Chinese manufacturer Lenovo just took the wraps off its new tablet line-up at MWC 2015 in Barcelona. It showed off two Android tablets, the Tab 2 A10 and the Tab 2 A8, as well as an 8-inch Windows 8.1 tablet called the ideapad MIIX 300. Combining decent specs with low, low prices, they’re sure to generate some interest.
Lenovo Tab 2 A10
This one is designed to attract movie fans and gamers as it combines a 10.1-inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel, IPS LCD display, Dolby Atmos surround sound through the multi-speaker system, and a whopping 7,200mAh battery for up to 10 hours between charges. It’s pretty slim at 8.9mm, and not much heavier than the iPad Air at 509g.
Inside you’ll find a 64 bit quad-core MediaTek processor clocked at 1.5GHz which is backed by 2GB of RAM. There’s an 8-megapixel main camera with a front-facing camera rated at 5-megapixels. On board storage is 16GB, but you can enhance that with a microSD card up to 32GB in size. You’ll find the usual support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS, and there’s a 4G LTE version as well.
Disappointingly, it ships with Android 4.4 KitKat, but an OTA Lollipop update is slated for June. The good news is the price tag. Lenovo will be offering the Tab 2 A10 for just $200. You can snap one up in white or blue from April.
Lenovo Tab 2 A8
Here’s Lenovo’s 8-inch Android tablet and it has shed more than a few pounds when compared to the A10. The processor drops to 1.3GHz with 1GB of RAM. The 8-inch IPS display has a resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels. The cameras drop to 5-megapixels and 2-megapixels respectively. It also has dual front-facing speakers with Dolby Atmos certification. Storage is the same 16GB (except for the black version which drops to 8GB) with an optional extra 32GB via a MicroSD card.
Once again, there is a 4G LTE version available. The battery is rated at 4,200mAh, so you’re looking at a maximum of around 8 hours of life. It’s every bit as svelte as the A10 measuring 8.9mm and it weighs 330g. The good news is that it will ship with Android 5.0 Lollipop and it will only cost $130, but it doesn’t hit stores until June.
Lenovo ideapad MIIX 300
If you’re looking for a Windows 8.1 tablet, this one could very well tempt you. There’s an 8-inch IPS display with a 1,280 x 800 pixel resolution, the processor is a quad-core Bay Trail Atom from Intel backed by 2GB of RAM. There’s a microSD card reader and up to 64GB of internal storage. You’ve got a 5-megapixel main camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.
There’s no mention of Dolby for the single stereo speaker, no GPS listed on the spec sheet, and the battery delivers up to 7 hours of life between charges. It’s a little chubbier than the Android offerings at 9.3mm and it weighs 360g. It comes in silver with a full year’s subscription to Office 365 and it’s going to cost $150 when it lands in July.
