The Lenovo IdeaTab S2110 is an Android tablet that is disguised as a laptop. The gadget is equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard docking station. Powered by the Google Android 4.0 OS, the IdeaTab S2110 features a 10.1-inch display with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 1GB of RAM, a 16GB of storage space, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. Measuring 10.2-inch x 7-inch x 0.34-inch and weighing 1.3 pounds, the Lenovo IdeaTab S2110 tablet with the keyboard docking station retails for $499.99. [Liliputing]
Sprint has offered a new bundle of a device with a compatible data connection – the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Ultrabook, where it is the first Ultrabook that comes bundled in a wireless package which also comprises of a 3G/4G mobile hotspot device without any additional charge. The Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Ultrabook is one of the new category of sleek and stylish, no-compromise, computing devices which was inspired by Intel, where it incorporates useful features for consumers such as a speedy start-up, thin and light designs.
This will be an exclusive offer that is available through Sprint Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1), Web Sales (www.sprint.com/ultrabook), Sprint Business Sales and Sprint Business Solutions Partners, where it will comprise of a Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Ultrabook alongside a MiFi 3G/4G mobile hotspot by Novatel Wireless or Overdrive Pro 3G/4G mobile hotspot by Sierra Wireless. The asking price? $799.99 inclusive of tax, and you will also be able to enjoy three months of free mobile broadband service on the mobile hotspot device alongside a two-year Sprint mobile broadband service agreement. The thing is, will the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Ultrabook be able to live up to its expectations as a decent computing device? Let us take a closer look at it after the jump.
The Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Ultrabook is surprisingly thin, measuring just 0.71″ in thickness, and tipping the scales at under four pounds. The battery is able to deliver up to 7 hours of battery life, boasting a 13.3″ HD display, an Intel Core i5 processor and Intel GMA 3000 HD graphics, a 720p HD webcam and stereo speakers with Dolby Home Theatre V4 audio enhancement, Lenovo’s AccuType keyboard with individual rounded keys, a glass touchpad for easy scroll, zoom and rotate functions.
As for Sprint’s data plans for the 3G/4G mobile hotspot device, pricing start from $34.99 monthly for 3GB of combined 3G/4G data on the Sprint network. Those who want to pick up the $49.99 monthly plan will get to enjoy 6GB of combined 3G/4G data, in addition to enjoying three months of free mobile broadband service alongside a two-year Sprint mobile broadband service agreement.
Looking to snag a mobile hotspot with your pending Ultrabook purchase? If so, Sprint is looking to be the first US carrier to oblige with a package deal. The wireless provider will bundle the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 with a 3G / 4G mobile hotspot for $849 $799 — plus a monthly bill of either $34.99 for 3GB of data or $49.99 for 6GB of the added connectivity. If that wasn’t enough to get you to pull the trigger, the outfit has also thrown in three months of service for free once you commit to two years of Sprint’s mobile broadband. You’ll be strapped with the Core i5 CPU version of the Ultrabook, but you’ll be able to decide between either a MiFi or an Overdrive Pro for the hotspot option. Itchin’ to take the plunge? Hit that second source link below to sign up and part with your funds.
Update: Although the Sprint website reads $849, we’ve been told by the company that the price will show up as $799 once the bundle has been added to your cart and that the product page should be updated soon.
Analysts claim there could be a new leader in the PC market, with the possibility of Lenovo overtaking Hewlett-Packard’s top spot before the end of the year. If it does happen, it would be the first Chinese PC maker company to take the top place in any global technology sector. Last year, Lenovo PC sales overtook Dell sales in the third quarter, moving its way up to the number two spot globally with a 14.9 percent market share—just a mere 0.6 percent short of HP’s market share.
Despite inching toward number one, analysts are saying that the Lenovo’s fast growing market share has come at the expense of profit margins. The slump in market growth for personal computers combined with tougher competition in the tablet sector are a couple of the biggest challenges Lenovo is facing. PC shipments slowed down during this year’s second quarter in response to the wait for the release of Windows 8 scheduled to come out in October.
