10:01 AM
Kinsz
After the successful purchase of IBM's laptop business unit, the Chinese firm Lenovo has set about turning heads by consistently creating top quality, no nonsense computers focused towards business users. As with so many other portable companies, the K1 Ideapad marks Lenovo's first attempt in the world of Android-based tablets and given their very competitive price point they may have come up with a winner here.
The display size is 10.1 inches with a 1280x800 resolution and runs Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) which places it squarely as a rival to the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom. It sports very similar hardware too - an accelerometer, digital compass, GPS, a 1GHz dual core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and 1GB RAM but ups the ante with 32 GB of storage compared to other tablets who offer just 16GB in their basic models. Perhaps it is something to do with their laptop heritage, but just like Toshiba and Asus, Lenovo appears to really understand the tablet market and you will find a mini HDMI out port together with a microSD card slot and a docking port to attach a physical keyboard. Just read any user reviews about the Galaxy Tab or Motorola Xoom and you will find folk moaning about the lack of ports.
Lenovo has tried to push the envelope with their tablet and you'll find lots of premium applications loaded out of the box, lots of which you would usually have to pay for like Angry Birds, Documents to Go and you also get access to their cloud storage service where you get 2GB free to store movies, music, photographs and files which you can obtain access to from where ever you are. We absolutely expect to see more and more companies offering premium cloud storage solutions and as such the upfront costs of the tablets will come down as the companies are able to make their money from the after sale services.
Access to the Android Market place gives you the chance to download literally hundreds of thousands of programmes and since it's Android, you can also download programs that have not been approved by Big Brother so that you can help out app developers test their new concepts and get embroiled with the community. Using apps like NetFlix gives you access to one of the planet's biggest digitized media libraries and you can stream movies all day 24x7 if you want!
One of the deal clinchers for many of us, particularly when the hardware is all so alike, is the battery lifespan and the K1 Ideapad excels in this area. While other (though admittedly more costly) tablets can manage up to 7 hours of battery life, many purchasers are reporting that the K1 Ideapad is good for almost 10 hours of usage which places it in the same league as the iPad 2.
One area many veteran tablet users will tell you to take a look at is the ergonomics of the device and while the K1 Ideapad isn't the fattest of devices out there, it can't compete with the sleek lines of the Galaxy Tab. It is nearly twice as thick and a full 4.5 oz heavier which becomes obvious after thirty minutes of holding the device. Some users have also reported that the wifi reception isn't great and while other devices will pick up a full signal, the K1 Ideapad is only able to manage a fraction below that which can potentially make a difference with browsing speed.
At the price Lenovo is offering their K1 Ideapad and with the long battery charge lifespan it makes for a superb media consumption tablet, excellent for the long work commutes or sitting on a plane watching films you would like to watch instead of what the airline thinks you need to watch!
The display size is 10.1 inches with a 1280x800 resolution and runs Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) which places it squarely as a rival to the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom. It sports very similar hardware too - an accelerometer, digital compass, GPS, a 1GHz dual core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and 1GB RAM but ups the ante with 32 GB of storage compared to other tablets who offer just 16GB in their basic models. Perhaps it is something to do with their laptop heritage, but just like Toshiba and Asus, Lenovo appears to really understand the tablet market and you will find a mini HDMI out port together with a microSD card slot and a docking port to attach a physical keyboard. Just read any user reviews about the Galaxy Tab or Motorola Xoom and you will find folk moaning about the lack of ports.
Lenovo has tried to push the envelope with their tablet and you'll find lots of premium applications loaded out of the box, lots of which you would usually have to pay for like Angry Birds, Documents to Go and you also get access to their cloud storage service where you get 2GB free to store movies, music, photographs and files which you can obtain access to from where ever you are. We absolutely expect to see more and more companies offering premium cloud storage solutions and as such the upfront costs of the tablets will come down as the companies are able to make their money from the after sale services.
Access to the Android Market place gives you the chance to download literally hundreds of thousands of programmes and since it's Android, you can also download programs that have not been approved by Big Brother so that you can help out app developers test their new concepts and get embroiled with the community. Using apps like NetFlix gives you access to one of the planet's biggest digitized media libraries and you can stream movies all day 24x7 if you want!
One of the deal clinchers for many of us, particularly when the hardware is all so alike, is the battery lifespan and the K1 Ideapad excels in this area. While other (though admittedly more costly) tablets can manage up to 7 hours of battery life, many purchasers are reporting that the K1 Ideapad is good for almost 10 hours of usage which places it in the same league as the iPad 2.
One area many veteran tablet users will tell you to take a look at is the ergonomics of the device and while the K1 Ideapad isn't the fattest of devices out there, it can't compete with the sleek lines of the Galaxy Tab. It is nearly twice as thick and a full 4.5 oz heavier which becomes obvious after thirty minutes of holding the device. Some users have also reported that the wifi reception isn't great and while other devices will pick up a full signal, the K1 Ideapad is only able to manage a fraction below that which can potentially make a difference with browsing speed.
At the price Lenovo is offering their K1 Ideapad and with the long battery charge lifespan it makes for a superb media consumption tablet, excellent for the long work commutes or sitting on a plane watching films you would like to watch instead of what the airline thinks you need to watch!
About the Author:
James Perron enjoys writing about technology at e learning uf. Check out his website for more great articles.
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