I could be wrong, but this seems like an amazing deal for the price? Store has 96.8% positive feedback.
Am I missing something here, maybe @Clear can chime in
Good thing I checked! Legend.
Note: When I click "standard" and then choose the colour, it doesn't say sold out?
https://pasteboard.co/pmBzDNdnjumw.png
Likely to help keep the listing up and it's position in the search to stay.
Fair point.
In further research, this appears to be the China ROM
https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005006134679485.html?spm=a2g…
It is also a AlIExpress Choice Store. Not sure if this is better.
Any good tablet deals on the horizon?
The AliExpress sale line up for next month hasn't been announced yet.
By the way, is AliExpress calculating GST incorrectly ?
AU$310.75
Total shipping : Free
Tax : AU$34.87
Total : AU$345.62
Tax is always messed up on AliExpress. Maybe they are basing it off the undiscounted price? Whatever it is, is it not illegal?
rip off
Hmmm, I actuallty bought this exact tablet a while back off aliexpress (different store, original chinese ROM); let me share some things I learnt on the way.
Firstly, A$351 is actually very average price for the Lenovo xiaoxin pad pro. The market price for it in China is around that price (A$300-350) or maybe even cheaper.
Also, do note the Xiaoxin Pad Pro is a Chinese domestic market product. It is very close to Lenovo P12 but not entirely the same with some key differences.
Difference 1 - Accessories:
* The xiaoxin pad pro doesn't have any included accessories.
* The p12 will ship with the lenovo tab pen plus included and the pictures show a keyboard case but the description doesn't mention it so maybe it's not included (approx $550 at Officeworks).
* Funnily enough the pen/stylus supported is different. The p12 is compatible with tab pen plus which is reasonably affordable. the xiaoxin pad is only compatible with xiaoxin pen 2 which I believe is the same as lenovo precision pen 3 for international markets (which is also apparently very difficult to obtain outside the US).
Difference 2 - SoC:
* Xiaoxin pad pro comes with a slightly faster SoC (as long as you buy the snapdragon 870 version)
Difference 3 - Firmware/Software/ROM:
* Xiaoxin pad pro runs the Chinese domestic market ROM which has lots of Chinese apps preinstalled, can feel iffy idk.
* Google everything is hidden away or disabled by default. This is actually very easy to enable/unhide in android settings. Then you can download Play Store in the chinese lenovo app store (just use the search bar)
* The Chinese ROM has 2 language options: Chinese and English. I chose to set it up in English and most things work (98% of the time) but a few very minor things will be stuck in Chinese; or you will randomly get a notification or confirmation popup in Chinese once in a blue moon. The apostrophe is also weirdly spaced so be prepared to see something like: "I' m sad that you haven' t called me back as of yet".
* But keeping the chinese default ROM keeps the widevine intact for streaming netflix and or other copyrighted content.
* The global ROM version is just the seller flashing the bootloader with a ROM from the p12 from japan or smth like that. Very likely to have corrupt Widevine, somewhat less likely but you could have issues with software updates too.
Lastly, the sellers on aliexpress will put a bunch of different tablets on the same listing so double and triple check it IS the exact tablet you want with the correct specs and SOC and ROM before you buy.
All in all, I am really enjoying my xiaoxin pad pro, the screen is large and clear, the display is bright enough for all indoor conditions and performance is great for gaming or whatever else you want to do. I do feel like the battery life is degrading quite noticeably but maybe that's just me. (and there is a setting to only charge to 50% if you want to prolong your battery's life expectancy. If some little issues like the ones mentioned above don't bother you, why not go for it? the price is quite attractive.
FANTASTIC summary. I was diving into this space and needed this. What is best tablet or cost performance point for a Global / English native tablet (no bootloader) with an SD 870? On this same note, any opinions on the Helio G99 or other chip slightly cheaper than the SD 870?
Great informative post, thanks.
I've got the Pad Pro 2022 and had the same apostrophe issue. I was able to fix it by changing the system font if anyone else was bothered by it. The system font setting is in Chinese though so may require a translation assistance.
I have the same device as well, and absolutely love it. Although I feel the battery life is a bit short (5-6 hours screen time), and the auto-brightness is quite aggressive.
May I ask what font you chose? I have the apostrophe issue as well.
The default launcher also has quite blurry icons, do you have that issue too? I ended up changing to Nova Launcher and using a custom icon pack to bypass this.
Battery life sounds about right watching media. And auto brightness did have issues which I disabled.
I chose the 原生字体 font which seems to translate to mean native fonts. I can't recall what font it was on originally so might have to give a few different ones a try.
I don't have any issues with blurry icons. Everything is clear and sharp. That seems like an isolated issue
I have a question about China ROM. From what I've read, in China, the WiFi 5GHz allowed frequencies is much less; only 2 (out of 4) "blocks" is available. Australia allows all "4 blocks" of 5GHz frequencies.
Anyway, is there a setting (in the China ROM) for 'Country' and if so, is 'Australia' listed?
I'm assuming changing the Country setting will change the allowed WiFi 5GHz frequencies…
2022 version is better as its oled
The 2022 version also has a slightly smaller screen, smaller battery, but much faster charging speed.
I have this, screen is much better as it is OLED, good tablet, though sometimes Chinese pops up here & there. If i were to buy again, ill be spending bit more & get an English version.
Is there anyway to install other ROMs on this machine? Also can you use google services normally as Chinese ROM usually has a problem with that
didn't try to change the ROM, but you can install google services easily,change almost all into Eng,, no issues at all,
The Xiaoxin Pad Pro 2022 with the MediaTek Kompanio 1300T can be reflashed to the official Global ROM with full English. Only the Snapdragon version can't and must stay on ZUI.
I was searching yesterday and the 2022 version seems to be sold out or way over priced.
Yep, could not find the 2022 for cheap at all
I’m gonna order through Chinese website and arrange international delivery myself
Not an amazing price. This was around $320-340 (including GST) using the coupons last month.
I don't think you're going to get the tablet. Plus it's running the "global ROM" except there's no such thing, so they've unlocked the bootloader (no Widevine L1 + security risk) and flashed the ROM from a different Lenovo tablet ontop. Expect a buggy experience.