Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 Review

Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 Specs and Video Demo

If you were looking for a 10-inch Android tablet just a few short months ago, you'd be hard-pressed to find them for sale and Android 2.2 was the only game in town.  However, with the release of Google's Honeycomb OS in late February, the floodgates began to open.  Now you can't swing a USB cable and not hit one of these things and many are built on very similar, if not identical platforms.  As such, it's rather difficult for manufacturers to differentiate their product in this market space, though some have had more success than others.

In the notebook arena, if there's a manufacturer that has been able to carve out a niche' for their brand name over the years, it would have to be Lenovo with their ThinkPad line of products that cater mostly to the business professional and road warrior.  Lenovo's consumer-targeted IdeaPad has been less prolific in this regard, however.  Recently Lenovo announced Honeycomb tablets from both ThinkPad and IdeaPad camps, though today we're taking a look at only their new IdeaPad Tablet K1.


Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1

The IdeaPad Tablet K1 is Lenovo's first Honeycomb tablet to hit the market, though the more industrial strength ThinkPad Tablet is expected to arrive in the next couple of months.  The K1 is billed as a media consumption and entertainment device built for portability and performance on the go.  Honestly, that sounds like a lot of the Honeycomb tablets we've seen to date.  So why should Lenovo's IdeaPad Tablet K1 grab your attention?  We'll see if we can determine that for you in our hands-on experience and performance evaluations on the pages that follow.

Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 Android 3.1 Tablet
Specifications & Features
Display:  10.1" LED Backlight WXGA (1280x800) LCD
Capacitive Touch, Multi-Touch, Scratch resistant glass
CPU:
  NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 @ 1GHz
Memory: 
   1GB
Storage:
  16GB/32/64GB Models

Wireless Data Network:
WLAN 802.11 b/g/n@2.4GHz

Bluetooth V3, 3G1

Camera:
2MP Pixel Front Camera, 5MP Pixel Rear Camera, 720P HD Video


Interfaces:
1 x 3.5mm Audio Jack (Headphone)
1 x Mini HDMI
1 x micro SD Card Reader
1 x Volume Rocker
1 x Screen Orientation Lock
1x Power Button
1 x Screen Capture Button
1 x Microphone
2 x .5 W Stereo Speakers
1 x Docking Connector
Sensors:
Gyroscope
Accelerometer

Software :
- Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) Operating System
- Google Mobile Services for Android 3.1
- Flash 10.2
- Lenovo Social Touch, Lenovo Media Gallery, Lenovo Video Player, Lenovo Music Player,Lenovo eBook Reader
-  Cloud, mSpot Music, Complete HD codes formats (except for MKV&MPEG-2 & RMVB), PlayReady DRM, Lenovo AppStore, Oovoo, Poketalk, eBuddy, Connectify, Facebook, Twitter, Norton Mobile Security, AccuEather, Dataviz: Documents to Go, Printershare, Zinio E-Mag, Amazon Kindle E-Book reader, Luck Launcher Games: Galaxy on Fire2, Need for Speed: Shift, Angry Birds, Vendetta Online, Murtha Drawing Pad, Talking Tom, Silver Creek: Solitaire, Silver Creek: Hearts, Silver Creek: Spades, Silver Creek: Euchre, Silver Creek: Backgammon,Warships, Treasure Arm, Flash Game Arcade

Battery:
Up to 10 hours: 2 cell battery

Dimensions:
10.4” x 7.4” x .5”
Weight:
1.65lbs.
Pricing: 16GB MSRP - $479, 32GB MSRP - $499

 
If you were looking for something in the above specifications list or with respect to Lenovo's bundle, that jumps up and screams "pick me," you'll likely be left a bit flat.  Make no mistake, though this is a well made 10-inch Android Honeycomb slate, it's based on the same NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM configuration that so many others are built on.  The obligatory 2MP front-facing and 5MP rear-facing cameras are there, as well as 802.11n, Bluetooth, mini HDMI and a micro SD card slot.  What's perhaps at least a little eye-catching is the IdeaPad K1's $499 MSRP for the 32GB model, which prices it a full $100 less than Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Apple's iPad 2 and right in line with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer.  Let's take a look around and see what else there is about this device that makes it unique...


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