The fresh and more nimble Lenovo IdeaTab A3000-H tablet was a replacement for the not-so-successful A1000 generation model. The gadget looks very attractive due to its characteristics and, naturally, the price segment.
So, the hero of today's review is the Lenovo IdeaTab A3000 tablet. The characteristics, design, management, advantages and disadvantages of the device will be discussed in detail in the article. The opinions of specialists will be taken into account, along with the reviews of ordinary gadget owners.
Design
By its appearance, the tablet is very similar to the predecessor A1000, but the new model is slightly different from the old series, and for the better.
The design of the device has a pleasant shape, but does not pretend to be unique or at least to some difference from similar tablets of other brands. The back panel has a rough texture, so the gadget should not slip out of the hands.
The cover of the IdeaTab Lenovo A3000 is removable, and under it we will see a micro-SD memory card slot, two places for SIM cards and a battery. At first glance, everything seems to be fine, but only the battery is secured with countersunk bolts and sealed with a warranty seal. This move caused a storm of emotions in the reviews of the owners of the tablet, who were immediately accustomed to changing small-capacity batteries to more powerful ones. And in our case, you can’t do anything without losing your warranty.
As for the dimensions of the IdeaTab Lenovo A3000, they are standardized for the 7-inch form factor - 194x120x11 mm and weighs 340 grams.
The tablet bundle is extremely scarce even for this segment. All that we will see in the box is the device itself, a charger (very convenient) and a short manual. Alas, there are no covers, headsets, adapters, etc. The warranty period also has the usual dating - 12 months.
Interfaces
The Lenovo IdeaTab A3000 tablet has on its board 16 GB of internal memory, of which about 13 GB is provided to the user, the rest is reserved for system files and other needs of the gadget. Fortunately, you can expand the volume using the "omnivorous" micro-SD port, so there should not be any problems with free space.
To synchronize with a computer and charge the battery, a standard micro-USB port of type 2.0 is used (you can meet 3.0 only in the business segment of devices). But the gadget has a unique feature for this type of device - the presence of two built-in adapters for the cellular network, both of which easily support the UMTS standard.
Nevertheless, access to the Internet is carried out only with one SIM card specified by the user, while the other will receive calls and send SMS. Home craftsmen were able to overcome this barrier by writing special software for Lenovo IdeaTab A3000-H (firmware A3000 / A421 / kupyxa4444 / & / STUDENT3500 / v1.4 / final), but you can install it, of course, only at your own peril and risk.
Wireless protocols
The gadget feels great in Wi-Fi networks using 802.11 b / g / n protocols. The only thing worth noting is ignoring 3G networks while working with WiFi. It will also be useful to mention the radius of action: the quality of reception and transmission decreases noticeably if you move more than 10 meters from the router. User reviews are full of indignation about this: it seems that the connection is good, but if you move to the next room, the signal noticeably worsens. To transmit data over short distances, you can use the fourth-generation wireless bluetooth.
Also, Lenovo IdeaTab A3000-H has GPS protocols, and navigation is surprisingly quick. The accuracy of the testimony fluctuated within reasonable limits even under adverse conditions (rain and block room).
Control
The standard power and volume control buttons on the device work as they should and are pressed without any additional effort. In addition to the standard micro-USB port, you can see the familiar audio jack for using a headset or just headphones (3.5 mm). The sound quality at the output is quite acceptable and does not cause serious complaints.
IdeaTab Lenovo A3000 is equipped with a good touch screen that does an excellent job with basic tasks, but slightly "dulls" with advanced functionality. There are no problems with sensitivity as such - the response is almost instantaneous, but the gyroscope could function faster: horizontal and vertical orientation has too much delay (2-3 seconds), and there are no settings for this parameter.
IdeaTab Lenovo A3000 understands standard multi-touch gestures well and supports up to five simultaneous touches. Some owners complain about outdated gestures in their reviews, setting “Samsung” and “Asus” as an example, but Lenovo does not want to switch to advanced multi-touch control.
