U1Hybrid
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Lenovo LePad set for a global June LeLaunch
Lenovo's ready to get specific with dates now that Google's got itself an honest to goodness tablet OS. A company spokesman said that its LePad tablet -- first announced by that name back in June 2010 but previewed at CES all the way back in January 2010 -- will ship in its home country of China in March before making its way to the global stage in June. Unfortunately, Lenovo isn't saying anything about final specs or which countries are first on its list -- we already knew it was coming to the US in 2011. The company's also not talking price. Last time we saw LePad in January it was sporting Android 2.2 with a custom "LeOS" skin riding a 1.3GHz Snapdragon processor and 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel display with a price just north of $500. Question is: will Lenny set it free with vanilla Honeycomb or will it feel compelled to apply the LeOS skin in order to avoid becoming just another Android tablet?
Lenovo LePad tablet and IdeaPad U1 Hybrid return with Android 2.2 in tow
Remember last year at CES 2010 when Lenovo made a huge scene with the tablet / netbook U1 Hybrid, which ran Windows when docked and Lenovo's Skylight Linux in tablet mode? And then Lenovo killed Skylight in favor of Android and put everything on hold? Well, it's back -- and we just got some serious hands-on time with production-ready Chinese versions of what's now being called the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid with LePad tablet. Things have substantially changed for the better in the past year and since we saw a pre-pro model last month -- in addition to Lenovo's skinned version of Android 2.2 (called LeOS, sigh), there's now a newer 1.3GHz Snapdragon in the LePad and an 1.2GHz Intel Core i5-540UM in the U1 base, with an optional i7 available. Switching from Windows to Android just requires disengaging the latch on the base -- the flip to Android is basically instantaneous, while getting back to Windows takes a few seconds. The U1 base is much nicer than the unit we played with last year -- it's been restyled and features a chiclet-style keyboard and dimpled trackpad. Best of all, the LePad now features a 10.1 1280 x 800 capacitive multitouch display, instead of the floppy resistive unit we saw last year. Both pieces are pretty thin individually, but docked up it makes for a pretty chunky laptop -- but you are getting two machines for the price of one. Now for the bad news -- the LePad will run for about $520 when it arrives in China this quarter, but the full U1 kit will run $1300. There's also no US availability or pricing right now -- and Lenovo told us the U1 won't hit the States until it runs Android 3.0, so we could be waiting months while the company reskins the OS. And we might have to wait even longer for Lenny to retool the LePad to meet that supposed dual-core CPU requirement -- but then, it's already been a year. We can wait a little longer, we suppose. You know, for love. Video and PR after the break. %Gallery-112528% %Gallery-112532%
Lenovo LePad and U1 Hybrid early hands-on
Believe it or not, it's been almost a year since we caught a look at Lenovo's IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, and while we've heard numerous times that the device and a new tablet part -- the LePad -- were still kicking, we've got some rock solid evidence this time around. Okay, we got some of the best evidence out there -- pictures and early impressions of the China-bound 10.1-inch LePad tablet and its U1 dock / shell. Now, we don't want to get your hopes up too much -- we didn't get to spend all that much time with either of the units and they were in very early form, but that didn't stop us from playing around with both of them and taking some notes. Interested? We thought so. Hit the break for a short rundown and don't forget to peruse the gallery below on your way. %Gallery-111893%
Lenovo LePad to ship in December, IdeaPad U1 Hybrid dock slated for January 2011
Seeing that swiveling Dell Inspiron Duo earlier this week immediately made us think of the other really enticing tablet / laptop we've been waiting for... Lenovo's IdeaPad U1 Hybrid. To recap: it was over eight months ago that the company unveiled it at CES only to tell us a few months later that it was being shelved for the time being. However, we're hearing now that it's definitely still kicking! According to Lenovo, the 10.1-inch LePad (the tablet part of the U1 Hybrid) will be released in China in December running some version of Android. The LePad (apologies for repeating the name, we just love saying it in a French accent) will then be greeted in January by its "hybrid option" -- a separate case containing a keyboard and laptop guts. Lenovo didn't have any updates on the internal specs of the docking / hybrid part, though we're assuming it'll still pack some sort of Intel processor and Windows 7 to transform it into a real life laptop. Unfortunately for now, Lenovo's saying the LePad and the Hybrid part will only be available in China, but we're gonna keep wishin' and prayin' that both actually see the light of day and journey across the rough seas.
Lenovo's Skylight and U1 Hybrid being revived with fresh Qualcomm silicon?
What's this? A new sliver of hope in a dark, lost world? Before you throw your hands up and shut your eyes, you should know that all of this is coming from Digitimes, so taking it all in with an unhealthy dose of salt is highly suggested. According to them, Lenovo is actually planning to eventually ship its Skylight and IdeaPad U1 Hybrid (yeah, the two machines that were kinda-sorta shelved a month ago), but with far different specifications. For starters, they'll rely on Qualcomm's recently announced dual-core processor line, and rather than using the now-nonexistent Skylight OS, they'll both rely on Google's Android. If all goes well, the official launch will occur before the dawn of 2011, but there's no solid word on when they'll actually ship. In related news, there's also word that Toshiba will be readying a smartbook in its long-standing Dynabook line, with NVIDIA's Tegra 250 under the hood, a 10.1-inch panel and Android running the show. Now, who's up for seeing if any of this actually comes to fruition?
Lenovo kills Skylight OS in favor of Android, U1 Hybrid and Skylight smartbook being shelved
Lenovo's been awfully quiet about the Skylight smartbook and U1 Hybrid tablet / laptop since it first showed them off at CES, and now we know why: following weeks of rumors that the custom Linux-based Skylight OS wasn't up to snuff, the company is killing the project entirely in favor of Android. That makes a lot of sense, considering Lenny's already shipping a Skylight-skinned version of Android on the Snapdragon-based LePhone, but it also means that the Skylight smartbook and U1 demoed to us at CES are done for as well -- Lenovo's statement says the "initial version of the Skylight" is being "shelved" and refers to the U1 as a "concept." We spoke to Lenovo for clarification and it sounds like things are in considerable flux at the moment: the company told us it wants to tap into Android's apps and ecosystem, but it's invested something like 18-24 months into building Skylight OS products and it's going to rethink and retool while it transitions to Google's OS -- although the underlying ideas of the Skylight and U1 Hybrid will live on in future devices, neither will come to market as announced. We were also told that Lenovo is now targeting Q4 as a launch date for Android-based devices, so we'll see what happens -- it'll be a sad day for the gadget world if the U1 fails to live on in some way.
Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid: laptop by day, unhinged tablet by night
We're still trying to wrap our heads around what Lenovo's just announced here, but it appears that the 3.8-pound IdeaPad U1 Hybrid is a 11.6-inch laptop with a retractable multitouch screen. It's sort of like the Always Innovating Touchbook, but in our opinion a lot more interesting. When the screen is locked into its upright position in the laptop's chassis, it's powered by a CULV Intel Core 2 Duo processor and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. But when the screen is pulled from its shell it morphs into a Qualcomm Snapdragon powered-multitouch slate with a 16GB SSD that boots Lenovo's customized Skylight Linux interface. Two processors and two operating systems? Hybrid is right. It seems like we'll have to wait until June to buy the $999 device, but we've been promised a look at it in Vegas so stay tuned. Updated: Hit the break for the press release. %Gallery-81440%
