Best 2012 Lenovo Ideapad A1 22282MU 7-Inch Tablet (Black)

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches ; 14.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B005UBT7LW
• Item model number: 22282MU
  

By : Lenovo
Price : $234.99

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description
The Lenovo 7" IdeaPad Tablet A1: Comes with everything except a hefty price tag.
If you're always on the go and always online, look to our 7" IdeaPad A1 Tablet, a compact yet rugged multimedia device that runs on the Android™ 2.3 operating system. Affordable, slim and with an eye-catching black design, the A1 Tablet is also durable with a magnesium alloy roll-cage internal frame that protects the critical system components in case of accidents or jolts. It's preloaded with more than 10 useful apps, and with access to both the Lenovo App Shop and the Android Market, thousands of apps are just a click away.

Lenovo IdeaPad A1 Tablet
KEY SPECIFICATIONS

• TI^® 3622 (Cortex-A8) 1GHz single-core processor
• Android™ 2.3 operating system
• 7" LED (1024x600) capacitive multi-touch display
• 512MB LP DDR memory, 16GB SSD (Solid State Drive) storage
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth^® connectivity
• Less than 1/2" thin — 7.6"(H) x 4.9"(W) x 0.47"(T)
• Micro SD card reader and a Mini USB port
• Integrated front (0.3M) and rear (3M) webcams

INSPIRE CREATIVITY

• Connect in style — the A1 sports a sleek, contemporary design
• Solid as a rock — internal frame that protects the critical system components

GO THE DISTANCE

• Ultraportable — the A1 weighs in at less than 1 lb (0.88 lbs)
• Micro SD card reader and a Mini USB port for easy connections to other devices
• 16GB SSD (Solid State Drive) of storage

CAPTIVATE ; ENTERTAIN

• Web-optimized with Android 2.3 and instant synching
• Integrated front (0.3M) and rear (3M) webcams
• Adobe^® Flash^® support for vivid animation and video playback
• More than 10 preloaded apps, plus the Lenovo App Store and the Android Market ensure ready access to thousands more

Technical Details

• Texas Instruments OMAP 3622 (1GHz)
• 16GB SSD; 512 MB LPDDR2 600MHz
• Dual camera 0.3/3.0 MP
• 7.0" SD LED Glare Multi-touch with integrated camera 1024x600
• Android 2.3 Operating System

 

Lenovo Ideapad A1 22282MU 7-Inch Tablet (Black)

 

Customer Reviews

After what seemed like forever waiting for a 7" tablet that was designed to be a tablet, with a capacitive screen, GPS, bluetooth, a camera (this has two) and all of the standards (not requiring cell service) for an affordable price (and not being a China wanna be), I thought I finally hit gold with the A1. I actually pre-ordered this directly from Lenovo prior to common availability. Well, to sum it up briefly, it's tons better than any China Wanna Be of any size, but only ties with a converted B;N Nook. ("converted meaning: rooted and using either a Gingerbread or Honeycomb formatted SD.)
The processor lags compared to Nook. If surfing the Market or the web, you're really never quite sure if you hit the back button because of the lag. Kinda annoying when you discover you've lost you're search or closed out of a program because of this.
Although the resolution is the same as the Nook, the quality and light sensing of the Nook is by far superior.
The touch sensing is equal to the Nook. At times it is very sensitive - unless it's edge sensing. Like the Nook, it sometimes gets a bit persnickety.
The cameras aren't to compare to today's phone or digital camera standards, but this isn't a phone or digital camera and wasn't designed as such. They do the job exactly as I would expect them to. (Skype is claimed to not work, however other video chat clients have been reported to.)
The GPS rocks. Plain and simple. No data/Wi-Fi required as long as you use a locally installed Nav program. Lenovo includes a limited (one state) nav program just for this. If you hotspot your phone for a data connection, you can use Google's Navigation which is also included. (GPS does not work within buildings but does fine in a car in a wooded area.)
Bloatware? I wish all devices came like this. MOST of them can actually be removed without root! It only came with the standard Google apps (including Market), Lenovo's Market (awful), the Nav app, Kindle, a help program, eBuddy (one stop social networking), Documents To Go, iheartradio, esFile Explorer, and mSpot Movies. That's it! Koodos to Lenovo for this.
Battery life? Nook takes this, too. Constant use is about 5 hours. Depsite its common micro usb charging port, ONLY the Lenovo cables will work to charge.
Speakers? A1 takes the trophy. By far. Really good and loud sound - which is great for audiobooks! But keep in mind, this is a tablet. Not an iPod. Not a stereo.
Design. The Lenovo wins. It feels a lot more sturdy than the Nook. And the back doesn't pop off like the Nook's does. The microSD slot is a lot easier to access. The volume buttons react better because of a slight bump in the buttons that make them easier to push. (The pictures of the A1 make it appear to have both a micro and a standard SD Slot. Looks are deceiving. The standrd SD is NOT a standard SD Slot - its a speaker.)
As a side note, the A1's hard buttons (menu, home, back) only light up if you touch them. Considering the black frame, and incredible unlikelihood that the user is psychic, I feel that was a pretty poor choice of design. At least it has them, though. (To remedy this, I put a screen protector on it, then used white out to put dots below the buttons so I could see them.)
So in summary, if you're looking for tablet to read, check the news, watch videos in a hotel room, listen to stuff, or to look cool in office meetings as you record them, then the A1 is perfect for the price. If you don't need the stable bluetooth, GPS, decent speakers, and a microphone, save the $50 and go with the rooted/hacked Nook Color.
FAQs: No there is no standard size USB port - just the micro. No there is no HDMI port. No it will not be upgraded to Honeycomb. This is a single processor device that can not support it correctly. Being a former user of Honeycomb, I haven't missed it. You will NEED to replace the standard Launcher with another like Launcher Pro, ADW Launcher, or Go Launcher EX. The included Launcher is EXTREMELY slow. The review was written on my Lenovo A1 tablet.

Although on Amazon is pre-ordering, mine was bought earlier from lenovo official website (It's a 2G version, so I'll need to buy a 16G or 32G sd card soon). Lenovo a1 seems tough-build. The size is exact the same with my kindle 3 but double the thickness because I can put my kindle 3 case on it, tightly. I don't think you need screen protection film. The screen looks and feels like a thick glass. very bright, I even had to dim the light to the lowest. A1 is very easy to use. So far no lag time. Everything so fast (maybe it's new and I do not have many apps yet?) One offline GPS apps called Navdroyd. It was not a full version since it's free which only allows you to download a chosen state map. I guess you can buy the full version from android market for $7. Another apps named Navigation doesn't seem to work without wifi. Anyways, the Navdroyd has turn by turn and speak street names correctly (tried highway and local small rd both). There's lot of input languages to choose from. picture and video quality is fine. I have to say comparing to iphone 4s picture quality it's not as good but it's not bad at all. One thing I love it is the convenience. Using USB. Basically just drag files between your PC. Then you can back up and read doc excel pdf epub mobi mp3 mov, you name it (of course you have to have the good apps from android market which are usually free too). Much easier than that sync thing for iphone and itures. Music played smoothly. I recommend qqplayer to watch video since it plays all kinds of formats. I did try use adobe flash apps then played web flash, it worked. I don't know what will happen since I just heard adobe flash ceased mobile business. I have only used this tablet for 2 days, so I can't guarantee it will be good forever. But I really love it for this price and this quality.