Lenovo Reveals Plans for 3 Tablets, Smartphone, Smart TV

Lenovo plans to launch a cloud-based service for sharing content, an internet-connected Smart TV, three IdeaPad S2 tablets and and an IdeaPhone S2 smartphone.

Computerworld reports that Lenovo revealed three new tablets and a new smartphone during a company-sponsored event. The devices will initially launch in China under the "Le" branding (LePad, LePhone) and will eventually be released internationally using the "Idea" branding (IdeaPad, IdeaPhone). The company also revealed plans to launch a Smart TV product in the first quarter of next year.

According to the company, the new LePad/IdeaPad S2 tablet will arrive in 5, 7 and 10-inch models. The latter two will sport Google's Android 3.2 operating system backed by a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor. Both will also feature a user interface designed to resemble a checkerboard (sounds a bit like Metro) which will consist of square icon tiles that connect to applications and services. Given that these will launch in China first, the 7- and 10-inch tablets will support Unicom's WCDMA and Telecom's EVDO networks.

The 10-inch model actually surfaced last week. Reports claimed that the tablet will be powered by a 1.6 GHz Tegra 3 SoC and feature 2 GB of 1,600 MHz DDR3 RAM, a standard USB host socket covered by a pop-out flap, a back-facing camera of unknown resolution, and a "special fusion-skin body." A fingerprint scanner will also be mounted on the back that will double as an optical joystick.

As for the 5-inch model, Lenovo said that users will be able to make telephone calls directly from the device. It will support Unicom's HSDPA data network, and run Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" on a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor. This is likely the same 5-inch tablet that appeared last week featuring a micro-USB port, HDMI output and a front-facing camera.

Despite announcing the upcoming Smart TV, Lenovo didn't provide any additional details other than it would be an Internet-connected product and named "IdeaTV" for the international market. The company also refrained from offering details on its second-generation LePhone/IdeaPhone S2 other than it can take panoramic, 270-degree photos.

Also in the works is a new cloud-computing strategy for automatically synchronizing content -- whether its personal information, social networking info, documents or multimedia -- between multiple devices. Users will also reportedly receive 200 GB of space for virtual storage.

"The PC, communications and TV industries are currently undergoing a 'smart' transformation," said Liu Jun, president of Lenovo's mobile-Internet and digital-home-business division, in a statement. "In the future, users will have many smart devices and will desire an integrated experience of hardware, software and cloud services."

We expect to see more info about the new products during CES 2012 in January.