Lenovo IdeaTab S2110A

With Windows 8 around the corner, everyone's talking about convertible tablets. But don't forget that Android tablets, namely the Asus Transformer line, have been peddling that trick for some time now. New to the convertible game is Lenovo and its IdeaTab S2110A ($399/16GB list), a high-end Android tablet powered by Qualcomm's S4 processor, which is a departure from the more common Nvidia Tegra 3 chips we've been seeing in most competitors. The tablet's greatest asset is its optional keyboard dock, which adds a comfy keyboard, full-sized USB ports, and extra battery life. Without it, the S2110A would get lost in the mix of good, but not great large-screen Android tablets.

Design, Features, and Keyboard Dock
Lenovo tablets we've reviewed in the past, like the ThinkPad Tablet ?and IdeaTab S2109 , have been somewhat clunky and uninspiring in the design department. Luckily, the S2110A is a sleek and attractive tablet that looks high-end. At 10.2 by 7.0 by 0.34 inches (HWD) and 1.28 pounds, the all-plastic S2110A is thin and light for a 10-inch tablet. Despite its waifish dimensions, the S2110A felt relatively sturdy in my hands. There's a Power button on the top edge and Volume buttons along the right. The left edge houses a 3.5mm headphone jack, micro HDMI out, and flap covering a SIM card slot. Along the bottom are two slots that lock into the optional keyboard dock, with a micro USB port dead center. There are also two speaker slots along the side, which sound thin and harsh with distortion at top volumes. I noticed a minor issue with the fit of the outer plastic band against the glass screen, which left a bit too much space for debris to get stuck in and exposed a somewhat abrasive plastic edge.?

The 10.1-inch 1,280-by-800-pixel IPS LCD display is good, but not great. It's as sharp as the Asus Transformer Pad TF300, which shares the same resolution, and the Lenovo display gets a bit brighter. It still falls short of the 1,920-by-1,200-pixel displays found on the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 ?and Acer Iconia Tab A700 . Colors look accurate and the screen has a wide viewing angle.

There's a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with an LED flash and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Image quality is very poor, with excessive noise that imparts a decidedly purple cast on pictures. Forget about low-light shots, as the rear camera took blurry, unrecognizable pictures. The same goes for video, as 1080p video captured by the rear camera suffered from poor image stabilization, improper exposure, and waxy details that combined with a low 18 frames per second capture rate to make it look like an animated watercolor scene. The front-facing camera is serviceable for Skype calls, but don't expect anything better than washed out and grainy picture quality.

This is a Wi-Fi only tablet that connects to 802.11b/g/n networks on the 2.4GHz frequency, but not 5GHz. There's also built-in GPS and Bluetooth 4.0. Lenovo offers a 16GB model for $399 and a 32GB model for $469. We tested the 16GB model, which comes with 11.96GB of free space, but note that there is no microSD card slot on the tablet itself. Instead, a full-sized SD card slot can be found on the optional keyboard dock.

That optional keyboard dock is a must-have accessory. Without it, there are few features that distinguish this tablet from any number of similarly equipped, often more affordable, competitors.? The dock will run you an additional $100, more affordable than the $149 dock offered by Asus. The docks are remarkably similar, with a full island-style keyboard complete with a touchpad and tablet function keys built in.

With the press of a button, the S2110A slips easily in and out of the dock's hinge, which is a bit more robust than its Asus counterpart, though both are equally stable. The dock's keys are similar in size to Asus's, but they have a springier feel with a noticeably longer travel. It makes typing on the dock very comfortable, while the touchpad is moderately spacious and responsive. Key commands, like Ctrl+C for copy, work much like on a real laptop, though two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom are not supported by the touchpad. Two full-sized USB ports can be used with mice, keyboards, and USB storage devices.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/UmeO6W77nJ0/0,2817,2410728,00.asp

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