Waiting for a device to bridge the gap between tablet and laptop? Lenovo has an option that just might appeal to you. The Lenovo LePad (is that French for “The Pad”?) is a slick Android 10.1-inch tablet that looks like it could be a nice iPad challenger. It’s going to run Android 2.2 and feature 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and will support Adobe Flashplayer 10.1. It appears to have a custom UI that Lenovo has placed on top of it, and judging from the screenshots, it looks nice. What’s more, you’ll have a couple of options available to you if you want to convert to a more “laptop” experience. It will have a very slick-looking dock with full keyboard available for it, although the price on that has not yet been announced. Or, you go straight for the full experience. If you’re willing to drop the $1300, you can get the setup you see above: the IdeaPad U1 dock will let you slide your tablet into it and it will give you the option to boot up in Windows 7 (or seamlessly transition between Win7 and Android, accord to the press release) for the more “traditional” laptop experience. Although the price tag is a little steep at this point, I love the idea, and I hope that it inspires more manufacturer to consider options like this.
No word on availability outside of the Asia market (where it’s on sale today) at this point, but we should see it hitting our shores in the near future. The tablet itself will run about RMB 3,499 ($529) and the IdeaPad U1 Dock will run RMB 8,888 ($1,342). I assume at that price it includes the tablet, but it’s specifically stated in the press release. As always, more info as it becomes available. Full press release after the break, and more pictures available at the source link.
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