I updated my ThinkPad 8 tablet to Tab P11 Plus, what a mistake!

[Puppy]

My Windows Lenovo ThinkPad 8 tablet stopped working in the beginning of the year, so I decided to try the Lenovo Tab P11 Plus tablet. It has the terrible Android, but there is no better choice (I am mentally incompatible with Apple products) these days The reviews were quite good and the price acceptable. What a mistake The hardware is actually nice, but the Lenovo software (no)support is totally awful. By now, the security updates are outdated from March 2022. The promised Android 12 update on August (for my TB-J616X model) is still not delivered. The other model TB-J616F had actually received the Android 12 update, but it caused either infinite bootloop or bricked the tablet at all, so Lenovo had to withdrawn it. Radio silence since that. Moreover the official software support ends in October 2023, which is very short support period considering the tablet has been introduced on the market early this year.

I wouldn't have expected such terrible support from a company of Lenovo size. It is exactly same kind of no-support as a noname Chinese tablet from AliExpress.

In contrast, Samsung provides regular software updates for 5 years.

[axur-delmeria]

In contrast, Samsung provides regular software updates for 5 years.

It's hit-or-miss for Samsung as well. My brother's E7 (early 2015) didn't even get the Lollipop upgrade that was available in other variants, and security updates ended after 2 years. What makes it worse is that the J5 (mid 2015) came out with Lollipop and got an upgrade to Marshmallow, despite having less RAM and storage (1.5GB / 8GB) compared to the E7 (2GB / 16GB). Samsung basically abandoned the E7 and owners got shafted. Note that the J5 and E7 shared the same processor/SoC (Snapdragon 410c), so an upgrade would've been trivial to make IMO.

[Puppy]

Well. I am still shocked because I am coming from the Windows world. The ThinkPad 8 tablet was getting regular monthly security updates for 8 years.

[axur-delmeria]

Well. I am still shocked because I am coming from the Windows world. The ThinkPad 8 tablet was getting regular monthly security updates for 8 years.

Why not get a Windows tablet to replace it? Android is a mess with regards to updates, mostly because it's up to the device manufacturer (and not Google itself) to provide them.

[Puppy]

Because there are no longer good Windows tablets (no, the MS Surface with terribly battery hungry Intel CPU isn't an option) and Microsoft has completely removed the tablet mode from Windows 11. They have given up on these kind of devices. It is impossible to do even simple tasks like getting a notification when a new email arrives while the device is in the connection standby mode (which worked in Windows 8.1). Useless.

[pianowizard]

Microsoft has completely removed the tablet mode from Windows 11

Then why not just stick with Win 10? I have tried Win 11 briefly on a minitower and think it's garbage. I intend to keep using Win 10 long after support for it has ended in mid-Oct 2025. Microsoft has the habit of periodically giving us a bad version of Windows so that the next version can be advertised as an improvement. Thus there is hope that Win 12 will be better, but even if that's not the case, Win 10 will remain adequate and sufficiently secure well into the 2030s. I still use Win 7 to go online on a couple of old computers and have had no significant issues.

I liked the Thinkpad 8 I had back in 2016 but one day I broke the WWAN while inserting a SIM card, so I sold it as a WiFi-only tablet. Last year I bought a very basic and cheap Dell Venue 8 with WiFi only, 2GB RAM, 8.0" 1280x800, and Windows 10, and it works superbly for my purposes, but I am sure it would be underpowered for your needs.

In contrast, Samsung provides regular software updates for 5 years.

I love my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, the SM-T715 model with built-in phone functionality. I bought it used in Aug 2017 and it's still going strong. I love its 8.0" QXGA screen and the convenience of viewing two apps side by side. Android 7 is the highest it will go but that's not a problem for the apps that I use. This model was released in Sep 2015 and I got the last software update in Sep 2020, so you are correct that Samsung supports its tablets for 5 years. That final update significantly improved stability. I don't think I will ever buy a non-Samsung Android tablet.

[Puppy]

Lenovo has finally delivered the promised Android 12 update originally scheduled on August. As a result, the SIM card no longer works Hopeless.

[axur-delmeria]

Meanwhile I'm using a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 (circa 2013) as an oversized USB WiFi adapter (with the help of an app that exposes the USB tethering setting that Samsung chose to hide ) because it's the only one in my box of old Android devices that has 5GHz WiFi radio. When using 2.4GHz-only devices, I get a bit over 2 megabytes/sec at best, while the Tab 3 sometimes goes over 9 megabytes/sec.