#ZINIO READER ANDROID TABLET UPDATE#

The result is very appealing, with useful and innovative tweaks. The company has clearly reimagined Android 3.x, through a mix of widgets and overlays. With the IdeaPad K1, Lenovo takes a middle-of-the-road approach. Only Samsung plans a complex rework of the interface, with its TouchWiz overlay, due to roll out in August to the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

So far, most manufacturers have stuck with the stock Android interface, opting for widgets ( Acer Iconia Tab A500) to simplify access to specific apps, or making minor tweaks to the home screen buttons (as Asus did on the Eee Pad Transformer) to make them cleaner. While tablets still have plenty of room to distinguish themselves in overall design, performance, and display quality, weвЂ™re increasingly seeing subtle, and not-so-subtle, fixes to the Android 3.x interface. As it stands, you charge via the docking port, using a wall charger (and you get a separate cable for connecting to your PC). Granted, this is not common among tablets today (the Toshiba Thrive is one example of a tablet that uses a more standard charger), but considering that Lenovo, like Toshiba, is a PC-centric company, I would have liked to see such a dual-use charger. The advantage of such an adapter is that one can use a single charger for both laptop and tablet, and just switch out the tips accordingly. I appreciate the desire to keep a card from falling out accidentally, but requiring a pin to open the door is a bit much.ДЄnother disappointment: Lenovo didnвЂ™t use its standard laptop-style AC adapter. But the microSD card slot is annoyingly designed: To open the flip-out door, you must use a paper clip or something similar to release the door. I also liked the natural and unobtrusive placement of the headphone jack (again, provided youвЂ™re using the tablet in landscape). I liked how sturdy and distinct the buttons all felt even the volume buttons reflected thoughtful design, with the volume-up button logically situated on top of the volume down buttonвЂ“if youвЂ™re holding the IdeaPad in landscape orientation. At back, youвЂ™ll find the 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flashвЂ“an uncommon feature in tablets. One oblong, central home button is to the right of the display (if itвЂ™s held in landscape at the bottom if held in portrait).

This is a healthy number of inputs for a tabletвЂ“itвЂ™s more than what weвЂ™ve seen on many othersвЂ“but not as many as whatвЂ™s on the sibling ThinkPad tablet, or on the input-laden Thrive. A 2-megapixel front-facing camera is centered atop the display a micro-HDMI port, a headphone jack, and a docking port run along the bottom edge and power and volume buttons, screen-rotation lock, and a microSD card slot run along the left side. The IdeaPadвЂ™s design favors a landscape orientation. Which is to say, itвЂ™s usable, but like other tablets topping 1.5 pounds, itвЂ™s too heavy to hold at length in one handвЂ“even with the pleasing contours of the edges. That weight slightly exceeds that of the Toshiba Thrive, which weighs 0.05 pound less, but the distribution of components inside the IdeaPad actually makes it feel lighter than the Thrive. The tablet weighs 1.65 pounds, which puts it among the heaviest Android tablets weвЂ™ve seen so far. It measures 10.4 by 7.4 by 0.5 inches, making it noticeably wider (by more than half an inch) than the Thrive, and about as wide as the Apple iPad 2 (which has a 4:3 aspect ratio, compared with the IdeaPadвЂ™s 16:10 ratio). Outside, the IdeaPad has a stylish, distinctive design.

#ZINIO READER ANDROID TABLET UPDATE#

WeвЂ™ll update this review with our full PCWorld Lab test resultsвЂ“including battery life and recharge times, and the performance and display testsвЂ“as soon as those results are ready. The grid looked identical to what IвЂ™ve seen on the Thrive and the Xoom, among others. I did note the fine-line grid of the touch sensors, though, and found its presence distracting on many of this Lenovo unitвЂ™s screensвЂ“particularly on white backgrounds. The viewing angle was actually a bit better than that of the Thrive, likely because the air gap between the display and the outer glass is smaller on the IdeaPad than it is on the Thrive. The display looked good overall, on a par with the Toshiba ThriveвЂs and the Motorola XoomвЂs (which are good but not outstanding), and I found that on some images, the IdeaPad had better color saturation.

Zinio reader android tablet