The Lenovo IdeaPad is the sleeper pick for 7-inch Android tablets this holiday season. It has the same $199 price as the Kindle Fire, Nook Color, and Kobo Vox, and comes with features all of those lack.
Like its similarly-priced competitors, the Lenovo IdeaPad has a 7″ 1024 x 600 pixel resolution display, it runs Android 2.3, has 512MB of RAM, Wi-Fi, and supports Adobe Flash.
What sets the IdeaPad apart is its 16GB of memory, Bluetooth support, front and rear facing cameras, microSD card slot, and offline GPS. It’s also the lightest of the bunch at just a hair over 14 ounces. But the battery life is a little less than other tablets at five hours.
The IdeaPad has a single core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, which is faster than the Nook Color and Kobo Vox’s 800MHz processor, but slower than the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet’s dual-core processors.
I posted the specs and a quick comparison of the Lenovo IdeaPad versus the Kindle Fire and Nook Color last month. At that time, Lenovo briefly had the 2GB IdeaPad up for pre-order for $199 on their website and the 16GB version for $249. Right after that they jacked the price of the 2GB version up to $229. Now it’s missing entirely and the 16GB version is still $249.
At that price it is hard to justify compared to the others, but over on Amazon the 16GB version of the IdeaPad is up for pre-order for $199, making it a compelling choice given its features. Too bad it doesn’t have a dual-core processor and an HDMI port, though.
Makes me wonder if Amazon made a mistake in the listing and should actually be 2gb. We will see.
Actually, I think they must have scrapped the 2gb model.
Probably a good choice considering the price of the 16GB model.
I just looked at it over on Amazon, and was amused by the “Frequently Bought Together” offer on the page:
Customers buy this item with Kindle Fire, Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi by Amazon
Really, Amazon? lol
Nathan, I’m now torn between the File, the Vox, and this one. I’m anxiously awaiting your reviews.
One more question, as I just read the NetworkWorld review of the new Nook:
Amazon and (apparently) B&N will both offer cloud storage for their devices. Does Lenovo have plans to do the same, and with whom? Dropbox?
Just wondering.
PS: Link to NWW story on the Nook is http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/110711-barnes–noble-launches-nook-252832.html
Cloud storage, having your purchased ebooks available at all times from the seller, is a standard feature with ereaders that has been around for a while; they’ve just started marketing it as cloud storage because it is a buzz word. Since Lenovo doesn’t offer content themselves, I doubt they have anything official, other than their own app store of course. Obviously you can use services like Dropbox and SugerSync with the IdeaPad, probably even Amazon too.
This IS a tablet, not an ereader playing at tablet. Only the slightly slower processor is holding this back from awesomeness, but even at that this should be a better product than any of the others given the extras. Even with the hacking community on the nook color, they cant add built in cameras and bluetooth and gps.