Much like what we've seen from televisions in recent years, tablets seem to be getting cheaper and cheaper every day. Amazon's Fire lineup of slates is obviously a shining example of how to keep prices low by focusing on reading and entertainment, while the Samsung Tab A-series has gotten more and more competitive on cost over the last few years. Lenovo is another entrant in this discussion, with the Tab M9 coming in at only $140 with respectable specs to go along with it. Unfortunately, this budget tablet isn’t worth the hassle, even for the price.

From the noticeably terrible performance to the brutally unresponsive display, the Lenovo Tab M9 was frustrating at its best, failing to make its mark among the company's ever-growing lineup of tablets . Yes, the display is easy on the eyes, and the dual stereo speakers provide a balanced audio experience for headphone-less viewers. But the slow load times and the malfunctioning features are enough to make a flagship user pull their hair out. Fortunately, I don’t have any.

Availability and pricing

Available all over, with some deals to boot

The cheapest version of the Lenovo Tab M9 comes in at only $140, which is certainly on the lower end of the spectrum for the tablet market in general. Still, it doesn’t undercut more affordable options like the Amazon Fire 7 or the Samsung Tab A7 Lite. With this version, you’ll get 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. You can also opt for 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage, which will cost you $150.

We've seen the Lenovo Tab M9 available from Lenovo's own store for as low as just $99 for the cheapest variant, though this discount isn't always available. Other than that, you can buy the budget tablet at Best Buy, Walmart, or Amazon, each of which occasionally offers its own deals.

Design & display

Budget tablet standard with some big ol bezels

Right out of the box, the Lenovo Tab M9 seems like a pretty standard budget tablet. The metal body is sturdy enough to not feel cheap, and the 9-inch display means the device is easily held in one hand, which makes it the obvious e-reader and entertainment hub it’s designed to be. At 0.31 inches thick, it’s not super thin, but simultaneously, it's not too much of a burden to hold onto for a while before getting uncomfortable. The textured pattern on the back is a nice touch, differentiating it, if only slightly, from other budget tablets on the market.

The Lenovo Tab M9 sports all the usual suspects around the edges, including a USB-C port and headphone jack on the bottom and volume controls and power button on the right (each when holding it vertically). You’ll also find two stereo speakers on the top and bottom of the device, which provide surprisingly balanced audio for a device at this price point.

The bezels are big; there’s no way around it. At nearly a half inch of space surrounding the screen, the Tab M9 comes in at a mediocre 78.1% screen-to-body ratio, which is pretty low for the industry. All four edges are the same size, though, so at least you’re getting uniformity when it comes to the largeness of the bezels. The display is a simple LCD with 800 x 1340 resolution, which isn’t going to impress anyone, but at this price point, it’s certainly no surprise.

The display on the Lenovo Tab M9 was definitely a disappointment. It doesn’t look terrible, with the size giving a bit of leeway and actually showing some instances of crisp detail while perusing Netflix and scrolling TikTok. The disappointment comes in its responsiveness, which proved time and time to be brutally slow. Opening apps, tapping buttons, and performing virtually any other action took multiple taps to get it right, sometimes requiring a full-on standby cycle to get it right. The poor performance is likely to be blamed here, but the display didn’t make it any easier.

Other hardware & what’s in the box

No fingerprint reader and a flimsy folio

At only $140, I certainly wasn’t expecting one, but the lack of a fingerprint reader is a bummer nonetheless. Fortunately, you can unlock the device with facial recognition, which was surprisingly responsive; I encountered no problems as of writing this review.

This particular Lenovo Tab M9 came with a folio case included, designed to protect the display and the device from any scraps and falls that might occur. While it does that with aplomb, the case wasn’t very comfortable, as its flimsy design made it hard to handle and even hard to set up for hands-free viewing.

The Lenovo Tab M9 comes with a charger, an always-pleasant surprise in 2023, but not entirely uncommon for tablets versus smartphones. The USB-C to USB-A cable and the accompanying charging brick means you’ll be able to charge right out of the box, although, at this point, who doesn’t have a way to charge a USB-C device?

Software & performance

The standard Android experience with just really not good performance

The Lenovo Tab M9 runs Android 12 out of the box, and although it can be updated to Android 13, I wouldn’t expect anything more than that. According to its website, Lenovo tablets “typically receive at least one Android OS upgrade cycle.” The interface is the standard Android layout, with none of the Lenovo bells and whistles like you’ll typically see with other slates in this price range. That said, you do get the Google TV page when you swipe right on the home screen for a comprehensive streaming experience, perfect for an entertainment-focused slate like this.

