimensional effect, as if they were sounding a bit far away.
The frequency response measured with the miniDSP UMIK-1 from a distance of about 30 cm, surrounded by sound-absorbing mats, is shown below.
There is also a 3.5mm earphone jack, so you can enjoy low-delay audio with wired earphones.
Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision are also supported.
There is a microSD card slot on the underside for additional capacity, but there is no packing, and not much waterproofing seems to have been considered.
A game switches to display CPU and FPS
On the top of Lenovo Legion Tab Y700, in addition to the power and volume buttons, there is a game switch for overlay display of CPU usage and FPS.
The position of the overlay display can be changed as desired.
It is convenient to know the FPS and temperature at a glance…but it would have been better to have a fingerprint sensor for this cost for physical button.
Unlocking can be done by pattern or PIN code, as well as facial recognition.
GPS not supported
Unfortunately Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 is not equipped with GPS.
It can acquire location information via WI-Fi and Bluetooth scanning, but it is not good for car navigation purposes.
This is critical for Pokemon GO players, but since location-based games, including Pokemon GO, are strictly regulated in China, Lenovo may have decided that GPS is unnecessary for gaming tablet.
Unlike the Lenovo Yoga Tab 13, which is mainly for stationary use, the 8.8-inch screen makes it easy to carry around so I think they should have thought about people using it outdoors as a navigation device.
High enough performance to play the highest quality Genshin at average of 57 fps
Although the maximum performance of Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 is lower than the latest SoC, it can maintain high performance for a long time thanks to its powerful heat dissipation design with a total heat dissipation area of 45357.7 m㎡ and a vapor chamber heat dissipation plate of 8500 m㎡.
In the 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, the score was 4258, with a temperature increase from 21°C to 30°C (9°C increase) and 16 to 31 FPS.
The temperature did not increase much, and the stability level was 99%, which is quite stable.
PCMark Work 3.0, which measures performance in everyday use such as document manipulation, scored 13321.
This score exceeds even the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 smartphone like Xiaomi 12 and realme GT 2 Pro.
In Geekbench 5, it is 961 single-core and 3095 multi-core.
Storage is fast there.
Running Genshin Impact at the highest quality and 60 FPS setting and measuring with WeTest PerfDog, the average was 57.4 FPS.
The number of “junk” that causes the display to momentarily break up was quite low at 14, which not only resulted in a high frame rate, but also in a good smoothness of experience.
No matter how high the frame rate is, if there is a lot of junk, the display will be choppy, so Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 with a high frame rate and little junk is excellent.
The battery temperature was comfortable, rising only to a maximum of about 34.9°C.
GMS supported
The Google Play Store is not installed, but you can use it by finding and installing an APK from APKMirror or other sources.
Although the background kill is not that strong, you have to open Apps management→Special app access→Battery optimization to a deeper level to turn off optimization.
In the display settings, you can activate a gesture to turn on the screen with a double tap.
There are also features such as Smart Split and Freeform that make effective use of the wide screen.
However, Smart Split is not very useful since it is only supported by some of the Chinese applications.
Although there is a feature that enhances the vibrations, called semi-real vibrations, only three Chinese versions of the game are supported.
Although the peripheral mode, which allows you to use a mouse, keyboard, etc., is officially supported only for Chinese versions of games, but you can add your own applications to enable it.
There is also an interesting feature that allows you to change the aspect ratio to widen the field of view and display messages in a barrage style, but again, this is only available for Chinese versions of games such as League of Legends.
In game mode, the GPU can be tuned to prioritize image quality or performance.
Bypass charging is also available to power the battery without recharging it.
This is great because it allows us to play without worrying about battery level and heat generation.
Bootloader Unlockable
You can Bootloader Unlock by applying to Lenovo in addition to turning on OEM Unlocking.
Even after Bootloader Unlock, the Widevine L1 is still available.
To apply Bootloader Unlocking, open this page and enter S/N in the Lenovo平板 → 序列号, enter your e-mail and image verification, check the Terms of Use, and press “提交申请”.
Please note that the serial number will not be recognized until a while after connecting tablet to Wi-Fi, so if you get an error, please wait half a day and try again.
Download sn.img from the link in the email you received and run fastboot flash unlock sn.img and fastboot oem unlock-go to Bootloader Unlock.
TB-9707F_CN_OPEN_USER_13.0.586_ST_220222 (Slot B) image can be downloaded here.
Conclusion
- 8.8″, 120Hz refresh rate support
- High performance with Snapdragon 870 + VC
- JBL stereo speakers
- 6550mAh battery with 45W fast charge support
- Supports bypass charging to prevent battery damage
- MicroSD card & 3.5mm earphone jack support
- No fingerprint sensor
- LCD display
- No GPS support
Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 is a rare 8.8″ high-end tablet that helps keep games running smooth for long periods of time thanks to its high heat dissipation.
It also has a number of gamer-friendly features, such as bypass charging that reduces the impact on battery life and an earphone jack that allows low-latency wired earphones to be used without the need for conversion adapters.
The 8.8-inch size alone is enough to make Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 the world’s best tablet in the 8-inch range so far, with its actual performance and functionality also outstanding.
The Lenovo Legion Tab Y700 is available for 2799CNY and up.