The Lenovo IdeaPad A1 is a 7 inch tablet which runs Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Unlike many other tablets in its class, the little guy includes full access to the Google Android Market and has a GPS feature that works even when you’re not connected to the internet.
But the IdeaPad A1’s biggest claim to fame is the low price. When Lenovo started selling the tablet last week, the cheapest model cost just $199 — or less than half the price of Lenovo’s 10 inch Android tablets.
Now Lenovo has raised the price a bit. The least expensive version of the tablet now runs $229. That’s a kind of baffling move, as the IdeaPad A1 now costs more than the Amazon Kindle Fire or ViewSonic ViewPad 7e.
Update: As of 10/13/2011, the Lenovo Shop page has been updated to say the A1 tablet is temporarily unavailable for purchase. I checked with Lenovo, and the tablet is apparently out of stock for now, but it’s expected to return soon.Â
The $229 model has a black case and comes with just 2GB of storage. For $249 you can get a model with 16GB of storage and a black or whit ecase. The blue and pink options seem to have been temporarily removed.
Lenovo’s budget tablet has a 1 GHz TI OMAP 3622 single core processor, 512MB of RAM, a 1024 x 600 pixel display, a 0.3MP front-facing camera, and a 3MP rear camera. The tablet has 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1.
It’s the best in it’s price range because other never heard companies offer low quality tablets.When is this available in india?
irrelevant to me as i want the $249 16GB version, just need to know when it will be available in the UK………………?
“GPS feature that works even when you’re not connected to the internet.” This is good
ALL GPS modules work when not connected to the internet. However, some sleazy vendors advertise GPS when its only A-GPS (location by using network resources). Most GPS modules will use A-GPS to help speed time-to-first-fix. Its the MAPS (mostly) that need an internet connection.
now it’s no more listing: “This model is temporarily unavailable for purchase on lenovo.com”
The ship date has also changed – it was 11/1, now it’s 11/9.
I was keen on this thing until the iPhone 4S was launched with Bluetooth 4.0. I do some hardware fiddling and I’ve been waiting to see whether ANT or BT4.0 would hit the big time first. Now I have my answer! So come Android device makers, a good 7 incher with BT4.0 will be just the ticket.