With Android-powered ThinkPad line, Lenovo gets really serious

SINGAPORE – With the world’s No. 1 PC maker HP abandoning its tablet product, the No. 3 PC maker in the world Lenovo gets serious with its own tablet, taking advantage of the medium to enhance its business solution that includes ThinkPad-branded laptops and desktops.

Lenovo recently launched the ThinkPad tablet, the first Android-run tablet powered by a dual core NVIDIA Tegra2 mobile CPU that will cater to enterprise and commercial use.

According to Ronnie Lee, relationship Asean lead, Lenovo, the 10.1-inch screen ThinkPad tablet features physical attributes and an operating system that are customizable for functions and applications of the particular needs of any company.

He said the tablet has strong security and manageability features that organizations look for when getting a PC product for company use.

Unlike consumer Android tablets, the ThinkPad tablet—which runs on Android Honeycomb OS—features ports found in a typical notebook. It has a full-sized HDMI port and a full-sized USB port as well as an SD card slot and hardware keys for accessing Home, List and Back functions of the Android OS. It has also a pen stylus for functions such as checking data entries and writing signatures. It comes with dual cameras, one in the rear and another in front, for functions such as scanning a barcode or teleconferencing.

Its USB port has the capability to recognize hardware such as external hard drives. Its other functions include sereving as a dock for an external PC keyboard, especially since the tablet comes with an optional keyboard wrapped in a leather case.

The tablet is the first ThinkPad device that runs on Android system. Lee said the tablet will eventually feature a sync app that will tie together files from ThinkPad laptops or desktops running on Microsoft OS with the ThinkPad tablet.

By adopting NVIDIA hardware combined with the Android OS, the ThinkPad tablet offers good value for corporate users, said Lee.

“Android has the most extensive number of developers working on applications,” he said. “In this market, the tablet is just a gadget. What’s driving the business is really the apps.”

As a business tablet, the ThinkPad has an app called Good for Enterprise, which allows IT administrators to manage passwords for corporate e-mail. It also has access to the Lenovo Image Technology Center, where IT managers can access unique corporate applications, as well as share and distribute company-purchased or -developed apps to numerous devices. Users of the tablet can also have the ability to protect confidential data with security features, including SD card encryption, lost device disablement and anti-theft software.

The ThinkPad tablet, which features scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass and IPS display technology, will be available locally next month.