I’m currently traveling out of country and have only brought the T30 along its keyboard and “pencil” (to use Apple language) for my media and work use.  So yes, that means that this whole review will be written from the Doogee T30.  For context, my typical tablet is the most recent iPad Pro 11” and the matching Magic Keyboard.  Before that I used another iPad 9.7” and high end matching Brydge keyboard.  This is my personal tablet experience for the past 7 years, and I recognize that this isn’t necessarily a fair comparison, as the Magic Keyboard for my iPad Pro costs $30 less than the whole Doogee T30 Pro…and at the moment Doogee is giving you the keyboard I’m typing on in a bundle with the tablet for free…at only $299 USD!

So yes, the comparison is not fair, and while the T30 Pro doesn’t measure up in every way, the thing that amazes me is how well the T30 holds up after using it pretty much identically like my iPad over the past six weeks.  I’ll hit more of the details below, but my surprising conclusion is that I could live with the T30 as my tablet…and that’s a huge win for such an inexpensive device.

 

Screen Performance

The Doogee T30 Pro sports an 11″ 2.5K display that is nice and bright.  The tablet dimensions are a little different than my iPad.  I measure the T30 Pro as being 10” in height (254mm) x 6.5” in width (165mm) with roughly 9.25 x 5.75” being screen (85%, making the bezel fairly small but not quite iPad Pro small), whereas my iPad Pro 11” has a height of 9.74” (247.6 mm), width of 7.02” (178.5 mm).  The depth of the T30 Pro is 7.6mm and it weighs 543 grams, making it slightly thicker and heavier than my iPad Pro (5.9 mm and 473 kg).  This is something that Apple does exceptionally well, obviously, though I will say that the T30 still felt thin and light.

Both of them achieve an 11” screen, but have slightly different ways of going about it.  Typical 2.5K resolution is 2560 x 1440, but the T30 is a little higher at 2560 x 1600.  The iPad Pro 11 has a resolution of 2388 x 1668, meaning that the T30 Pro is slightly exceeding its resolution level.  

Other core screen statistics are also good, with 350nits of peak brightness, 374ppi, and 16 million colors in the spectrum.  Bottom line, the screen looks great….when you are at a good viewing angle.

Further helping the screen for media viewing is that the T30 Pro has Widevine L1 Support. 

What does that mean?  Technically, Widevine L1 is the highest degree of DRM protection achievable in a media device, meaning that video decryption and processing take place entirely within the Trusted Execution Environment in the device. 

Who cares about that, right?  

But where that pays off for you is that Widevine L1-certified devices can play videos at the best resolution possible from streaming services, meaning that your movies and shows will look great.  I found good color balance when viewing the screen critically.

I do have three minor critiques on the screen performance, however.  The first is that the viewing angle is far more limited than my iPad.  I typically spend time every morning reading the news and studying my Bible app, and I find that the bottom or top of the screen (depending on the tilt) looks darker than the other due to the viewing angle issue.

I also have found that the adaptive brightness doesn’t work as well as on iPad.  There is a sensor for it on the front of the screen, but I do find that it tends to result in a too-low brightness level.  I’ve done more manual screen brightness adjustment during my time with the S30 Pro.

The final critique is more of a general one.  The materials on this screen, like many others, are far too reflective.  That makes using the T30 Pro outside often difficult, or if I’m in a room with a window behind me.

One final positive on the screen performance.  The T30 Pro has TÜV SÜD blue light certification, meaning that the screen will be easier on the eyes and less disruptive to sleep cycles, which is a welcome feature. 

The screen is one of the most important aspects of any tablet, and by and large Doogee is delivering a premium product at a discount price.  I think that most people will be pleased with how this screen looks and performs.

Audio Performance 

According to Doogee, the T30 Pro conforms to High-Resolution Audio standards defined by the Japan Audio Association.  It sports quad speakers, two per side, but this is one area where it doesn’t really compete with the iPad Pro.  It really lacks low end performance by comparison, and I also didn’t feel like the spatial separation was as good.  The current iPad Pro models are surprisingly good at providing a wide sound stage for either music or video content.  The T30 Pro sounds tinny by comparison, and the spatial separation isn’t nearly as wide.  Both the Doogee T30 Pro and S100 that I’m currently reviewing sound like they are pumping additional reverb to create the impression of presence.

You’ll be better served by connecting speakers or headphones via either Bluetooth or the 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom of the tablet.

