Lenovo's assault on IFA 2013 in Berlin continues with the expansion of the company's "PC Plus" portfolio that now includes the new Vibe X smartphone and S5000 tablet. North American customers will likely never see the phone, as it will go on sale in China starting in October, and then other countries where Lenovo phones are sold in December. However, the new Lenovo tablet is expected to arrive globally in 4Q 2013.
The Vibe X is Lenovo's latest premium smartphone that we'll never see here in the States. Lenovo said the device will arrive encased in a premium polycarbonate body with an advanced mold, laser-engraved 3D tactile finish, providing a fabric-feel surface on the back cover, and "attractive" side chrome accents. The phone will also be rather thin and light, measuring just 6.9 mm thick and weighing a mere 0.26 pounds.
On a hardware level, the Vibe X will sport a 5 inch Full HD IPS "20/20 Vision" display with a sharp 441 ppi and 10-point touch input, protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 3. This screen will be backed by a MediaTek 6589T quad-core chip clocked at 1.5 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage, and Android 4.2 "Jelly Bean." Lenovo is also rather proud of the gadget's photographic capabilities, touting a 13MP camera on the back with an auto-focus BSI sensor and LED flash, and a 5MP camera on the front with a wide-angle lens.
Rounding out this phone will be Wi-Fi and 2G/3G connectivity, a built-in FM radio (seriously, why can't all phones have this), a micro SIM card slot, a speaker and an audio jack for headphones. The new phone will be powered by an embedded Li-Po 2000 mAh battery.
"The Vibe X comes preloaded with a full-featured photo application that gives users a fresh way to view and organize pictures, including creating unique custom tags or folders, as well as fun and fresh display arrangements on the screen," the company said on Thursday. "Users can also create puzzles and customize specific games from the photos. The camera application makes it easy to choose custom settings and filters, as well as edit and share any photo or video instantly."
Moving on to the tablet, Lenovo said the Android 4.2 device will feature the same laser-engraved treatment as the Vibe X, and serve as one of the slimmest tablets on the market, measuring just 7.9 mm thin. The device will also weigh just 0.54 pounds, making it nearly one-fifth lighter than many other premium tablets sold on the market today.
The tablet will be offered in Wi-Fi only and 3G models using the MediaTek 8125 and 8389 SoCs, respectively, both of which will back a 7 inch IPS screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution, a brightness of 350 bits and 60 percent color gamma. The tablet will also sport 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage, a 5MP camera on the back and a 1.6MP camera on the front. Other components will include Wireless N and Bluetooth 3.0/4.0 connectivity, a microUSB 2.0 OTG port, an assortment of sensors and a Li-ion polymer 3450 mAh battery promising more than 8 hours of battery life.
Lenovo's tablet will also come preloaded with custom applications that allow users to share photos, videos, and documents, protect their device from malicious software, as well as backup and restore data, the company said.
Pricing for both devices were not provided, so stay tuned.
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