My review: Defenders of the Earth (2024) new comic #5-8 ►

◄ Batch extracting invoice images from a Unit4 ERP7 system

2025-07-05 📌 My reviews: Lenovo Tab M9 and M8 (2023)

Tags All Personal Tech

The last tablet(s) I bought for myself were Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 ones, released in 2019 and bought in 2020. After the first I bought a couple more as an alarm clock and a CCTV monitor. Two of them have now, after a couple of days of 30 degree heat, swollen and the screens mostly separated from the metal cases at the sides. I'm not sure how much a habit of leaving them to trickle charge contributed to that. Pic at the end.

At the time I also looked at the Lenovo Tab M8 due to its battery life reviewing well. So when making a ten minute decision to get a replacement same-day delivered, I thought I'd go for a slightly larger current Lenovo Tab M9. The tablet is almost exactly A5 sized for purpose of slipcases.

Now that I slow down and take stock whilst making notes using it, like many budget tablets the M9 (TB310FU) has extremely mixed reviews. Complaints include bloatware, Android 13 navigation bar issues, the SD storage being for data only and some people with moans about performance and responsiveness, particularly with this spec as the M9 is available with either 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage or 4GB RAM / 64GB. A particular point in its favour is supposedly the sound quality for its price bracket, which I'd agree with. Accurate reproduction at low volumes, which is nice for listening to music whilst making aforementioned notes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyTab/comments/13ppdqj/comparison_between_lenovo_tab_m9_vs_samsung/ (positive about the 4/64GB but slates the 3/32GB)
https://www.reddit.com/r/androidtablets/comments/18muusr/lenovo_m9_review_post/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B0C8Z81V3T/
https://www.reddit.com/r/androidtablets/comments/1j2kuyi/lenovo_m9_android_13_appservices/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Lenovo/comments/16w6ghw/how_can_i_remove_this/
https://forums.androidcentral.com/threads/can-i-disable-this-new-taskbar-in-android-13.1059965/
https://support.google.com/android/thread/234180838/android-13-tablet-app-switcher-usability?hl=en

Still, in fairly short order I've configured the taskbar acceptably and removed unwanted bloat. I have light app needs and no issue with using a 512GB card just for media (since the card isn't seen as internal storage it can't be encrypted by the OS). I don't like the taskbar buttons being jammed together at the right, but each works in basically in the same way as previous versions of Android, which is fortunate as I tried gestures briefly and went disgustedly back to virtual buttons. Tablets aren't phones.

I assumed there was no tap to wake, or that it was tied to gesture navigation, which would be a concern for the physical buttons wearing, but it seems to have started working since toggling between gestures/buttons.

Something I like is that there's a specific battery protection mode intended to keep the battery at 40-60% if plugged in for extended periods. It claims it'll be enabled automatically if needed, too, although I'm not going to rely on that. However, it's a good sign that Lenovo is actively supporting use cases where a tablet is part of home control systems or other forms of very frequent use and charge cycles.

The package comes direct from the manufacturer with a hard case back/stand, screen protector, wipe and SD slot poker, as well as USB cable and UK charger. You may want a different USB cable or adapter too for transferring things from an old tablet, to avoid relying on wireless connectivity, but it's a nice bundle for a budget device that's only 85 quid new at present on Amazon even though I'll be using a different case (and if you were wondering the screen protector isn't a rigid one). It's also worth noting that the better spec one can be had new for about 100, and that used basic ones go for between 50 and 60, it was just that I was after one in a hurry. I still don't think the Amazon price was too bad.

Miscellaneous software/design points:
- Gboard isn't broken and the backspace is where I expect it to be.
- Rotation control just works without needing additional apps. There are two quick tiles, labelled Auto-rotate and Smart Rotate, both of which I've left on.
- It can do split screen etc, which is part of the reason Google is pushing a taskbar in Android.
- The app switcher is a bit rubbish and less functional than the Samsung grid, but you can pin apps open and use Close All to tidy up.
- I've only just noticed the rounded corners on the screen, but they fit with the rest of the design language.
- Some reviewers complain about the size of bezel, but personally I don't want to be touching the usable screen area in the way I would be otherwise.

Lenovo does seem to have poorer update offerings than Samsung, and poor update support overall. This tablet has a sticker indicating it's a TB310FU manufactured at the end of August 2024, but will only be updated until April 2026 according to their support website so if you don't like Android 13 you'll be stuck with it, although Google will update certain key components. I'm not particularly concerned about this and don't do banking etc on mobile devices. And at least being fairly stock Android, this is more versatile than Amazon Fire OS.

