Kindle Who? Lenovo's $199 Tablet Up for Pre-Order

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Lenovo

Amazon's Kindle Fire isn't the only $200 tablet in town. Lenovo's IdeaPad A1, a 7-inch Android slab, is up for pre-order, starting at $199. Lenovo expects these budget tablets to ship on October 27.

The IdeaPad A1 runs Android 2.3 and has a 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, front- and rear-facing cameras and a 1024-by-600 display. The $199 model comes with 2 GB of built-in storage, plus a microSD card slot, and $50 more will get you 16 GB of storage instead.

(MORE: Eight New Tablets and Ultrabooks You Should Know About)

Spec-wise, it's worse than Amazon's dual-core tablet. I'm guessing it won't be as smooth as the Kindle Fire, and it won't have Amazon's vast digital storefront and super-simple interface built in. But it will include access to the Android Market and Google services without any tinkering on the user's end. That alone makes Lenovo's tablet an intriguing option for bargain-hunting Android users.

Although Lenovo lists the IdeaPad A1's $199 price as a "sale," I wouldn't worry too much about that. Prices for Android tablets are going down, not up, and Lenovo would never get away with selling this tablet for its $349 list price. If the IdeaPad A1 piques your interest, but you'd rather wait until it's actually shipping, I'm sure it'll still cost $199 as the holidays draw near.

(MORE: Amazon's Kindle Fire and New Kindle E-Readers Closeup)

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TECHNOLOGY, Samsung Galaxy tab 8.9 Tablet; pre-order Oct. 2

Samsung announced on Monday that the Samsung Galaxy tab 8.9 Android Tablet is now available for pre-order, and ship October 2.
The 16 GB tab 8.9 is priced at $469 and 32 GB tab 8.9 is priced at $569. Note: prices for Galaxy tab 10.1 tablets with similar capabilities are only about $30 over its tab, 8, 9 counterparts.
The tab 8.9 showed first from earlier in this year, together with the Galaxy-tab 10.1 at the CTIA Show in Orlando. It was originally expected to be delivered in the summer of 2011.
Samsung Galaxy 8.9 is tab TabletThe tab 8.9 only the second tablet, to send the screen size. What we have already seen is this size-T-Mobile G slate-showed that 8.9 inches could indeed be a dark horse-sweet-spot for the breakdown. It is a nice compromise between the bigger screens of tablets such as Apple's iPad 2 and the tab-10.1 and compact 7-inch models, such as Acer Iconia tab A100.
The Galaxy-tab-8, 9 may a smaller screen than the 10.1 tab, but it corresponds to the 10, 1-inch sibling in one respect: it measures only 0.34 inches deep.
In my tests I found the G Board to have pleasing proportions in the hand. It is large enough to enjoy the view and get much words on the screen, but small enough be unobtrusive. His rival, the G slate was bulky and felt the every bit his 1.39 pounds. This question should be no problem with the tab, 8.9, which weighs only 0.99 kg; This is 0.25 of a pound less than its sibling, the Galaxy-tab 10.1.
The new Tablet TouchWiz UX interface has some strong features for customization, as well as for image processing and interface tweaks bodies navigate the Android operating system 3.1 honeycomb easier than using the Commons Combs. Samsung has a whole range of services for consumers (his Media Center, music hub hub readers and social hub are all available) and the Tablet provides also features for business users, such as support for Exchange Active Sync version 14, on the device encryption, Cisco VPN, and WebEx.
In addition to the officially launch the tab 8.9, Samsung presented his plans for the Wi-Fi-Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0. The Galaxy player is essentially a phone-free version of the company's Galaxy Android phones, displayed players offer 4 and 5-inch, respectively, and will be for $229 and $269, or to sell.
Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0The-Player-Idee is good. These petite plastic plates are Smartphones such as Mini tablets or contract free (without phone capabilities). With one of this Galaxy player get all of the Android app and media playback goodness of a Smartphone Samsung without the monthly invoice. It is certainly a strategy that works for Apple with the iPod touch, except this player does have bigger screens than Apple's.

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