The Lenovo S500 Android tablet has been launched at IFA 2013, offering a budget Android tablet that is a direct rival to the Nexus 7 2.
Like the Nexus tablet, the Lenovo S5000 is a 7-inch screen Android device intended for those who want a portable tablet that doesn’t cost the earth.
It will sell for £179.99, making it £20 cheaper than the Google tablet.
Lenovo S5000 Features
However, its specs are less impressive too. Its screen uses a resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels, which is markedly lower than the Nexus’s 1,920 x 1,200 pixel screen. However, it does use an IPS display, offering sound viewing angles.
A quad-core 1.2GHz Mediatek 8389 processor runs the Android 4.2 software at the Lenovo S5000’s core, and the tablet is equipped with 1GB of DDR2 RAM.
3G comes as an option with the Lenovo S5000, but you’ll have to pay more than £180 for this version of the tablet. The 3G SIM sits in a little tray on the tablet’s left edge, as the tablet’s rear appears to be non-removable.
Memory is non-expandable, and the Lenovo S5000 comes with 16GB of internal storage as standard.
Lenovo S5000 Design
The Lenovo S5000 is a low-end Android tablet, but it is super-portable. It’s just 7.9mm thick and weighs a mere 246g (Wi-Fi edition), making it much thinner than the entry-level rival Asus MeMO Pad HD 7.
Other features include a 5-megapixel rear camera, a 1.6-megapixel front camera and a 3,450mAh battery that will last for up to eight hours of use according to Lenovo.
The Lenovo S5000 isn’t priced aggressively enough to make it a truly appealing alternative to either the cheaper Asus MeMO Pad HD 7 or the more capable Google Nexus 7 2. However, it marks a stepping-up of Lenovo’s game compared to its previous Android tablets, which tended to offer lesser-quality screens and much chunkier bodies.
The Lenovo S5000 will go on sale in Q3 2013 for £179.99 in the UK.
Next, read our full Nexus 7 2 review
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
