The Leia Lume Pad 2 is a $1,100, glasses-free 3D Android tablet

• The Leia (or ZTE) 3D tablet. [credit: ZTE ]

Does anyone out there want a 3D Android tablet? ZTE and a company called Leia—like the Star Wars princess, I guess—is making a 12.4-inch, $1,100 Android tablet with a glasses-free 3D display. Internationally the hardware is sold by ZTE and is called the "ZTE Nubia Pad 3D," while in the US, where the government has designated ZTE a threat to national security, the tablet is branded as the "Leia Lume Pad 2." As far as we can tell, ZTE is responsible for the hardware, while Leia is bringing 3D tech and software to the tablet.

The magic 3D display is a 12.4-inch, 120 Hz, 2560×1600 IPS LCD. It uses Leia's light field technology for the 3D effect and face tracking via the stereoscopic front camera. This lets the display sends slightly different pictures to each eye, sort of like a Nintendo 3DS. Presumably, the effective resolution gets cut in half in 3D mode. It's hard to tell if this is actually any good from text descriptions and flat 2D videos, but the device made the rounds at Mobile World Congress last month. A Tom's Guide reporter called the display impressive and praised the viewing angle but also complained of headaches.

The specs sheet looks like it came from a 2-year-old flagship, starting with the Snapdragon 888 SoC from 2021. It has 8GB of RAM, 128GB or 256GB of storage, a 9070 mAh battery with 33 W fast charging, and runs Android 12L. It has a MicroSD slot, a USB-C port on the bottom, four speakers, and a pogo pin setup on the bottom edge for a charging stand. We're working from an incomplete spec sheet here, and neither Leia nor ZTE has published dimensions or weight. The tablet looks a little thick in photos, perhaps a side effect of the extra 3D display layer.