Connectivity

Here we come to an area where Apple is, frankly, terrible, and where the Doogee T30 Pro shines.  It’s astonishing that after all this time Apple is getting away with charging massive amounts for additional storage.  An iPad Pro 11” like mine starts at $799 for a Wi-Fi only configuration and 128GB of internal storage.  Want more storage?  The price jumps to $899 to get to the 256GB internal media point, and $999 to get 512GB.  Want wireless mobility?  Add another $200 to those prices.  Want to add more storage after the fact?  Fuggedaboudit. 

The T30 Pro comes with 256GB of internal storage, but you can easily expand that to as much as 2TB via microSD.   It’s not hard to get a 1TB card for under $100, so there’s a very clear advantage for the T30 Pro here.  That’s not to mention that it also has dual SIM, though they are limited to 4G/LTE rather than the 5G available on iPad.  Note that the microSD for storage will occupy one of those slots, but you can otherwise run two different networks at the same time.  Still, an equivalent iPad will cost you about $800 more.  That’s probably the most compelling argument for the T30 Pro right there; it is a huge value.

Further connectivity comes via 4 different satellite positioning options, including GPS, GALILEO, BeiDo, and GLONASS.  Wireless specs include 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, and hotspot, which is fast and stable, though I did find that it didn’t clock as fast of speeds as my iPad.  Still fast enough to not really notice the difference.

Charging and communication comes via a USB-C port.  You can attach other accessories like a mouse via the USB-C port or create a direct connection to a PC.  In another big win for the T30 Pro, it also has electronic contacts where the tablet can easily dock into the keyboard case and transfer both power and data directly.  With this kind of the connection the keyboard (like iPad) will run off the battery of the T30 Pro, meaning that the keyboard does not require a separate power source.  It doesn’t have to be independently charged, so you will never go to use it and find that the keyboard battery is dead. 

Since the keyboard can be bundled in for free right now, let’s talk about it for a moment.  It is very similar in function to my very expensive Magic Keyboard in some ways, but not others.  It has a touchpad, a wide variety of controls (volume, brightness, audio controls, etc…), and directional controls.  It is not backlit like the Magic Keyboard.  The best thing about the keyboard?  The typing action is excellent, reminding me a lot of the ribbon action of the Magic Keyboard.  The keys are nicely responsive, the spacing is good, and it is comfortable to type on.  My least favorite aspect of the Brydge keyboard I had for my previous iPad was that there was some Bluetooth lag between the keystrikes and the on-screen response, but there is no such issue here.  This is a very nice keyboard to type on. 

The worst thing about it?  The kickstand integration isn’t great at all, so unless you lean something against it, expect it to fall on you a number of times during an extended work session.  It’s even worse if you are resting it on a slick surface, as it will slowly slide out from the vibrations of keystrikes until it collapses.  You are better with a rougher surface underneath.  My last few keyboards have had a hinge, and I really miss that here.  If you can steady the screen in a good position, however, the keyboard works great…particularly when you consider you can bundle it for free.  The normal price on the keyboard is just $55 USD – a great bargain already!

Doogee also sells an active, touch capacitive “pen”/stylus for about $40 (again, a fraction of the price of the Apple counterpart).  It works in a similar fashion to the Apple “pencil” that I’ve used in the past, allowing you to draw, write, or interact with the screen in various apps.  It is simple to charge via the USB-C port hidden by the “eraser” on the end of it that does work in that capacity while drawing. 

I didn’t use the stylus a lot, but in my limited use it seemed to work fine.  My only real complaint is that there hasn’t been any real thought given to storing it.  It doesn’t magnetically dock like the current iPad design, but neither the keyboard case or standard bundled cover for the T30 include a slot for storing it either.  That’s one area of recommendation from me:  think about where people are going to put the stylus when they aren’t using it!

Processor Performance

The Doogee T30 Pro comes bundled with Android 13, and it is overall snappy performer.  It is running a MT8781 (Helio G99) OctaCore processor (2 Cortex-A75 and 6 Cortex-A55 processors) with the cores running at 2.2GHz.  It is a 6nm processor, pointing to solid efficiency and performance.  We’ve also got the potential for up to 15GB RAM ( 8GB DDR4X natively + Up to 7GB Extended (virtual) RAM that can be set up in the dashboard.  I obviously accustomed to working on and using what is one of the most powerful tablets currently available, and I didn’t really notice a difference when using the Doogee.  Apps open quickly, and using my normal apps feels virtually identical to my iPad Pro.

