Lenovo Goes After The Nexus 7 With a Revamped Lineup of Tablets

Posted 02/24/2013 at 12:26pm | by Justin Kerr

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Jelly Bean and aggressive prices, what’s not to like?

Mobile World Congress is underway in Barcelona, and while it is intended to be a smartphone focused event, tablets seem to be stealing all the headlines. Lenovo has added 3 new tablets to its 2013 lineup, and the entry level model bears a striking resemblance to Google's Nexus 7. It appears as though Lenovo believes they stand a better chance of wrestling market share from the budget / mid-range category, rather than going after Samsung and Apple on the high end.

All three of Lenovo’s new tablets will be running Jelly Bean, however the highest end S6000 will be equipped with a fairly unimpressive 10" 1280 x 800 IPS display. This makes it slightly better than the 2 year old iPad 2, but considerably worse than other high end tablets. Of course if Lenovo finds the right price for this 1.2GHz quad-core slate, then it might still be worth your attention. In terms of size the entire package is just 8.6mm (0.34 inch) thick, and weighs around 560 grams (1.23 pounds). 

On the low end the A3000 and A1000 will both ship with 7" display’s topping out at 1024 x 600, but will be marketed and priced “aggressively” according to company representatives on hand at the booth. The A3000 has a 1.2 GHz quad-core MTK processor, and users will have the option to buy an HSPA+ equipped version for a slight premium. The A1000 steps down to a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, and will feature Dolby Digital Plus for the audiophile tablet crowd. Both models will support microSD cards, however the A1000 can only handle a 32GB cards, while the A3000 can utilize 64GB versions. With only 4 and 16GB models being planned, it was probably a wise move offering the ability to add extra storage.

The new tablets should be on-sale in the US by Q2 2013, and as we mentioned earlier, will be priced to move.