Lenovo IdeaPad K1 130422U 10-Inch Tablet (Black)

I wanted a tablet to read professional journals and preprints (like those on [...]) and to keep me entertained on flights. For the most part, the Ideapad K1 fits the bill.Right out of the box, most apps will work, including the documents reader. If you received one of the earlier shipped models, however, the promised Netflix app is missing, and many market apps will be unstable (I tried Google Sky). You need to perform an update which will provide Netflix and stability fixes (Google Sky works very well now).The included documents reader is a definite bonus for this tablet. For example, I'm able to read Office (Word, Excel, etc.) attachments on e-mail. I can download PDFs and read them comfortably. The PDF rendering speed is pretty zippy, fast enough that I'm not distracted by it while reading. For small-font, double-column text that's popular in many professional journals, it's easy to find a screen orientation and zoom level for comfortable reading. Panning around a zoomed-in PDF page is intuitive and smooth.The reception of the built-in wifi receiver is not as good as my laptop or IPhone. Typically, the signal strength on my Ideapad is 1 bar below my other devices. The signal strength icon is not just cosmetic; when the signal strength appears as 1 bar or below, web page loading and app downloads slow down considerably.I've also noticed that the wifi receiver can perform better or worse depending on the network. So far I've been connecting consistently with Wireless-G (802.11g). My Ideapad has played well with home and hotel networks, but it's been hit-or-miss with airport networks. At one airport, my laptop performed fine with fast webpage loads, but the Ideapad struggled. At another airport, there was no discernible difference in performance between Ideapad and laptop.One attractive feature of the Ideapad is that it has hardware DRM capability, which means that (in principle) you can download rented movies to watch offline, say, on an airplane. However, I have yet to find an app that will actually allow you to cache movies for offline viewing. The included mSpot movies app appears to support only streaming, as does Netflix and movies on the Android Market (which you have to watch via YouTube). I'm hoping that offline movie capabilities will appear soon.It's worth mentioning that the tablet has a built-in GPS and compass, so that augmented reality and navigation apps will work. The GPS capability is strangely missing from the product description on many sites.As is common for Android tablets, the Google mail and calendar integration is easy to set up.Overall, I'm very happy with the Ideapad, but then my expectations were minimal. I needed a good documents reader that could entertain me while traveling, and it's almost there. The only feature I'm missing is the ability to cache rented films for offline viewing.

This was a bad investment for me because you can't really download any applications from the Google Play Store at all. The version of Android is so old that you can't even update Android so that you can update apps. I had to send it back. The unit is very solid and very nice, it's just not capable of having modern applications. I will say that it came with a lot of existing applications that worked well

I purchased this tablet on Dec 15 as a Christmas Gift for my wife. I tried to snag a $339 ASUS Transformer during an Amazon Lightning Deal with no luck so I decided on this instead. On that particular morning the tablet was Amazon Prime eligible so I got it for $299 with free 2 day shipping. Later that day I decided to get another one for myself but the price went from $299 to $424 plus shipping in just a few hours. So I figured I'd shop around or wait until the price dropped again. Amazon is the only one out there that has this tablet available. I checked several other websites, including Lenovo and no one has them in stock. I contacted Lenovo and they told me they are completely sold out and won't get new inventory until the end of January.On Christmas morning my wife opened her gift. The battery was 60% charged. We first upgraded to the latest Android version.Now for the good and the bad based on my experience. Your experience may vary:Good:Beautiful 10.1" screenFast. A cluttered web page loads in no timeExtremely easy to connect to a network. I even set up my wife's smartphone as a mobile hotspot and connected her K1 within 2 minutes, in the car, while she was driving.Textured rear cover gives you a confident grip on the device no fingerprintsLenovo's UI is first rate. The main screen can be customized with you most used apps at your fingertips.The battery lasts for miles and miles.Preloaded with 30 apps like Documents to Go and others.Sound is much better than expectedI'm no longer a Netflix customer but Amazon Prime movies played great.The Bad:Fingerprints. Get use to it with any tablet you buy. I gave my wife my microfiber cloth I use to clean my sunglasses.A little heavy, a little thickThe placement of the power button sometimes got in my way and I accidentally put the unit to sleep.Several of the preloaded 30 apps are nothing more than trial versions. Pretty amateurish if you ask me.The rear facing camera is awful. Pictures are way too blue when used with the flash. I wouldn't hold this big slate up to take a picture anyway. It could block out an entire bus coming right at you.A thick tablet like this could have easily fit a USB port.My wife is trying to find some accessories for it. Not much to choose from.All in all this is a great device that I got for what I believe is a great price. My wife doesn't know what I paid but she absolutely loves it. It truly was a home run as a gift.When they do become available again and the price is right. I will get one for myself.UPDATE 1-5-2012: On Jan 3 Amazon was selling the K1 for $279 and free 2 day shipping with Amazon Prime. As promised, I got one for myself. I received it today, loaded a CRM app to keep track of my 4800 business contacts (I intend to use this for business)and it looks great. There are a lot of negative reviews and I have to wonder if the negative reviewers are updating the K1 to the latest Android version. I turned on my tablet and had to install 4 updates before it was current.UPDATE 2-5-2012: I upgraded my review to 5 stars. I took the K1 on a business trip from NY to Vegas. On the flight I watched a few movies I copied from my DVD collection and I listened to music as well. I flew nearly 6 hours with it running constantly and still had plenty of battery life to use it for work the rest of the day and evening. I found a remote PC app that allows my to log in and view my laptop screen from anywhere. All I needed is an internet connection and I found one in a Starbucks. I haven't carried my laptop in weeks. The K1 is all I need.

Update -This thing broke after two months of fairly light use. Lenovo - when I could finally find how to get ahold of the right department there - was of no help. It appeared well made at the start, but failed shortly after the 30 day return period. Total waste of money.---Original review:It has real aluminum trim, a rubberized back for easy grip and great fit and finish... which is nice compared to the tablets from samsung and others. The performance is smooth and it runs every app i throw at it. I get real life eight to ten hors of battery life. My wife has an ipad2, and honestly the only thing i like better about that is the default keyboard setup is more intuituve. This is a great android tablet, especially for the money.