Typically when we talk about 2-in-1 tablets, we mean tablets that can also be used as notebooks. Lenovo’s going in a different direction with a line of “Smart Tab” devices that you can use as a standalone android tablet or put in a docking station to use as an Amazon Alexa-enabled smart display.
The Lenovo Smart Tab M10 and Smart Tab P10 will go up for pre-order this month for $200 and $300, respectively. Both ship with a Lenovo Smart Dock featuring stereo 3 watt speakers 3 microphones for far-field voice detection.
It’s basically what you’d get if Amazon’s Show Mode charging dock were more than a glorified kickstand… and designed to work with Lenovo’s tablets rather than Amazon.s
Both tablets feature 10.1 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel IPS displays and Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core processors. So if you’re wondering why one costs $100 more than the other, here’s a run-down of the other specs for each:
Lenovo Smart Tab P10
- 400-nit display
- Up to 4GB of RAM
- Up to 64GB of storage (plus microSD card slot)
- 7000 mAh battery
- 8MP rear camera (auto-focus) and 5MP front camera (fixed focus)
- 9.53″ x 6.57″ x 0.27″
- 0.97 pounds
Lenovo Smart Tab M10
- 320-nit display
- Up to 3GB of RAM
- Up to 32GB of storage (plus microSD card slot)
- 4850 mAh battery
- 5MP rear camera (auto-focus) and 2MP front camera (fixed-focus)
- 9.53″ x 6.61″ x 0.32″
- 1.06 pounds
Both models have USB 2.0 Type-C ports and 3.5mm headphone jacks, plus pogo pins for connecting to the dock. But only the P10 has a fingerprint sensor.
Basically the P10 is thinner, lighter, has more memory and storage, a fingerprint sensor, better cameras, and a bigger battery. Go figure.
Both models support 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2.
The docking station also supports Bluetooth if you want to use it as a standalone wireless speaker.
This actually looks like a great solution, exactly the kind of thing I was searching 😀
But I still have 2 questions I hope will get answered by Lenovo soon; is it possible to use the dock only as Alexa or with the tablet separated from the dock, and which version of Android is it using (from the look of it I guess a modified version a bit like the Amazon fire tabkets, without the Android market).
The tablet can toggle to show mode even when undocked so that’s interesting. And it’ll run Oreo 8.1 in the beginning