Lenovo IdeaPad K1 review

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Let's do a roll call, shall we? Who doesn't have a Honeycomb tablet to shill in the states? Acer, ASUS, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba all have something to their names, with Dell possibly bringing its China-only Dell Streak 10 Pro here too. Until now, Lenovo was one glaring exception. The company already had a head start selling the LePad tablet in China, but it was only last month that it announced not one, but two Honeycomb slates for the US market: the IdeaPad K1 for mainstream consumers, and the ThinkPad Tablet for business users (and a fair share of geeks, too). Now, we could easily roll our eyes at how saturated the market for Android tablets is becoming, but Lenovo isn't just any old OEM. The brand has won such an avid following that we bet the company could have essentially slapped its name on a plain-Jane black slab and waited for loyal fans to line up.

In fact, though, you're in for a bit more than name recognition. The K1 goes after mainstream consumers with a winsome design, sure, but also a software package designed to make Honeycomb easier to use, and to help ensure that flummoxed, low-tech users don't have to spend too much time downloading apps out of the box. What's more, it ships with Android 3.1 and has a two-cell battery like IBM 08K8199 Battery, IBM 08K8198 Battery, IBM 08K8197 Battery, IBM 92P1075 Battery, IBM ThinkPad R40 Battery, IBM ThinkPad R32 Battery, IBM 02K7054 Battery, IBM ThinkPad A20 Battery, IBM ThinkPad A20M Battery, IBM ThinkPad A21M Battery that promises up to ten hours of battery life. Oh, and the 32GB model rings in $499, undercutting the 32GB iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 by $100. But is that enough for it to stand out? Let's see.

Like so many other Honeycomb tablets, the K1 packs a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 SoC. Mainstream consumers might look at us cockeyed if we told them the performance could be zippier -- for those folks, the performance should be plenty fast. But more discerning techies will likely notice some lags when minimizing and opening apps. The screen was also often slow to switch orientations as we flipped from landscape mode to portrait and back, and more than once the display was unresponsive, leaving us tapping multiple times before the tablet did what we wanted it to. In general, we tend to say that all Tegra 2 tablets have some obvious performance limitations, but the K1 felt pokier than others we've tested. Indeed, its score of 1,448 in the Quadrant benchmark falls short of the 1,546 and 1,584 that the Thrive and 10.1 notched. And while we try not to put too much stock in benchmarks, we think these numbers are telling, given our anecdotal experience with the device.



Also, not to beat a dead horse, but at some point during our testing, we took a break to play with the 10.1, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. It's hard to tell how much of that was the 10.1's solid-yet-lighter build, the bright display, or the quick performance, but boy, did we miss it. The 10.1 is markedly faster, and the difference becomes painfully obvious when you play with the two side by side. The 10.1 is quicker to respond to taps and swipes, its screen rotates faster, and it opens and minimizes apps more briskly.

Benchmark	Score
Quadrant	1,448
Linpack	32.77 MFLOPS (single thread) / 61.33 MFLOPS (multi-thread)
Nenamark 1	30.1 fps
Nenamark 2	19.6 fps
Vellamo	945

The K1 has a 2-cell, 7400mAh battery that promises up to ten hours of battery life -- the same claim made by the iPad 2. In our standard Toshiba PA3641U-1BAS Battery rundown test (movie looping, WiFi on), it lasted eight hours and twenty minutes, matching the Motorola Xoom and falling about ten minutes short of the TouchPad. But it doesn't approach the Galaxy Tab 10.1's ten hours nor the iPad 2's ten and a half, which seems like a problem given that the K1 is markedly chunkier. If a tablet's going to be bigger, we want it to make up for it with longer battery life and / or more robust performance. The K1 doesn't quite do that on the longevity front, though it did have a much better showing than the Thrive, which lasted just six and a half hours in the same test.

	Battery Life
Lenovo IdeaPad K1	8:20
Apple iPad 2	10:26
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1	9:55
Apple iPad	9:33
HP TouchPad	8:33
Motorola Xoom	8:20
T-Mobile G-Slate	8:18
Archos 101	7:20
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook	7:01
Toshiba Thrive	6:25
Samsung Galaxy Tab	6:09
ASUS EeePad Transformer	Ran a different test

The IdeaPad K1 is cute, (relatively) affordable, and easy to use, and we know it'll be a sensible choice for some shoppers. We're just not sure that's you, our dear, tech-savvy readers. See, the K1 has two big strengths: one, it's aggressively priced, starting at $449 for 16GB (granted, that version's not on sale, so if you buy today, it's going to be the $499 32GB model). The other major thing the K1 has going for it is simplicity. Lenovo's tweaked Android 3.1 so that settings are easier to find and apps are a cinch to kill. It also comes with an array of popular apps (or bloatware, if you're cynical). Factor in the attractive design, and we can recommend this, particularly for people with budget constraints, or those looking to give a techie gift to a not-so-techie person. Those things aside, the K1 is heavier than most tablets, and doesn't justify its heft with additional ports, extraordinary battery life or even zippy performance. If you didn't want ports anyway, and know your way around Honeycomb without Lenovo's help (thank you very much), why not just get something thinner, faster, and longer-lasting? Or, you know, at least stick around and see how Lenovo's geekier ThinkPad Tablet fares.

