First Impressions: Lenovo A1000

Lenovo is the latest big-name entry in the budget Android tablet space in India after Acer, Asus, and Samsung others have been present in the market for quite sometime now.

The China-based brand has launched its A1000 and A3000 tablets priced at Rs 8,999 and Rs 16,000. We take a close look at the A1000 and find out whether Lenovo has managed to bring out a viable budget tablet option in the 7-inch display size segment.

Features and Hardware

Talking specs, the A1000 packs a 1.2 GHz dual-core MediaTek processor along with 1 GB RAM and based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean version. The tablet comes with 4 GB internal storage space, expandable up to 32 GB thanks to microSD card slot on the tablet. The tablet has been fitted with a 0.3 MP front camera purely meant for video calling.

In terms of connectivity, the A1000 offers voice calling support (SIM card slot), 2G only, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and microUSB among others. A1000 is probably the first budget tablet to pack Dolby Digital speakers which we have seen before on the Kindle Fire HD. The tablet is loaded with a 3,500 mAh battery and Lenovo promises back-up of 7 hours with web surfing.

Performance

The A1000 is well built with good quality plastic and underneath the back cover; Lenovo has added some extra material to negate heating up. The display is mere 1024x600 pixels resolution, same one available on Acer Iconia B1. The tablet is on the heavier side at 345 grams and thick in size as well.

The speakers on the tablet have been placed on the front as Lenovo aims to target the A1000 to young consumers who prefer tablets for media and multimedia purpose. We tried out a few games like Subway Surfer, Dead Trigger, Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja on the tablet and the overall gaming experience on the A1000 was quite satisfactory with no heating issues and major lagging.

The front camera is good enough for average quality video calling and the Radio FM on A1000 worked well even while indoors. Due to lack of time, we could not test the calling quality, battery backup and other performance related testing.

Conclusion: The A1000 priced at Rs 8,999 feels slightly outdated, on the heavier side definitely and with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean running out-of-box we will leave our final verdict till the full review.