Lenovo briefly shows ThinkPad Tablet in Brazil
updated 08:35 am EDT, Wed June 29, 2011
Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet seen live with dock
Lenovo's ThinkPad director Jaison Patrocinio in a media event Tuesday gave the first public viewing of the ThinkPad Tablet. The early glimpse showed the businesslike 10-inch design using Android 3 and an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. ZTOP notes that Patrocinio also had the rumored keyboard dock and that it had an optical pad to provide mouse-like input, not a trackpad.
The design will also support a stylus on the capacitive screen. It's not clear if the pen will be included or just an option.
In unveiling the design, Lenovo's executive promised that the company wouldn't get involved if it couldn't provide a "complete solution" and planned to both localize it and would have an app store, although it's unclear if this just meant Android Market or a Lenovo-specific store.
The IdeaPad K1 for home users is in "final development," Patrocinio said, but would only ship when ready. Pricing stands a chance of undercutting Apple's iPad, he hinted, since they would not only be comparable but "much cheaper." Of the Android 3 tablets on shelves, only the Eee Pad Transformer runs significantly below the iPad's $499 benchmark price and loses that advantage when paired with its own keyboard dock.
