Impressions and Conclusion

I tested the rear-facing camera on the ThinkPad under the same conditions that I did with the Acer and received about the same results. Simply put, tablet cameras aren't very good; none of them. You lot'd accept similar or ameliorate luck with a basic smartphone camera. Something similar Apple's iPhone 4 would hands put these to shame. The aforementioned goes for video recording quality – it's but not a high point for the ThinkPad.

Lenovo sent forth the optional pen ($forty) for our evaluation, which works with the Due north-Trig DuoSensor digitizer. The first of only a few possible places to use the pen is in the pre-installed Notes Mobile app. This app essentially turns the tablet into a notepad, allowing you to use the pen to take notes or draw directly onscreen. You tin can elect to go on your dictation as-is or have the app transcribe it into a few dissimilar fonts. Icons at the superlative of the screen command how you write and allow you lot to undo, redo and erase text.

Unfortunately this app still has a style to go earlier I'd consider taking it into a meeting. Even when trying to be precise nigh my handwriting, the app had trouble and got the translation wrong. Furthermore, it would draw lines where my palm rested as I was writing, resulting in undesired lines that would sometimes be translated into random letters. Overall it's a good concept that works fine sometimes but information technology'due south not reliable enough to supercede a pen and notepad just nevertheless (go figure!). Software updates could change this in the future, however.

Other uses for the pen include cartoon apps and editing PDF files but aside from that, the pen likely won't get much use as it's easier to navigate the tablet using your fingers. If you lot opt to non buy the pen, yous're left with a rather odd looking hole in the tablet where the pen would normally be stored.

The ThinkPad Tablet'southward display operates at the same resolution as the Acer Iconia Tab we tested a few months ago. Both displays showed about the same quality of colour reproduction, viewing angles and effulgence merely the ThinkPad did not take the distracting gridlines of the Acer, especially when using it in direct sunlight.

Although information technology won't exist as large of a business for business users, one area that Lenovo clearly dropped the ball is audio. The single speaker is positioned on the edge of the tablet where, when property the unit in portrait mode with my left hand, blocked the port. If that weren't bad enough, the speaker itself is the most underpowered speaker I've ever used on a tablet or notebook. When watching a Television evidence on Netflix, I could barely hear the audio even when the organisation was at max volume. During our battery test which consisted of running the movie Inception until the battery died, the Video Role player application wouldn't even pick up voices in the motion-picture show – only occasional loud noises or groundwork music. Things were slightly better in YouTube just not by much. If you programme to listen to music or sentinel videos on this tab, a set of headphones are virtually a requisite.

One other thing I want to mention is the full-size USB port which is tucked away behind a sliding door. Initially I thought this was a corking idea until I tried to utilise my MSI flash drive with the port. Considering the port is tucked so deeply into the tablet, the flash drive wasn't fully able to plug into the port and I couldn't utilise it (an extension would be a less than platonic solution). 1 could but blame the flash drive's design merely this is the showtime time I've had a problem with this thumb bulldoze on any system.

To test the bombardment on the ThinkPad Tablet, I gear up the screen brightness to roughly 70%, disabled auto-brightness and loaded a 720p rip of Inception for continuous playback until the battery expired. The ThinkPad was good for v hours and 42 minutes of usage. In contrast, the iPad 2 lasted 10 hours and 25 minutes under the same test conditions and the Acer Iconia Tab was good for 6 hours and xviii minutes.

Aside from the pen and a few fundamental Lenovo apps and UI changes, the ThinkPad tablet isn't very different than other Tegra 2 Android tablets. Much like I concluded with the Acer Iconia, it's not a bad tablet at all simply either the Tegra 2 processor or its combination with Android Honeycomb are showing some age at this indicate. Apple'southward iPad 2 is smoother all effectually, from navigating the web to scrolling through menus and launching apps.

There are things that Android does meliorate than Apple. Connectivity on the ThinkPad Tablet is good, with both an SD menu slot and the USB port. In that location'southward also the micro USB connector and mini HDMI port, neither of which are found on the iPad.

If y'all are dead-set up on the stylus pen, the ThinkPad Tablet could be the Android tablet for you. If you are an IT professional person or a ThinkPad fan, again this could be worth your consideration. But if yous can stand to wait a bit longer for Tegra 3, I recollect the performance benefits of four processing cores, improved graphics and Water ice Foam Sandwich volition exist worth the wait.

Pros: Proficient selection of ports and expansion options, preloaded with business apps, quality brandish.

Cons: Terrible audio, mediocre battery life, relatively thick and heavy.