Lenovo should benefit from the increase in PC sales if Windows 8 encourages more demand, but an added drawback to the up and coming OS release is that it’s designed for both tablets and computers. Along with other Android vendors, still competition stemming from the Windows tablet market may cause some setbacks for Lenovo PC sales as well as its LePad tablets.
If you’re one of the few that is looking for a decent mid-range well rounded Android tablet that also manages to come in the same shape as the iPad, we might have something just for you. Today on the SlashGear test bench is the new Lenovo IdeaTab S2109 Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet. Running on a standard build of Android, but rocking an iPad-like 9.7-inch 1024 x 768 resolution display check out if this tablet is for you after the break.
What we have here is a tablet that Lenovo has designed to be well built, well priced, and budget friendly. Coming in at just $349 with 16GB of internal storage it’s an ideal offering, although the Nexus 7 severely undercuts it — while being more powerful. First you’ll need to see our hands-on and unboxing, then lets dive into the tablet and see what we think. Shall we?
Hardware
In the very recent past Lenovo’s hardware and build quality has always been one of the low points of their tablets, but with the S2109 they’ve surprisingly done a much better job in that department. Offering it at a low price at the same time doesn’t hurt either. The build quality and hardware is improved, but it still isn’t up to Samsung or Apple standards.
Lenovo’s equipped this S2109 tablet with some pretty poor specs to meet that low price point though. You get an old, aging, and quite grainy 9.7-inch display rocking the same 4:3 aspect ratio and terrible 1024 x 768 resolution that the original (yes as in a few years old) iPad had. Almost all Android tablets come with at least a 1280 x 800 resolution so this is instantly looking worse once you glance into the screen. After using the Acer A700 with a 1920 x 1200 resolution, or our new iPad with Retina display this thing almost hurts my eyes.
Other than that you’ll get a mid-range 1.0 Ghz dual-core TI OMAP 4 processor, 1GB of RAM, and this model comes with 16GB of internal storage — they do offer a 32GB version for those in need too. We would rather of seen the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core here, but we’ll take what we get. Overall however the S2109 both looks and feels smaller than a 9.7-inch tablet because of the curved rounded edges and the sleek unibody design. Sadly the back is a hard plastic and not aluminum and it picked up scratches extremely quick. Lenovo has shipped the tablet with a silicone case right inside the box however, so that is an added bonus.
As for ports and options you’ll quickly notice the micro-HDMI and micro-USB ports on the right side, followed by a reset pinhole, the proprietary jack for charging, and a micro-SD slot for extra storage options. The top is outfitted with a single volume up/down rocker, then the left side is the lone 3.5mm headphone jack and power/wake button. The design is pretty basic, but works great for those who might be just beginning.
Sadly the hardware isn’t anything special. The best part is probably the unibody design (although it’s plastic) and the quad-stereo SRS surround sound speakers. The only camera is the 1.3 MP shooter up front, and they scraped the rear camera in favor of a low price. The speakers offer quite great sound for a little and budget tablet. While they won’t fill an entire room — most tablets don’t — they do have clear and crisp sound. We have mixed feelings on the hardware and build quality, but I guess for $349 it’s ok but we’d rather just buy an iPad 2.
Lenovo S2109 unboxing video
Software
The Lenovo S2109 runs a completely stock version of Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich which is a nice change since their previous attempts had a lot of changes — for the worse. Everything is completely vanilla and they’ve not touched the launcher, settings or notification bar or anything. For some reason however it seems to stutter and lag more than it should.
Lenovo’s pre-loaded AccuWeather, Lenovo App Shop, Documents To Go, Evernote, Adobe Flash Player, Go Keyboard, Movie Studio, Norton Security, Lenovo PrinterShare, Skype, SugarSync, News Republic, and Zinio. More than I’d like to deal with, but a few are quite nice. First thing you’ll want to do however is disable that terrible Go Keyboard and stick with ICS stock option.