Camera
The device is equipped with a front camera 0.3 MP slightly higher than the display, as well as a rear camera 5 MP. You can take pictures from both eyes, and they practically do not differ in quality from each other - only in resolution.
Immediately it is worth noting that cameras are not the strongest side of the device. Even with perfect lighting, the vast majority of photos turn out to be blurry and illuminated with some kind of white haze (distorted shutter speed), and indeed all the pictures come out with defects. To get at least one more or less normal frame, you need to take at least three to four pictures. Responses of owners, of course, are filled with phrases of indignation about this, but still you need to understand that you have a tablet in your hands, moreover, a budget one, and not a camera.
Display
It is not often on the mobile gadget market that you can see devices with high-quality screens that support IPS technology. The vast majority of manufacturers in the budget segment use matrices such as TN, which significantly reduces the cost of the device.
Lenovo IdeaTab A3000 (price 6-7 thousand rubles) just refers to those devices on which the greed of the company has not affected. The tablet has received a pretty good IPS-matrix.
Nevertheless, the developer made a blunder even where it should not have been. For a seven-inch diagonal, a resolution of 1024 by 600 pixels is extremely small. Even the five-inch smartphones of the budget segment, albeit in the minority, have an expansion in 1920 by 1080 pixels, which means that all the charms of FullHD technology are available to them. In their reviews, the owners repeatedly mentioned this gross defect of Lenovo, citing the similar gadget Nexus 7 as an example.
The backlight has a very good performance of 362.2 cd / m2. The contrast level can be compared with the result of most analogues - 812 to 1. All the information on the display is easy to read, and not only indoors, but in intense sunlight. Viewing angles are also pleasing, which means you can look through photos or watch movies in the company of friends.
Performance
The four-core Mediatek MT8389 series processor operating on a 28-nanometer process technology is responsible for the performance of the gadget. Each core has a clock frequency of 1.2 GHz, which is pretty good. The PowerVR video chip is responsible for the graphic component - add here 1 GB of RAM and get a typical tablet for its segment.
Lenovo IdeaTab A3000 (factory firmware) on bench tests showed quite acceptable performance results, and for all benchmarks kept average values for such devices. The only thing that significantly provokes a performance failure is the device’s flash card, which is clearly slower than all competitors in this price segment.
In general, with the performance of the model, everything is fine. Only the Nexus 7, which costs exactly the same as the A3000, outperforms the gadget in some respects.
Sound
The device is equipped with a very good speaker system, and the sound is quite acceptable in terms of quality. Low frequencies, of course, are practically inaudible, but high and medium sounds more or less naturally.
What pleased the model is the volume. Even if you set the sound level to half the maximum, the speaker system will easily drown out the 100% volume of other similar devices. True, you should not get carried away with this, because at 80% or higher, the sound begins to turn into a cacophony. But this volume level is clearly excessive, even if you use the tablet on the street.
Offline work
Without any special load (viewing photos, reading books) the gadget will work for about 10 hours. If you use wireless protocols and access the Internet, then the battery will last for about 7 hours or less. Maximum power consumption (video, web surfing, games) will put the battery in 3-4 hours.
The battery life of the device, in principle, is satisfactory and comparable to similar gadgets of this price segment - nothing supernatural and outstanding, but you can work calmly, as they say, without a lace.
Summarizing
Still, 6-7 thousand rubles for a tablet with such characteristics is a bit much. Of course, the gadget has many advantages and few disadvantages, but if you look at more attractive offers in terms of price, you can see almost identical Oysters T7D 3G, which costs a third less.
Even if you choose specifically from this price category, the same "Nexus" 7 looks much more attractive with its high-resolution screen and excellent battery life.
If the model cost at least one thousand cheaper, then such shortcomings as the lack of FullHD and extremely poor completeness could be forgiven, but at the moment the device has too unbalanced price-quality ratio.