Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet: Business Competitor for the ASUS Transformer

"Lenovo is getting into the tablet game in a big way, announcing three slates: the Android-based IdeaPad K1 and ThinkPad Tablet as well as the Windows 7-powered  IdeaPad Tablet P1. The two Android tablets feature Android Honeycomb 3.1, 1-GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processors, and 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 screens. Both should be available for pre-order today, with the IdeaPad Tablet P1 not shipping until Q4 of this year."

A competitor for the ASUS Transformer tablet has arrived from Lenovo: the Android-powered (Honeycomb) ThinkPad Tablet. Courting the business user, the ThinkPad Tablet has a tough Gorilla Glass display, and enterprise features like encryption, IT manageability, a full-sized USB port, Computrace security software, Citrix remote access support, and full stylus support for pen ($30) or finger input. An option will be a ThinkPad-style keyboard dock ($99).

"The IdeaPad K1, priced at $499 for the 32GB model, weighs a reasonable 1.65 pounds and supports 10-point multitouch gestures. Ports include a micro SD card reader, micro HDMI out, and mic/headphone jacks. Other benefits include support for DRM content so you can download protected movies to the device, free 2GB of Cloud storage, Lenovo’s SocialTouch software, and access to both the Google Market and Lenovo’s own Android app store."

A pretty generic Honeycomb tablet, but with a bright IPS display, Lenovo's Launcher, and Lenovo's App Shop. For users that are scared of native Android, this tablet adds a UI-layer that hides the underlying OS. Otherwise, it's pretty generic but with a better screen, another source for apps, and some additional apps pre-loaded. For $499, this seems to be a decent competitor to the iPad 2.