One notable benefit of the Lenovo Tab M9's software was Reading Mode, which dimmed the light and altered the coloring to replicate the experience of reading an actual book more effectively. Obviously, the experience pales compared to actual E Ink tablets like the reMarkable 2 , but reading is still more enjoyable than busting out the Kindle app on your smartphone.

While the software and interface are modern, the performance on the Lenovo Tab M9 could only be described as decidedly frustrating across the board. Even right out of the box, the budget tablet felt years old, lagging dramatically when I tried to open apps, enter multitasking mode, or even switch between portrait and landscape mode. There weren’t any significant problems while streaming shows and movies, but browsing for which ones to watch took the patience of a saint.

Even worse, some functionalities just wouldn’t work at times. While searching for Reading Mode, I went to the Settings menu and tried the search bar to speed up the process. Unfortunately, the keyboard simply never appeared on the display, leaving me switching between landscape and portrait in hopes of the system resetting and providing me an avenue to actually type something in. It came back later, but it was well after I discovered the Reading mode button in the quick settings menu.

These kinds of functionality mishaps kept happening on a variety of apps. For example, while attempting to access NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, the tablet simply refused to verify the location, a requirement to watch a game within the app. As far as I could find, there was no solution, no way around it, just a glitch in the performance of the budget tablet that made it unusable for watching out-of-market NFL games. What a shame.

Battery life & charging

A big battery with slow charging

This is an area in which the Lenovo Tab M9 excels, rocking a big ol’ 5,100 mAh battery that is actually a smidge bigger than many flagship smartphones. Unfortunately, the budget tablet doesn’t make great use of its battery, clearly consuming a lot of battery in idle mode, as it doesn’t typically last longer than a full day with standard usage. Lenovo claims it can last for 13 hours of video playback, and while we didn’t watch the first six Harry Potter movies in a row to test it, that estimate rang as true as I could test.

The big battery is a big downside for charging, as the Lenovo Tab M9 is limited to only 10W charging, so it took just over three hours to charge from zero to 100%. The included USB-A to USB-C charger obviously didn’t inspire a lot of confidence on speed either way, and our tests confirmed that the charging is slow enough to be annoying.

Camera

Pretty bad, even for a budget tablet

The camera is rarely the focal point of any tablet review. In fact, people who use their tablet as their primary means of taking pictures are certainly considered a bit strange, considering smartphones universally trump them regarding quality and functionality. Even considering this, though, the camera on the Lenovo Tab M9 is really underwhelming.

The device sports an 8MP main camera, which is fairly standard for budget devices, matching competition like the Samsung Tab A8 . However, the problems go beyond the simple megapixel count, as pictures taken with this camera are noticeably poor in quality, with few discernible details and washed-out color, even with the most breathtaking subjects.

In more difficult conditions, like bright sunlight, the pictures suffer even more without the processing power found in smartphone cameras like the Pixel 8 . For video, the main camera shoots in 1080p, which is as good as you’re going to get on a budget tablet.

The 2MP selfie camera is tragically even worse. The standard selfie mode results in an image processed in all the wrong ways, while the HDR image washes it out a little bit with a gray filter rather than actually improving on the picture. On top of that, the selfie camera only shoots video at 720p, so you won’t be getting those crystal-clear video chats regarding meeting time.

Competition

Plenty of bigger names with more to offer

Because the Lenovo Tab M9 is so clearly not made for work or other more strenuous activities, the low-cost, bare-bones tablets from Amazon are an obvious place to look when it comes to competition. The Amazon Fire HD 10 is the closest in price and includes a slightly larger display, which will come in handy for reading and streaming movies and TV shows. To keep costs even lower, the Amazon Fire 7 and the Amazon Fire HD 8 both undercut the Tab M9 in price and still operate quite effectively for the basics.

If you want a budget tablet that’s a bit more capable, the Samsung Tab A series is your best bet. Samsung is the gold standard for many devices, and these Tab A options aren’t too shabby for the price. The Samsung Tab A7 Lite is a bit more affordable than the Lenovo Tab M9, but other options, like the Samsung Tab A8, are a bit bigger and pack a bigger punch, so you can do more than just scroll through social media.

Should you buy it?

Honestly, we can’t recommend it even for the price

If we’re being honest, it’s hard to fully recommend the Lenovo Tab M9. Typically, there is a use case for every device. Still, this budget tablet doesn’t undercut the cheapest options on price, doesn’t outperform comparable options, and suffers some frustrating technical issues that are enough to make you swear off budget devices altogether.

Yes, the battery is big enough to get you by, and the Reading Mode does impress, but you can find bigger batteries and more immersive reading modes on other tablets that are at least close when it comes to prices. All of this to say, there are better tablets out there that are certainly worth your time more than this one, and for not all that much more cash, either.