Performance and Benchmarks
Unlike many recent tablets the Lenovo doesn’t run an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. Instead it runs a pretty basic and aging Cortex A9 Texas Instruments chip that lags behind most of the tablet competition, even compared to old Tegra 2 dual-core options. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich had a little lag here and there that wasn’t expected, but that could be due to the old and aging processor under the hood. For the most part performance was fluid and swift, but we had to mention those odd stutters. Operation throughout the OS wasn’t too bad, it was browsing the web, reading RSS feeds, or checking through the market that seemed to struggle more than most.
Benchmarks, as expected, fall far behind most of the competition. Tablets like the Transformer Prime, or even cheaper options like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10 (2) all are a little better in this category. We see where Lenovo was aiming, but they just haven’t quite hit the mark. Scoring lower benchmark tests than all 3 mentioned above. Here’s a quick look at Quadrant and AnTuTu — which speak for themselves.
The boot time is rather long, and has a loud and slightly obnoxious animation and sound that is louder than anything else the tablet puts out, which we found a little odd. Playing your average games was decent although the slow processor and low resolution display gives you a less than stellar experience compared to the competition.
Camera and Battery Life
Now first we’ll start with the camera, since it only has one. Most tablets these days offer both a front and rear camera but here we only have a 1.3 megapixel front camera. It’s capable of 720p video but you’d hardly tell. While I don’t consider it a con that there’s no rear camera, many tablets currently offer one in this same price point — so we’ll take another notch off for that.
Battery life is one area that the Lenovo IdeaTab S2109 does do well though. It comes with a 6,720 mAh battery under the hood that lasted for around 7-8 hours of solid use. They claim 10 hours of video playback but we doubt you’ll make it that far. Stand-by battery was quite excellent too. Using the tablet here and there briefly during the evenings and leaving it at a table nearby we managed great battery life as you can see here. Some tablets no matter what will run out of life after a few days, but not the S2109.
Wrap-Up
When using this tablet over the past few weeks we decided that for $349 you could probably do worse, but at the same time you could easily do better. Overall Lenovo has designed a decent mid-range tablet with ok specs, and a low price. With the iPad 2 being just $399 these days, and powerful quad-core Android tablets being similarly priced we had a hard time giving this a thumbs up of any kind.
If you’d like to stay under the $400 mark we’d easily have to recommend the ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T. It rocks a quad-core, higher resolution, and an optional keyboard for only $379, as well as the brand new Google Nexus 7 16GB for just $249. For those looking for a 9.7+ tablet the iPad 2 or even the new Acer Iconia Tab A510 would be a great option.
In the end the Lenovo IdeaTab S2109 is a well built tablet, it functions well and operates smoothly. The mid-range at best specs, low resolution, lack of a rear camera, and occasional stutters makes it hard to justify. For the price you could do better, but if Lenovo drops her down to $299 this might be a slightly different story.
For a while there, the march of Ultrabooks was comprised almost entirely of halo products: skinny, relatively expensive things designed to help Intel and its OEM partners make a good impression on the general laptop-buying public. But with 110-plus models in the pipeline, they can’t all be expensive, right? By now, you may have noticed that Ultrabooks are starting to look a little less uniform: there have been larger ones, heavier ones, some with optical drives, some with discrete graphics.
Next up: cheaper ones. Just in time for back-to-school shopping season, we’re seeing a wave of more reasonably priced Ultrabooks, many of them with traditional spinning hard drives and slightly heavier frames. One of these is the Lenovo IdeaPad U310, a machine that brings Core i5, 4GB of RAM and hybrid storage for $799. Oh, and its design is pleasantly reminiscent of the IdeaPad U300s, a higher-end Ultrabook we reviewed late last year. No doubt, then, it’ll be a tempting option for people who can’t afford to spend $1,000-plus on a laptop. But is it worth it? Let’s find out.
