One of my favorite Android tablets was the original Nexus 7 (I also loved the second-gen model that launched a year later). Google’s 7-inch Android tablets were well-made, had capable specs, and were unbelievably affordable. Both models were critically acclaimed and set a new standard for powerful, compact tablets that weren’t outrageously expensive.
Unfortunately, we haven’t had anything quite like the Nexus 7 for well over a decade. Small Android tablets still exist, but they’re often budget-focused models with far too many compromises. If you want a properly capable and compact tablet, you need to buy an iPad mini. At least you used to.
At CES 2025, Lenovo announced the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3. It’s a small(ish) Andriod tablet with quality hardware, good specs, and a competitive price. I got to use the Legion Tab ahead of its release, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it again.
All the makings of a great compact tablet
The Legion Pad Gen 3 makes a good first impression right out of the gate. The aluminum body feels really well-made and cool to the touch. It’s also surprisingly lightweight at just 350 grams — not that much heavier than the 232-gram Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. And because the weight is spread out over a larger body, the Legion Pad feels even lighter than expected. It’s also incredibly thin at 7.79mm, making it thinner than phones like the S24 Ultra and the Google Pixel 9 Pro.
And even though the Legion Tab is technically a “gamer” tablet and part of Lenovo’s gaming-focus Legion sub-brand, it doesn’t look like some other cliché gamer-focused devices. Besides the Legion logo on the back, the Legion Tab Gen 3 looks like any other Android tablet. If anything, it’s a bit basic with its ultra-sleek black paint job. There are no RGB lights or anything else that screams, “I’M A TABLET FOR GAMERS.” It’s clean, classy hardware, and I quite like it.
The 8.8-inch display is a highlight, too. Specs-wise, it has a 2560 x 1600 resolution with a 165Hz refresh rate. It’s bright, colorful, and very responsive. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip inside paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. While I didn’t have a chance to play any hardcore games or put it through intense multitasking sessions, the Legion Tab was fast and snappy at opening apps and scrolling through various settings pages. That’s certainly not enough to evaluate its full performance capabilities, but it made a good first impression, and the tablet should be more than powerful for watching movies, web browsing, and virtually any game you throw at it.
Is the Legion Tab just for gamers?
As this device is marketed as a “Legion” tablet, it’s clear that Lenovo is pushing the Legion Tab Gen 3 directly at gamers. To Lenovo’s credit, some gamer-specific extra features and specs are included. However, they don’t necessarily mean that the Legion Tab Gen 3 is only for gamers.
For example, the Legion Tab has a vapor chamber that’s designed to keep the tablet cool and performant during long gaming sessions. That’s obviously very helpful for gamers, but it’s also something everyone can benefit from. There are also two USB-C passthrough ports — ideal if you want to charge the Legion Tab while also connecting it to a monitor so you have a larger screen for your games. Useful for gamers? Certainly! A convenience feature that non-gamers can take advantage of? Absolutely.
Lenovo also announced some gaming software features coming to the Legion Tab later in the first quarter of 2025, including an AI-powered gaming coach and AI editing tools to edit highlights/clips from a gaming stream. Those are a bit more niche, but they should be easy enough to ignore if you aren’t interested in them.
The small Android tablet we’ve been waiting for
Although the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 may not fully recapture the magic of those old Nexus 7 tablets, I thought about them more with the Legion Tab than with any other Android tablet in recent memory. Between the well-built hardware, quality display, compact body, and capable specs, there’s a lot to like. And with a price of just $500, it’s got the value proposition right, too.
Will the Legion Tab Gen 3 see wild success like the Nexus 7 did, or like what the iPad mini enjoys today? That’s still up in the air. But, at least from my perspective, I think I’m sold.
