Despite Microsoft's (arguably) best attempts, Windows 8 has yet to catch on in the way that the Redmond giant had previously hoped. As a result, many once-faithful PC manufacturers are starting to eye Chrome OS and Android as an alternative point of focus. For Chinese manufacturer Lenovo that apparently means releasing an Android 4.2-powered laptop, the Lenovo A10.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about the A10, which was unintentionally revealed by Lenovo earlier this month, but now we have a price tag: roughly $249. For that budget price you get a 10.1-inch HD laptop with a 1.6GHz Rockchip CPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage and a battery that is said to make it through about nine hours of video playback. There's also stereo speakers and an integrated .3MP webcam on the front.
The A10 can be flipped around into “stand mode” for watching movies and comfortably using the touchscreen, but it can’t be folded flat and used as a full tablet. In order to make Android 4.2 more useful when in “laptop mode”, Lenovo includes a customized user interface that features a special app launcher, task bar, status bar for quick access to library/desktop, and even a built-in file manager.
We have to wonder though, why even bother?
Chrome OS is a much better desktop OS and with the recent introduction of "desktop apps for Chrome" is starting to evolve into way more than just a stand-alone web browser. Although Lenovo doesn’t give us an answer to that question, we imagine it might have to do with Android brand recognition having more weight in emerging markets, where the device appears to be targeted at.
Specifically, the Lenovo A10 will be sold in the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and parts of Europe sometime in the ‘near future’. Lenovo has no plans to bring the device to North America at this time.
What do you think, would you consider an Android powered laptop like the A10 for your basic computing needs, or would you rather stick to a more traditional desktop OS?
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