The ThinkPad Tablet is a
tablet computer
A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...
made by
Lenovo
Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, Personal computer, personal computers, ...
as part of its series of
Android-based tablet devices and is targeted towards business users. Lenovo's tablet offerings are available in both
ThinkPad
ThinkPad is a line of business-oriented laptop computers and tablet computers, tablets designed, developed and marketed by Lenovo, and formerly by IBM until 2005, when IBM's Personal computer, PC business was acquired by Lenovo. ThinkPads have ...
and
IdeaPad
IdeaPad (stylized as IDEAPΛD and formerly ideapad) is a line of consumer-oriented laptop computers designed, developed and marketed by Lenovo. The IdeaPad mainly competes against computers such as Acer's Aspire, Dell's Inspiron and XPS, HP ...
variants. While the ThinkPad Tablets are designed for business, the
IdeaPad tablets, like the laptops of the same name, are meant for home and personal use. These tablets are different from Lenovo's
X Series tablets, which are laptop/tablet hybrids and which use
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
as their operating system.
Description
Released in August 2011,
the ThinkPad Tablet is the first in Lenovo's line of business-oriented Tablets with the ThinkPad brand. The tablet has been described by Gadget Mix as a premium business tablet. Since the Tablet is primarily business-oriented, it includes features for security, such as anti-theft software, the ability to remotely disable the tablet, SD card encryption, layered data encryption, and
Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...
Virtual Private Network (VPN).
Additionally, the ThinkPad Tablet is able to run software such as
IBM's Lotus Notes Traveler.
The stylus could be used to write notes on the Tablet, which also included software to convert this handwritten content to text.
Another feature on the Tablet was a drag-and-drop utility designed to take advantage of the Tablet's touch capabilities.
This feature could be used to transfer data between USB devices, internal storage, or an SD card.
Slashgear summarized the ThinkPad Tablet by saying, "The stylus and the styling add up to a distinctive slate that doesn’t merely attempt to ape Apple’s iPad."
The ThinkPad Tablet was discontinued upon the launch of the
Windows 8
Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for downl ...
-based
ThinkPad Tablet 2
The ThinkPad Tablet 2 is a tablet computer announced in 2012 and released by Lenovo in 2013.
The Tablet 2 is the successor to the original Android-based ThinkPad Tablet, and was one of the launch tablet devices for the touch-oriented Microsof ...
in October 2012. At the same time, Lenovo discontinued the use of Android on its ThinkPad-branded tablets; subsequent models, beginning with the Tablet 2, have exclusively used
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
as their operating system.
Design and development
David Hill of Lenovo said he believed the ThinkPad Tablet to be "the weapon of choice for business success".
In his article on the development of the Tablet, he indicated that every design detail was subjected to multiple design reviews, including basic elements such as the placement of the logo.
Digitizer pen
![Tp tab pen2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Tp_tab_pen2.jpg)
A challenge was indicated to be designing and integrating a digitizer pen into the Tablet, which already had a "crowded interior".
This required a study of pen barrel diameter and the balancing of batteries, digitizer technology components, ergonomics, and storage space constraints for the pen itself.
Additionally, dowel rods were used for diameter studies and sharpened pencils were used to study the appropriate length with users.
The final pen developed based on this was 120 mm long.
Folio keyboard
![ThinkPad Tablet with keyboard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/ThinkPad_Tablet_with_keyboard.jpg)
The ThinkPad Tablet was launched with an optional, dedicated .
The folio offered a Lenovo keyboard and an optical trackpoint.
The presence of this folio was appreciated by PC World as well, with the reviewer calling the folio the Tablet's best feature.
The folio was designed to offer users of the ThinkPad Tablet a typing experience similar to that of a ThinkPad laptop, as well as cursor control.
The full-size keyboard on the folio reputedly offered users the same typing experience as that of the ThinkPad X1.
Using a standard strain gauge based TrackPoint would have increased the folio thickness, making it necessary for innovation in the implementation of cursor control.
Optical sensor technology was chosen for this, providing capabilities for traditional TrackPoint placement as well as the familiarity of a Touchpad.
ThinkPad Tablet Dock
The ThinkPad tablet dock is useful to charge the tablet. It only supports the tablet in vertical mode.
![TPTablet Dock 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/TPTablet_Dock_2.JPG)
On the back side there in audio output port, microphone input port, a micro USB port and support for the Thinkpad 20V power adapter. On its side it has a full size USB port.