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer might be working overtime to keep Apple at bay, but the PC market that his company largely built is hurting, if you ask researchers at Gartner and IDC. Both estimate that shipments of traditional computers dropped by a tenth of a point in the second quarter of 2012 — not a good sign when Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors and a wave of Ultrabooks were supposed to usher in a PC renaissance. While the exact numbers vary, the two paint a partly familiar picture of the world stage: HP and Dell are taking a bruising, while ASUS and Lenovo are making huge leaps forward. Depending on who you ask, though, Acer is either kicking Dell down to fourth place or occupying that all too comfortable spot itself. The economy and tablets are once again blamed for making would-be PC upgraders jittery, although this time it may also be the wait for Windows 8 leading some to hold off.
If there’s a point of contention, it’s the US figures. Gartner and IDC alike agree that Acer, Dell and HP all took a drubbing. The two analyst groups are at odds with each other when it comes to everyone else, though. Apple will have gained market share to as much as 12 percent, but either increased or shrank its shipments; it’s Lenovo or Toshiba completing the top five outside of the usual suspects. Accordingly, take results with a grain of salt until all the PC builders have reported in. Nonetheless, if the groups have the same reasonable level of precision as they’ve had in the past, Microsoft may have to defer its ambitions for a little while longer.
Lenovo has just dropped their newest all-in-one PC ‘ThinkCentre M72z’ into the market. Designed for small and medium sized enterprises, this space-saving machine is equipped with a 20-inch 1600 x 900 LCD display, a 2.90GHz Intel Core i5-3470S processor, an Intel H61 Express Chipset, a 2GB DDR3 RAM, a 500GB hard drive, a webcam, a DVD Super Multi Drive, WiFi, Bluetooth and runs on Windows 7 Professional 32-bit (SP1) OS. The ThinkCentre M72z is priced at 118,650 Yen (about $1,497). [Lenovo]
In an effort to keep up with changing times, Lenovo has just announced the launch of a new Android tablet: the IdeaTab S2109. It will feature a 9.7″ (1,024 x 768) display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor, 1GB of RAM, 1.3-megapixel front facing camera, HDMI output, micro-USB, microSD card slot, SRS surround sound speakers and a 6,720mAh battery which is touted to give you 10 hours of video playback. The tablet costs $349 for the 16GB version and can be purchased now from Lenovo’s website. Anybody interested in picking up this Android tablet?
Lenovo got the memo: it’s high time the company released a new tablet. With products from Acer, ASUS and Samsung keeping us plenty busy these last few months, Lenovo can hardly expect to stay relevant with the IdeaPad A1 and ThinkPad Tablet from 2011. So the IdeaTab S2109, a $350, 9.7-inch slate running Ice Cream Sandwich, comes in the nick of time.
That’s not to say we were surprised when the tablet launched in June. The S2109 made its grand debut at the FCC in March, and Lenovo teased its arrival with a YouTube video highlighting the 8.9mm-thick unibody shell and the 1,024 x 768 IPS LCD display. What the company wasn’t so quick to point out, though, was that this device packs a TI OMAP 4430 CPU rather than the Tegra 3 processor that’s quickly becoming the new tablet norm. So how does the performance stack up? Does this go toe to toe with all those other mid-range, 10-inch slates we’ve seen lately? Let’s take a look.
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Sprint has offered a new bundle of a device with a compatible data connection – the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Ultrabook, where it is the first Ultrabook that comes bundled in a wireless package which also comprises of a 3G/4G mobile hotspot device without any additional charge. The Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Ultrabook is one of the new category of sleek and stylish, no-compromise, computing devices which was inspired by Intel, where it incorporates useful features for consumers such as a speedy start-up, thin and light designs.
In an effort to keep up with changing times, Lenovo has just announced the launch of a new Android tablet: the 
