Lenovo IdeaTab S2110 Tablet Review

The Lenovo IdeaTab S2110 isn’t flashy, but it has a clean look and you can barely feel the transition from the glass screen to the thin metal edge. The sides have only two buttons: Power and Volume. Overall, this tablet has a solid “one-piece” feel to it. That is, until you plug the S2110 into the Keyboard Dock.
 

One of the things we like most about the Keyboard Dock is also the very thing that makes the tablet look a little bulky when the two are connected: the Dock's connector. It encompasses a portion of the tablet, so the connector is obviously bigger than the tablet itself. The result is a noticeable bump in what would be (if this were a laptop) a very sleek clamshell. In our opinion, the connector puts a dent in the S2110’s appearance though it does add some sturdiness to the design. 

 

 
Even so, we really like the Dock, and we like that the bulky connector is so sturdy. Pop the tablet into the connector and the two are now connected so solidly that you won’t hesitate to adjust the screen angle by pushing or pulling at the top of display. There’s no wobbling or looseness at all. And you can pull the tablet back out of the connector with a push of the Dock’s button, which is right under the Lenovo logo.

 

Although the keyboard is necessarily cramped, the keys are responsive and we didn’t feel uncomfortable typing on them. As you might expect, the keyboard had Android home and back keys. There’s no backlight, which is understandable, but it always feels like a missed opportunity to pass on the backlight in keyboards for modern mobile devices. The Dock’s touchpad is very responsive. Although this is a subjective assessment, we really like the touchpad and had no trouble with precision when we moved the cursor around the screen. It also handled taps just fine. The touchpad is small, but it didn’t feel cramped under typical use.

 

By itself, the IdeaTab S2110 is very thin – only 0.34 inches thick. It weighs about 1.3 pounds, a smidge less than the iPad. The Keyboard Dock is almost the same size as the IdeaTab, but 0.38 inches thick and 1.32 pounds. When the system is connected and closed, it’s still a light, slim package that doesn’t take up much room (or, more importantly, add much heft to) your bag.

One design gripe we have is the FCC info label, which sits right on the back of the IdeaTab S2110. The sticker has white text and is hard to miss on the textured black shell of the tablet – it brings to mind the ugly labels that the IT department might put on your work computer. We’ve seen this label appear in less obtrusive spots on other tablets (such as the side, namely). You can’t escape the label by plugging it into the Keyboard Dock, either: it’s positioned so that it appears just above the Dock. Alas, just pull it off and wipe down the glue residue if needed with a bit of solvent and you're good to go.