Hardware
Lenovo Invites You to “Work Smarter” With the ThinkPad Tablet [Video]
The ThinkPad Tablet from Lenovo is a new Android tablet that is coming down the line rather quickly. In addition to being one of the first Android tablets with Netflix support, it is optimized for productivity.
Continuing on the “For Those Who Do” ad campaign, Lenovo has put together a video highlighting the productivity features of the ThinkPad Android tablet. This video highlights how it can help students work smarter.
While the iPad has stylus accessories and a number of keyboard cases, Lenovo is banking on the optional digitizer pen to simplify text input on the device. There are a collection of other features that will help students and mobile workers get things done on the ThinkPad tablet including a ThinkPad style keyboard case, dual webcams and a collection of Lenovo approved apps that are tested to work well with the ThinkPad tablet.
Lenovo is taking a different approach in marketing this tablet, when compared to most other consumer slates (even the IdeaPad tablet), and that’s a good thing. Instead of competing to entertain, Lenovo is going to compete to get work done. Whether or not consumers and students respond to this type of ad will take some time to tell, but Lenovo can capitalize on its existing partnerships to sell the Android tablet to companies.
I recently put Android Honeycomb to the test for productivity and found that Android beats the iPad in productivity tasks for my use case. This may not be the same for every user, but if you need to view several documents or pages and keep in constant communication with coworkers Android is worth a closer look.
ThinkPad Tablet Handwriting
Have you been waiting for a tablet to meet your productivity needs and help you “work smarter,” or are you still using your tablet mainly for entertainment purposes?
shonangreg
08/12/2011 at 3:11 am
This ThinkPad tablet looks great, but:
– we need a demonstration showing how closely the N-trig DuoSense screen tracks the stylus — with both moderately fast handwriting and with drawing fast, smooth curves.
– we need to see this demonstration done in a quiet room to hear if the stylus makes a loud clickety-clack.
– We will need notes software with OCR that produces and works with standard file formats that can be shared and viewed with other apps on other platforms. Having all this information locked in a proprietary MyNotes file format is bad for the consumer. The only choice appears to be “exporting” segments of the MyNotes file. Give us html5 as a native file format, then we can share or edit anywhere — even sharing the documents on the cloud and editing them there with just a browser. Are we going to have to wait for adobe to offer this functionality for android tablets?
– No where have I seen a digital compass/magnetometer listed as being included. Is one there?
Brian Collins
08/12/2011 at 1:00 pm
It’s like I’ve found somebody with the EXACT same thoughts as me… I totally agree with everything you’ve written…
I hope Lenovo answers these questions soon, or a proper full independent review is out before the tablet goes on sale… Although I’m still tempted to pre-order one even without a full review…