Hewlett Packard Jornada 820

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It's very rare that you get a piece of kit in for review that makes you re-evaluate what you want from a computer, but the Jornada 820 is one of those beasts.

The first thing to mention here is that the 820 is pushing the limits of what you can actually call a PDA. It's more of a sub-notebook, but then again it runs Windows CE, which is part of the attraction of this device. It brings together the best of both worlds, but more on that later.

The 820 is the top-of-the-range device among the Hewlett Packard (HP) CE PDAs. With dimensions of 246 x 178 x 33mm and weighing in at 1.1kg, it's a lot larger than any of the Windows CE handheld devices on test here, but it is still relatively diminutive when you compare it to a full notebook.

One of the benefits of its larger size is that there is very little compromise when it comes to inputting data. You are presented with an excellent keyboard, that is responsive and has plenty of travel. The good news for those who expect to do a lot of typing is that it is comfortable to use for extended periods. Just below the keyboard you'll find a touch-pad. This is slightly smaller than those you'll find on a notebook, but because the 820's screen isn't as big as that of a laptop, you don't need as much surface area to navigate the screen.

The only problem we found with the keyboard is that it doesn't tilt, so when you're using the device on a flat surface your hands are at an uncomfortable angle. Nevertheless, most people are likely to use the 820 on the move, where you are more likely to be resting the unit on your knees, giving you a better typing angle anyway.

The other advantage of the larger form is that HP can afford to kit out the device with a pretty impressive colour screen. While the CSTN technology used is a little outdated, the screen is bright, displays vibrant colour and offers a very respectable resolution of 640 x 480. The viewing angle, while not amazing, is easily good enough for everyday use. If you're working at a desktop, you can even plug the device into a standard desktop monitor via the VGA port at the rear of the unit.

If you venture round the back of the unit, you'll also find a USB connector nestling next to the VGA port. We tried plugging a Microsoft USB Intellimouse into this and it worked first time without even pausing to load a driver. This was a true demonstration of plug-and-play, but then again there aren't many other USB devices that come with Windows CE drivers. HP says that Y-E Data's Flashbuster-U floppy drive will also work, but we haven't tested this. It's a great shame that you can't make use of the USB connection to transfer files between the 820 and a desktop PC; instead you are stuck with the slower serial option.

To the right of the USB port you'll find the telephone connector for the modem, which is a 56K model. While the modem's performance is not wonderful, it's still a welcome addition. If you feel you can do without the modem, you could always opt for the 820e model.

On the rear you'll also find a 4Mbits/sec IrDA port, which is a nice location for it, as it means you can leave another device communicating with the 820 while you type away at the front of the unit. Other slots and ports can be found on either side of the device. The right-hand side is home to the Compact Flash card slot, the AC port and the serial port, while the opposite side sports the PC Card slot and the battery backup compartment.

The main battery slot is underneath the unit much like a laptop battery such as Hp Pavilion dv9000 battery(Hp dv9000 battery), Hp EV087AA battery, Hp EX942AA battery, Hp Pavilion ZT3000 battery, Hp 337607-001 battery, Hp 337607-003 battery, Hp PB992A battery, Hp PB994A battery, Hp PB991A battery. The only difference is that with the 820 you get a whopping 10 hours of battery life, due to the lack of moving parts and general efficiency of the device.

Synchronising the device to a PC is simply a matter of loading up Windows CE Service 2.2 on the PC and making sure both devices are set to communicate at the same speed. We had no problem transferring contacts and appointments between the device and Outlook 2000.

As far as software is concerned, you get the full Pocket office suite. HP has also included some extra utilities, such as settings applets for the VGA port and the touch-pad. There are also some extras on the CDRom bundled with the device, such as software to allow you to print directly from the 820 and Outside In email attachment viewing software from Inso.

All in all, the Jornada 820 is a joy to use. The keyboard is touch-typing friendly, the screen looks great and the supplied applications take care of all your daily needs. If you were thinking of buying a laptop, but wanted something a bit smaller yet still with a long battery life, the 820 is the machine to go for.