Mid-Sized Tablets Emerge With Lenovo's IdeaPad A2109 - InformationWeek

With 10-inch Android tablets going for around twice the price of 7-inch devices, there ought to be a market opportunity for mid-sized tablets, positioned halfway between typical 7- and 10-inch tablet price points, and offering most of the features of the 10-inch models. This appears to be the idea behind Lenovo's new IdeaPad A2109, a 9-inch tablet running Android 4.0. Does it hit the mark?

Lenovo rolled out its IdeaPad A2109 at the IFA show in Berlin last month as the first member a new "affordable" Android tablet series. It will be joined later this year by the A2107, an 7-inch model sharing many of the same features.

Lenovo's IdeaPad A2109: Android 4.0 on a 9-inch screen (click image to enlarge)

From its specs, it's clear that Lenovo's IdeaPad A2109 implements virtually all the features and functions we've come to expect from current-generation Android tablets. However, several concerns are worth mentioning.

One issue is that the A2109 is surprisingly heavy for its size. Due to its 20-ounce weight (just 1 ounce shy of the 10-inch Galaxy Tab 2 10.1), it's quickly fatiguing to hold the device in one hand when the tablet is positioned in portrait mode, as is commonly done with 7-inch tablets and eReaders. On top of that, the tablet's rather-slippery metal alloy casing, which tapers at the edges, makes hanging on to it with one hand a risky business. This is based on my experience, of course; I have medium-sized hands -- your mileage may vary.

A greater concern is the A2109's anemic screen brightness relative to other current-generation tablets such as the Galaxy Tab 2, Nexus 7, Kindle Fire, and iPad. Specifically, the A2109's screen delivers 260-290 nits of output luminance, while the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1's display is rated at 450 nits. This is not to say the A2109 isn't fully usable, provided you don't need to use it in direct sunlight. However, placed beside a Galaxy Tab 2, Nexus 7, or Kindle Fire, the difference is remarkable: the A2109's display truly seems about half as bright.

Inside the A2109

The A2109 is powered by a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, accompanied by 1GB RAM and 16GB flash storage memory. Other key features include a 9-inch diagonal 1280x800 pixel display, dual cameras, stereo speakers, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a beefy 6000 mAh battery. Lenovo says the tablet's "a metal alloy roll cage" case was inspired by the company's iconic ThinkPad laptops, although it's hard to see any overt resemblance.

IdeaPad A2109 specs vs. the 7- and 10-inch competition

The table below compares the A2109's features and specs to those of its most prominent 7- and 10-inch Android tablet competitors.

	Google Nexus 7	Lenovo IdeaTab A2109	Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
Processor	1.3GHz quad-core	1.2GHz quad-core	1GHz dual-core
RAM	1GB	1GB	1GB
Internal flash	8GB or 16GB	16GB	16GB
microSD flash exp.	no	no	yes
OS	Android 4.1	Android 4.0	Android 4.0
Apps market	Google	Google	Google
Display resolution	1280x800	1280x800	1280x800
Display area	22 in2	37 in2	46 in2
Display brightness	~ 400 nits	~ 275 nits	~ 450 nits
Front camera	1.2MP	1.3MP	0.3MP
Rear camera	no	3MP	3MP
Video output	no	yes	yes
Wi-Fi	yes	yes	yes
Bluetooth	yes	yes	yes
GPS	yes	yes	yes
Battery	4325 mAh	6000 mAh	7000 mAh
Continuous Netflix (full brightness)	~ 5 hrs	~ 5 hrs	~ 5 hrs
Size (in.)	7.8 x 4.7 x 0.4	9.3 x 6.5 x 0.5	10.1 x 6.9 x 0.4
Weight	12 oz	20 oz	21 oz
Price	$199 (8GB) $249 (16GB)	$299 (16GB)	$399 (16GB)

From table, it's clear that as the tablet sizes get larger, so do their battery capacity, weight, and cost. The graphic below indicates the relative size of the three tablet sizes.

Comparing three Android tablet form-factors

Note that although the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1's screen area is about one-fourth larger than the IdeaPad A2109's, it weighs a mere 1 ounce (5 percent) more than the IdeaPad does. I'll have more to say about that shortly, but first let's check out the Lenovo tablet's user interface, home screens, and apps.