Security
According to Lenovo, eight major security vulnerabilities typical for tablet devices have been addressed in the ThinkPad Tablet.
[
] These are:
*
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...
: The ThinkPad Tablet's internal storage device and removable SD card are encrypted via functionality built into the Android OS used on the tablet.
*
Anti-malware
Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware.
Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name. ...
: The ThinkPad Tablet offers McAfee anti-malware preloaded, with options to upgrade to a corporate managed anti-malware solution.
*
Data Leakage: Features on the Tablet allow the USB ports, SD card slot, camera and microphone to be disabled and controlled by an IT administrator.
The Tablet is certified by Good Technology, which encrypts email as well and prevents email data from being copied from the Tablet.
*
User authentication: In addition to Android's support for a user-defined PIN password, the ThinkPad Tablet also includes the capacity to lock the Tablet using Active Directory credentials.
*Application control: Lenovo offers preloaded images on the ThinkPad Tablet, allowing users to customize the applications on the Tablet.
Additionally, IT departments can create customized App Shops to restrict the applications that can be downloaded and installed to the Tablet.
The Tablet also included Citrix receiver, which allows businesses to host and run applications on their own servers.
*Anti-theft and recovery: The ThinkPad Tablet includes Absolute Computrace with Persistence, allowing Tablet data to be remotely wiped in case of loss or theft.
*Rooted device detection: The ThinkPad Tablet automatically detects if it has been rooted, sending a report to a company's IT department. This allows an IT department to determine if the Tablet should be retrieved from the user or if access to resources should be restricted.
Business-grade features
According to Matt Kohut, the ThinkPad Tablet is the industry's first business-class Tablet because Lenovo is "the only vendor who can provide a full suite of services to make our customers more productive and secure."
[
] He substantiated this by discussing the warranty on the ThinkPad Tablet, ThinkPad Protection, custom 'images' and asset tags.
The warranty on the ThinkPad Tablet was a standard one year which could be upgraded to three years.
This was indicated as being different from other Tablet warranties, which were anywhere between 90 days and a maximum of two years.
ThinkPad Protection was described as being a method to protect the Tablet against common accidents.
Again, Matt Kohut claimed that accidental damage protection was not on offer by many leading Tablet vendors, even at additional cost.
The custom image allowed businesses to deploy Tablets that adhere to company security policies and with company applications preloaded.
Finally, custom asset tags were also available and designed to attach to the bottom of the Tablet.
Specifications
The ThinkPad Tablet offered the following specifications:
*Processor:
NVIDIA
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
Tegra 2 Dual-Core 1 GHz processor
*Operating system: Android 3.1 (Upgradable to 4.0)
*Display: 10.1 inch, 1280x800, 16:10, IPS, multitouch display screen
*Weight: starting at
*Battery life: up to 8 hours
*Storage: up to 64GB storage
*Connectivity:
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
,
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
and
3G
*Ports:
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...
2.0, micro-USB, mini-
HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controller, ...
*Speakers and Connectors: SD card reader, Mini-HDMI out, SIM card slot (on selected models), mic, headphone
*Card reader: 3 in 1
*Camera: 2 megapixel (front), 5 megapixel (rear)
*Additional features: accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light sensor
Reviews
In its review, PC World listed the pros of the ThinkPad Tablet as the full size USB port and SD card slot, the optional keyboard portfolio carry
case, and the digitizer pen.
The cons were listed as the thickness (14mm) and the bland design.
The Tablet was described as serving "both work and play with key security and manageability features".
The Corning Gorilla glass display uses IPS (in-plane switching) technology and offers a 178-degree viewing angle.
Locked bootloader
Some models of this tablet came with a locked bootloader. This means if the Android software and Recovery Menu fails, the tablet will brick with a software error without a way to recovering it. The only solution Lenovo offers is to replace the motherboard of the tablet. Lenovo has explained that this happens because the tablet contains
DRM
DRM may refer to:
Government, military and politics
* Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd
* Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar
* Direction du renseignement milita ...
protected software and Lenovo proprietary code on the Android image.
Re: Thinkpad Tablet 1: Errors on Recovery Menu
forums.lenovo.com
Hardware issues
Users on different forums have reported that the following hardware components on this tablet are prone to failure:
* The on/off switch.[Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet](_blank)
forum.xda-developers.com
* The micro-USB port.
References
External links
Official website
{{Lenovo
Lenovo
Tablet computers introduced in 2011
Android (operating system) devices
Tablet computers