I’m not a big tablet gamer, but I did test a number of games, including Call of Duty, Oceanhorn, and Angry Birds 2.  Call of Duty allowed me to run things at high resolution and without any lag issues.  Colors were nice and bright on other games, and the screen touch was responsive for gaming input.

More importantly for me, I was able to run office and productivity apps without issue.  Video streaming programs ran excellent.  There seems to be plenty of power under the hood to do whatever I wanted to do here. 

Battery Life

One of the very best features here is the huge 8580mAh Battery.  Battery life is great.  After 5 days of my typical, moderate use (morning browsing, some media) I showed 32% battery life left. That was without powering the tablet down at all, but just leaving it on standby in between.  Both the included cover and the keyboard covers are “smart”, so you can just close the cover to power down the screen. 

Today was a very long travel day (13+ hours), and the tablet has had heavy use, including browsing, games, productivity, and working on this article.  At the moment it still shows 48% battery life.  The battery life is really great, and if your needs include productivity or office type work, this makes sense as a notebook replacement, and you would never see this kind of battery life on a notebook.

Cameras and Videoconferencing

The main camera is a Sony® 20MP lens supported by a small camera for depth along with a small LED flash.  There is also an 8MP front camera.  The camera is nothing special, delivering decent detail and color.  I did find that the HDR mode delivered slightly better results, including better corner results for some reason:

There’s also a macro mode that does allow you to get nice and close, but this is flawed by the fact that the resolution drops to just 2MP, so it isn’t all that useful.

I’ve done deep dives into the photo performance of Doogee phones and video in the past, and as per usual there is a bit of oversharpening in the both photos and video to make everything look crisp, but it is heavy-handed for my tastes.   This is not a big priority for me, as I don’t use the cameras on my tablets for anything but video conferencing.

Videoconferencing, fortunately, works very well.  Unlike iPad, the front facing camera is located mid-screen, which works better for being able to make eye contact with whomever you are talking to.  I’ve used Zoom, Google Meets, etc… and even some proprietary conferences with corporations, and all has worked well.  I could hear and see them well, and vice versa, even when just using the standard mic and speakers built into the T30 Pro.

Build and Design

The T30 Pro sports a very nice aluminum chassis with three color choices:  Space Gray, Mint Green, and Ice Blue.  I’ve got the tamest color choice (Space Grey), that has a nice, clean, modern design.  I particularly like the texture variation along the back on the right side that gives you more grip while holding the bare tablet.  It did come with a screen protector bundled with it for more protection (the first thing I always add to my phones or tablets!)  Also bundled is the smart cover (which keeps everything nice and slim and giving you easy “awake” features).  There’s also a scaled down stylus included in the package.

The included charging brick will allow for 18W of fast charging, though unfortunately I received a European spec rather than North American charger, so I wasn’t able to use the bundled charger.  I have a lot of ways to charge it, fortunately, and a full charge can be done in about two hours.  I like the on-screen representation when charging starts and the tablet is sucking electrons. 

Also included is the little tool to allow you to access the Nano-SIM slots or to install a micro-SD card.  I didn’t test the mobile capacity of the tablet, as Canada is (unfortunately) quite primitive when it comes to reasonable mobile plans whether talking phones or tablets).

The accessory market for a tablet like this isn’t as robust as for Apple products, but fortunately it does come bundled with a lot of things one might want.

Conclusion

As stated in the beginning, my most revealing takeaway after my time with the Doogee T30 Pro tablet is that I could absolutely live with it as my tablet.  If cost were no object, I would still choose my current iPad 11” Pro, but the reality is that one could have roughly 4 T30 Pro tablets for the price of my one iPad configuration, which makes the T30 Pro an amazing value.  This isn’t a cheap tablet; it is an inexpensive premium tablet with the performance and battery life to back it up.

There are hints here and there that this isn’t quite at iPad level, but its how few and far between those moments come that are the revelation here.  If you are on a tight budget and are looking for a very productive tablet, then look no further than the Doogee T30 Pro.  It becomes an effective notebook replacement when bundled with the keyboard, and for about $300 USD, this is a lot of tablet!

Purchase the Doogee T30 Pro @ Doogee Mall (get free keyboard!) | Amazon (use code DGT30PRO for 10% off) | Amazon Canada | or Amazon UK

 

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