Now I just need to sort out a second device for monitoring cameras. If I need to get one, I'm thinking a used M8 would do as those also have a battery protection mode.

In the archaeotech corner... I couldn't get 2.4.10 of the Tapo app to work with an Android 4.4.4 device (2015 Galaxy A3 live demo unit SM-A300XU, it logged in and got alerts but couldn't connect to cameras), but 3.4.810 did with an Android 5 device (2015 Samsung Galaxy A5 live demo unit SM-A500F) and a Kindle Fire 5. Even though it's a very bloated app, once loaded the Fire is fairly responsive... most of the slowness of that device seems to be its storage. This one drains quickly when not plugged in now unless it's completely powered off, though, and gets warm charging, so it's more of a temporary backup for when needed.

A bit of googling revealed a way to disable the swipe 'lock' screen without needing to root the device. Note that this hides the Settings icon in the dropdown, hides Developer Options, and may prevent apps from updating - but if you're sideloading apps on an old Kindle Fire this isn't really a problem and the changed settings can be reverted. You may also need to add a Brightness app such as this if the Fire is so old it doesn't have a light sensor, due to losing notification dropdown options.

enable Developer Options, enable USB debugging, chance connection to Camera
sudo apt-get install android-sdk-platform-tools
deleted the original ~/.android folder which is owned by root
adb devices
check that the device isn't showing 'unauthorized' (try using a USB 2 port)
adb shell pm grant by4a.setedit22 android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS
install a 2018 era SetEdit SettingsDatabaseEditor from https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/4a/settings-database-editor/ in Secure Table, set lockscreen_disabled to 1
in Global Table, set device_provisioned to 0
restart tablet

Addendum: I got an M8 (TB300FU) made in late 2023 as a camera monitor and there are surprising differences. The amount of bloatware to kill/remove was more ridiculous, it's thicker and heavier and the back is textured plastic rather than aluminium, plus (this is probably Android) no taskbar but standard navigation buttons. It does have the battery protection mode that was why I wanted it, although the Kindle Fire has been doing okay as a temporary arrangement.

It doesn't have the Smart Rotate feature that the M9 does, and also blocks the use of third-party apps such as Rotation Control that need to display over other apps to force misbehaved ones like Tapo to allow it. The error message of "Feature not available. This feature has been turned off because it slows down your phone." suggests that the M8 isn't being treated as a tablet. However, this can be fixed on a per-app basis by enabling Developer Mode and USB debugging, then using:

adb devices
adb shell
pm grant org.crape.rotationcontrol android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW
exit

If you need to get the real name of an app, there are things like Package Name Viewer by csdroid.

Both tablets use Mediatek chips, bundling a DuraSpeed system application that seems to aggressively kill background applications and I think is why I'm not getting certain notifications. The app part which is called com.mediatek.duraspeed only controls its own notifications rather than its background service, and its configuration doesn't appear in Settings, so it's over to adb commands again with thanks to this discussion. However, I've also seen comments elsewhere that DuraSpeed gets enabled when a device is rebooted. People also recommend 'locking' things in the task manager, and give more background on DuraSpeed.

adb shell settings put global setting.duraspeed.enabled 0

Although there's apparently no way of getting to DuraSpeed via Settings, when it alerts you can click the notification and toggle individual apps or globally off. Whether the global setting survives a restart is another question. The individual app toggles seem to, so I set those first.

There's a very strong pattern of Lenovo failing to provide configuration for features, disabling features, bundling crapware, etc. It seems like nice hardware, and there are as many compromised ethics with US companies like Google as Chinese ones like Lenovo, but it doesn't make the products any less shit. One of the whole points of mobile devices for most users is to get messaging/comms notifications.

On a side note, someone here offers a way of running adb commands without root and without plugging the device into a PC:

Here's the battery bulge of one of the Samsung tablets, which IIRC wasn't the worst of the two but was the one I was trying to get some files off before it could pop or catch fire:

If you see anything like this with a phone or tablet avoid charging and dispose of responsibly ASAP.

Or if you don't want to do that, at least take precautions because Li-Ion fires can be nasty.

https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/What_to_do_with_a_swollen_battery

Even if not necessarily a foregone conclusion.

💬 Comments are off, but you can use the mail form to contact or see the about page for social media links.