In an already heavily saturated tablet market enters a new contender from Lenovo. Boasting a 7-inch screen at a reasonable price of $199, the Lenovo Ideapad Tablet A1--sexy name I know--is slated for release in the U.S. at the end of September according to Lenovo's Executive Director of Global Marketing Nick Reynolds.

The Good:

It seems a great lesson was learned following HP's Touchpad blowout: Decent hardware does not justify blotted prices. A tablet is a device still mainly used for data consumption and not creation. It doesn't make sense to be charging laptop prices for something in a category not yet flushed out--especially so, if it's in an ecosystem (webOS) lacking in app development. Having that said, hastily dropping prices to under manufacturing costs is probably not the best move either.

Pricing the A1 tablet at $199 might afford Lenovo a second glance from tablet shoppers.

The bad:

You get what you pay for. A lot of the main specs for the A1 are underwhelming: the single-core Cortex A8 processor and the dated Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system (OS) all scream second-rate tablet. Worst still, there is no confirmation that the A1 will ever receive and update to Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).

To sum up:

The price is great and the A1 does offer some unique features like a 32GB internal storage with Micro SD slot, a customizable UI not to mention an offline GPS for navigation. But, at the end of the day, the 7-inch screen, dated OS and underwhelming processor might render the A1 a gloried smart phone vis-a-vis: Samsung Galaxy Tab 7-inch.

Too long? Didn't read?

Lenovo says they're going to launch a 7-inch tablet for $199, but the specs are nothing to write home about.

Specs:

Screen size - 7-inches
Operating System - Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor - Single-core Cortex-A8 (ARM)
Storage - 32GB internal with MicroSD slot
Cameras - 2 (Rear and Front facing)
 
Weighs - 0.88 lbs
Thickness - 0.5 inches
Battery life - 7 hours

Release date: End of September

 

Lenovo's Ideapad Tablet K1