Rumored Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet Coming This Summer
Lenovo is adding to its ThinkPad lineup this summer
Lenovo is adding to its ThinkPad lineup this summer with a dual-core, single-panel tablet running Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), according to online rumors. According to Web reports the device wil sport an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core chip, 10.1-inch display with 1280-by-800 resolution, front- and rear-facing cameras, full-size USB 2.0 port, micro USB port, 3-in-1 SD card reader, mini HDMI, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. The device would reportedly weigh 1.57 pounds, come in 16, 32, and 64 GB storage flavors, and pricing would start at $500, according to a slide deck obtained by This Is My Next, a new site run by a team of Engadget alumni.
It's not clear what the name of the rumored tablet might be, but could be called either the ThinkPad Tablet of the Think Slate, This Is My Next says.
Business Focus
While the rumored device sounds like a fantastic tablet for the average user, the so-called ThinkPad Tablet appears to be geared primarily towards business users. One slide obtained by This Is My Next says the tablet is "for the on-the-go business pros, and the IT managers that support them." The purported ThinkPad Tablet features a host of business-friendly features such as a stylus input option, remote PC access through Citrix Receiver, Cisco enterprise software support, device and SD card encryption, remote wipe, and McAfee security software. The device may also have a laptop shell with a physical keyboard so you can use the device as a netbook.
Lenovo's purported tablet would also come with the usual consumer-friendly Android apps such as the Android Market, and Google-branded apps including Gmail, Maps, Latitude, Google Talk and search.
The rumored ThinkPad Tablet sounds like an impressive offering, and if it comes in at the promised price point on the slide deck this could be a serious challenger to Apple's iPad. But at this point it's not clear if the device is the real thing or just an idea under development at Lenovo. This Is My Next claims to have sources that say this product is in active development, but the device is obviously subject to change before (and if) it surfaces.
It's not clear when Lenovo's rumored tablet would launch this summer, but This Is My Next is betting on a July or August launch
Check out This Is My Next's slide deck for more details.