Review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1

We first saw the Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 back at IFA in September. Now it’s time for our review.

The ultimate entertainment tablet—loaded with great apps and optimized for enjoying movies, music, social networking and the Web.

• Android 3.1 installed, a rich interactive platform optimized specifically for tablet devices
• Full Flash support so you can fully enjoy your favourite online sites
• HD display and HDMI output for vibrant resolution on your tablet or on a monitor
• More than 30 apps preloaded, plus access to Lenovo’s App Shop
• Front and rear cameras for better two-way video chats
• Integrated cloud storage to save and share your files across multiple devices

IdeaPad Tablet K1: Open the Box and Play

Weighing just 1.63 lbs, the highly mobile IdeaPad Tablet K1 offers integrated Bluetooth and 802.11 Wi-Fi connectivity. The IdeaPad Tablet K1 offers several key features and tools as standard, for flexibility, power and security to enjoy digital content anywhere. Simply put, the Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 helps users who want:

More out of the box: The Android-powered Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 is preloaded with more than 40 apps from partners like Netflix, Amazon, Adobe, Electronic Arts, Rovio, Zinio, Dataviz, and others (over $50 in value), including favourites like Need for Speed Shift, Angry Birds, Kindle reading app and Documents to Go.

More entertainment: Users can browse all websites and watch online videos with ease thanks to Adobe Flash Player 10.3. Plus, with DRM, they can rent movies in every available format. At a later date shortly after launch, users will also be able to both rent or buy movies to play off-line with a new application Lenovo will pre-load.

More social networking: Users can access an entire network of friends and social sites all in one place, with Lenovo’s exclusive SocialTouch app, which effectively creates a one-stop social connection. And since one picture is still worth a thousand words, the Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 comes with a two-megapixel front-facing and a five-megapixel rear-facing webcam.

More true HD: Users can watch movies and videos in breath-taking HD on a 1280 X 800 resolution screen. The mini HDMI connection allows up to 1080p HD viewing when connected to an HDTV or monitor, resulting in a powerful visual experience.

More cloud sharing: Users can sync, store and share files, music and photos with more integrated cloud storage, and less reliance on their local storage.

More Apps: Users can access hundreds of thousands of apps in Android Market and apps tested exclusively for premium function on the IdeaPad Tablet K1 in the Lenovo App Shop.

Who are Lenovo?

From their website:

Lenovo creates and builds exceptionally engineered personal technology, but we are much more than a tech company. We are defining a new way of doing things as a next generation global company. That means we are years ahead of the game in terms of understanding what it will take to win 5, 10 years from now.

Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, Lenovo builds on its dominant position in China to grow globally. The expansion from East to West – such as by introducing our newest products in China and then spreading across the globe – is a new way of viewing the world, one we believe will be the way of the future.

That focus on the future is based on a strong history of success that is driving results today. Long the leader in China, Lenovo is growing rapidly and winning market share in all parts of the world. This balanced growth is what has made Lenovo the fastest growing major PC company and enabled us to consistently grow faster than the market.

Achieving optimal balance in all that we do is Lenovo’s operating philosophy. This mind-set encompasses every aspect of Lenovo’s business, from balancing leadership with consensus-building, to valuing both short- and long-term thinking. As a result, we have created a balanced business model and strategy that take maximum advantage of profit and investment across both core and new businesses. The result is balanced performance and market share growth across all regions, customer segments, products and business models.

Our mission is to become one of the world’s great personal technology companies. We aspire to achieve this objective by leading in three key areas:

• Personal Computers: Lead in PCs and be respected for our product innovation and quality.
• Convergence: Lead the industry with an ecosystem of devices, services, applications and content for people to seamlessly connect to people and web content.
• Culture: Become recognized as one of the best, most trusted and most well-respected companies to work for and do business with.

Specifications

• NVIDIA® Tegra™ T20 1.0GHz Processor
• Android™ 3.1
• 10.4” x 7.4” x .5” and less than 1.7 pounds
• Up to 10 hours battery life
• Up to 1GB DDR2 memory, up to 64GB SSD storage
• Integrated Bluetooth® and 802.11b/g/n WiFi connectivity
• MicroSD card reader, mini HDMI connector and optional docking port
• Integrated front (2M) and back (5M) mounted webcam