Lenovo recently presented their medium range Android Tablet called IdeaPad K1 and blogs like engadget already published reviews for it. As expected this tablet doesn’t come with groundbreaking technical specs, but has a low price tag (499$) which makes it attractive for customers which don’t want to spend much more than 500$ to get the thinnest and lightest tablets out there (i’m looking at you Galaxy Tab 10.1).
Generally Lenovo’s first Android tablet won’t win any design prices, but the technical specs are up to par with most of the other tablets on the market:
– 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
My main problem is the HUGE amount of preinstalled apps. The official Lenovo K1 product page mentions 30 apps. In the past people have complained about bloatware when some manufacturers included 3-4 apps into the default Android mix, but this Lenovo tab is on a whole new level. You get a number of games, books reader, news apps, communication apps and tools. Some people might think this is a nice move, but i actually prefer to decide on my own which apps i need. All optional apps just waste storage and screen estate, especially as it’s not even sure if you can potentially uninstall them.