Design and Hardware
It is a cheap tablet just like the Lenovo IdeaTab A2109A. However, the 11.5mm device feels quite sturdy: it doesn’t flex or creak. It weighs 400g, so it feels quite heavy. The chassis of A2107A has been designed simply along with a matt black rear and a stylish glass front. On the top there is a micro-USB charging slot, headphone jack and a power button, and there is volume rocker on the right hand side. A microSD slot and two SIM ports are located on top of the rear.
The 7-inch display has a pixel ratio of 169ppi and resolution of 1204 x 600. It is low compared to other tablets such as the Nexus 7, Nook HD and Kindle Fire HD, each of them has a minimum of 1280 x 800 resolution screen. However, you won’t notice much of a difference in the display, as the built-in MediaTek display technology enables sharp, full-bodied colors and rich detail. But the viewing angles are not so great.
Cameras
We must admit that the IdeaTab A2107A has the awful cameras. The 2MP model doesn’t even include a flash. You can alter the scene mode or white balance, apply filters and control the zoom through a slider of the Camera app. You will immediately tell whether you’re in panorama, video or still mode. Unlike with other camera apps, simply tapping anywhere on the screen won’t trigger the camera shutter. For the purpose of video chat there is a front-facing camera of 3.0MP. But, it is quite awful and grainy in low light.
Performance and Battery Life
With strong build quality and built-in 3G connectivity at only $235, there must be a catch somewhere, and that comes in the form of horrible performance. The MediaTek 6575 platform used by the Lenovo IdeaTab is mainly used for budget smartphones. This includes a 1GHz single-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with dual-SIM capability and MediaTek’s own display technology, which is accompanied by 1GB of RAM. On the Geekbench2 test, it recorded only 368 points, while the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 scored 1,124 and 1,452 respectively. You can notice lag even while swiping between home screens. In SunSpider test, the Nexus 7 finished the test in 1,665ms, while the IdeaTab took 3,037 to complete the test. The company has claimed that the battery will last for 10 hours with W-Fi, or 8 hours with 3G.
Software
The Lenovo IdeaTab A2107A runs the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Though it is not the latest version of Android OS, it is pretty standard at present. Lenovo has also included few of its own tweaks including carousel-effect home screens and other apps like Business, Tools, Games, Social and Media. Some of the preinstalled apps include Docs2Go, Cut the Rope, ooVoo, Norton Security, Evernote, NewsRepublic and Amazon Kindle app. There is also Lenovo’s PrinterShare, a BackupAndRestore utility and a GameTanium games store.
Author Bio: Harold Peterson is an experienced tech writer and a blogger. Find out what he has to say about cheap accessories for iphone 5