Review Lenovo IdeaTab S2110 Tablet

Before even powering on the tablet, the first impression the S2110 gives is its extremely thin-and-light profile. Lenovo touted the tablet as “one of the thinnest and lightest” in its size category during its official reveal at IFA 2012 earlier this year, a claim we can surely defend. Indeed, other popular current-generation 10.1-inch tablets like the Transformer Prime and Galaxy Tab 2 are at least several tenths of a millimeter thicker and noticeably heavier to boot. Even a number of smaller tablets, such as the 9.7-inch 3^rd generation iPad and Sony’s 9.4-inch Xperia Tablet S, don’t hold a candle against the S2110 with regards to overall thinness and mass.

Besides the small footprint, users will also notice the rather square design of the tablet both front and back. The corners and edges are more distinct all around without any emphasis on curvaceous or rotund perimeters on the back casing to superficially reduce thickness. Because of this, the chassis appears more flat and defined to accentuate the sleek profile that much more clearly. The elegantly textured back is also a very nice touch that deters both fingerprints and glare. Despite this, keen users may still see the back casing as thin plastic and nothing more.

As with any super-thin or lightweight device, users may naturally feel concerned about the fragility and build quality. While not completely disappointing, the S2110 has only average resistance to pressure and twisting. The lack of metal alloys has helped reduced the weight to impressive numbers at the cost of a moderately twistable frame and a screen that can be visibly depressed ever so slightly with a firm press of a finger. Workmanship as a result is adequate when standing alone, but it is definitely an overall step down when compared to similarly-sized (and slightly thicker) competitors.

The non-backlit optional keyboard dock provides a similar array of Chiclet keys as found on a typical netbook. Individual keys are small as expected on a 25 cm x 9 cm surface area, so it may take some time for users with larger hands to become accustomed to the miniaturized size. Nonetheless, the dock is very well made and is designed with similar colors to the tablet. The dark silver front surface and textured black underside blend in well with the outer frame and backside of the tablet, respectively. Slight edge-to-edge twisting is possible only with a moderate amount of force and the keyboard can be visibly depressed with a firm push of a finger. Both have no bearing on everyday use and overall quality is very good nonetheless.

The weight of the dock itself is about 630 g with much of that mass attributed to the extended battery. The combined weight of around 1.2 kg with the tablet attached makes the entire setup feel very dense considering the small size. Since the unit is somewhat top-heavy, the hinge can move back unintentionally if opened close to its maximum angle, but it is otherwise satisfactory in holding the tablet firm when in a stationary position.

In terms of performance, the keyboard is excellent. Keys provide a surprisingly satisfactory amount of travel and feedback while staying very quiet as well. The first row of function keys is also very handy for quickly enabling/disabling wireless features and basic multimedia controls. The SD card reader can be a bit difficult to access without first lifting the dock at an angle, though this is only a minor issue. The only major drawback here is that the inputs will sometimes be delayed on the tablet, especially the Home and Print Screen keys which can take up to 2 seconds before it actually registers. Despite the diminutive demeanor and looks, we are pleasantly surprised by the performance and quality of the keyboard dock in general.

Touchpad

The touchpad itself (8.5 cm x 4.5 cm) is flat and works as intended, though not necessarily easy to use. Of note here is the very slight input delay from the time the finger moves across the touchpad to the time the mouse icon registers and can be a minor annoyance depending on the user. Multi-touch or even scrolling by finger is not supported here either (unlike the keyboard dock of the Asus Transformer Prime) since users are expected to use the touchscreen capabilities of the tablet instead. The left and right click keys are shallow with solid feedback and are not spongy at all. Still, we found it a bit easier at times to simply use the tablet for clicking and navigating than the touchpad itself.

Note that the mouse cannot click and highlight lines of text as one would on a Windows platform. Attempting to do so will result in scrolling the screen up or down. This functionality can make selective copying and pasting a bit of a hassle.

The S2110 is excellent for outdoor use when at a high brightness setting. Glare, though still visible, becomes almost non-issue as we found text and images to be crisp and easy on the eyes. Use under direct sunlight is possible should it be unavoidable. Combined with the light weight and portability, the S2110 is one of the easiest tablets to use and share in an outdoor environment.

Viewing angle stability is also very good as expected from an IPS panel. We had no issues using the tablet in any orientation as colors stayed consistent even at extreme angles. Contrast changes, signified by a faint purple hue on pure black areas, can be observed, but only at acute and unrealistic viewing angles. Peripheral viewers may notice a drop in brightness or be irritated by an increase in glare, however, so it may be beneficial to up the brightness if sharing the tablet with others. 

The 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon APQ8060A CPU in the S2110 has many similarities with the MSM8960 as found in certain North American HTC One series of smartphones and others. Both are Krait processors manufactured on a 28 nm process and use integrated Adreno 225 graphics. Unlike the MSM series, the APQ series of Qualcomm processors lack integrated support for cellular basebands, meaning incompatibility with CDMA, GSM and LTE networks and explains the lack of 3G/SIM card support for the current U.S. models.

Despite having half the cores as Nvidia’s flagship Tegra, the dual-core 8060A is on par with many of today’s Tegra 3-based devices in many of the benchmarks shown below. Graphics performance is a standout according to GLBenchmark.

Results from Antutu v2 are below what we were expecting at thousands of points less against the competition. Upon deeper inspection, we found the RAM, CPU Integer and floating point scores that make up part of the final score to be lower than competing Tegra 3 tablets by up to half. Even so, browsing performance can be just as smooth as any other Tegra 3 tablet, at least when no heavy multi-tasking is involved. The S2110 starts to slow if the user is doing too many things at once.

The stereo speakers are located on the left and right edges, respectively, and face toward the sides in opposite directions. Sound quality is shallow with a very narrow range and weak bass reproduction. Music is noticeably more high-pitched than is typical from tablet speakers and has a “tinny” quality reminiscent to older netbooks. While acceptable for the occasional videos, we would recommend external solutions through the 3.5 mm jack for better quality during movies and extended music sessions. It’s reasonable to believe that the ultrathin form factor may be the limiting factor on the speaker hardware, especially when less expensive tablets like the Nexus 7 or Lenovo’s own A2109 can have better sound reproduction.

From a hardware standpoint, the IdeaTab S2110 provides all the necessary specs to make it an excellent outdoor tablet. The super-thin profile, light weight, great battery life, and bright IPS display make the S2110 fun and easy to use both indoors and on-the-go.

The small size and weight does come with some expected tradeoffs, in this case build quality. While the tablet looks great, resistance to flexing is average and in general not as robust as competing tablets with aluminum bracings. It may behoove the user to keep the tablet in one of Lenovo’s Folio Cases for added protection, especially if the device will be traveling often.

Outside of the hardware, the software can at times be underwhelming. The overlying skin could use improvements and smoother performance all around. Navigation is not exactly difficult, but nothing about the tablet feels as instant as we are used to. A moderate amount of multi-tasking is enough to delay actions by a slight but perceptible amount.

Purchasing an IdeaTab S2110 will mean sacrificing some software performance for a sleek and long-lasting tablet. As a result, users looking for a very lightweight and portable 10.1-inch slate for simple tasks or movies will be very satisfied.