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The Lenovo IdeaPad K1 is a 10 inch Android tablet with a 1280 x 800 pixel display and an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor. It was the first Android tablet Lenovo released in the US last year, but since then the company has introduced a range of other tablets including a ThinkPad tablet and new models with 7 and 9.7 inch displays.

But Lenovo hasn’t forgotten about the folks who bought the K1. This week the company released a software update which lets users install Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on the tablet.

The update provides a stock Android experience without any special apps, launcher, or other customizations from Lenovo. That sets it apart from the Android 3.1 and Android 3.2 software that has been available for the IdeaPad K1 up until now.

Lenovo isn’t rolling out this update automatically — and installing it will wipe all of your apps and data. If you want to hang onto those things, you might want to root your IdeaPad K1 and use Titanium Backup to backup all your apps and settings before upgrading the OS.

The company says it will no longer be offering over-the-air updates for the IdeaPad K1, but if you root your tablet you also open the door to installing custom ROMs, which may allow you to upgrade to Android 4.1 or newer operating systems even if Lenovo ceases support for the K1.

via Engadget