Lenovo IdeaPad A1000 tablet: Value for Money

Lenovo has entered the budget tablet market in India with the IdeaPad A1000 primarily catering to those consumers who are music savvy and are looking at an on-the-move device at an affordable price. The A1000 is packed under a solid body and has been given sharp looks. The slate sports an average 1024x600 pixels display and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS. The battery on A1000 is non removable and can be dismantled only by removing the nuts placed at every corner.

The display looks slightly washed out and also weighs on the heavier side at 340 grams. Now, most of the tablets weigh in the same region but with its sturdy body, the A1000 is quite bulky compared to its rivals. In its defence we may say that this means a better product life. The performance however is quite average for a tablet which is now at par with the Nexus 7 (2012 model) in terms of price.

The 1 GHz dual-core chipset clubbed with 1 GB RAM is very basic for a tablet these days. Even then, we can't hide the fact that there were some notable lag issues that did not leave us in good taste. The call quality is good and unless you have network reception issues, the tablet makes for a viable calling device. The gaming performance of the tablet is something that left us wanting. With basic games like Subway Surfer, Temple Run there was obvious lagging and this does not help in the overall gaming experience on A1000.

The benchmark scores were pretty much what all budget tablets offer these days - the AnTuTu score read 9194, An3Dbench XL gave us 26065, Quadrant score was 3095 and Vellamo HTML5 got us 1215. This compared to Acer Iconia B1's (6490 on AnTuTu, 2905 on Quadrant) scores are better and with better RAM, this was to be expected. The A1000 only has a front facing VGA camera for video/ Skype chats and that's about it. We would have liked if Lenovo gave a 1.3 MP shooter instead. A1000 is Lenovo's latest attempt with a budget tablet (A2107 comes to mind as a recall) and by all means, the company is setting up itself for something better but frankly A1000 seems like a baby step. It caters to consumers who are price conscious but still want a value-for-money product.

The audio capability of the tablet is quite average, however the real value of Dolby Digital speakers becomes evident when wearing earphones and from there on the experience is quite decent for its price. Sadly, Lenovo has not bundled the tablet with earphones so you would have to use your own. The surprise element about the IdeaPad A1000 was its 3500 mAh battery. In our video loop test, wherein HD movies are running on loop via Wi-Fi at full brightness and volume, the tablet ran for than 3 hours with 30% juice still left in the tank. On normal usage, the tablet will last for more than 6 hours and for a calling based device that is under-par. But in terms of tablet life, this is pretty much what other budget tablets deliver.