The Idea S2110 takes what Lenovo is best known for (keyboards) and pairs it with a sleek, thin, and light tablet in a package that easily replaces a laptop for light work. Lenovo’s tablet is fairly run of the mill specs-wise, loaded with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 running at 1.5 Ghz, 1 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of storage, all for the low price of $499. With those basic specs, why is this tablet worth buying? Productivity. If you want to get work accomplished on a tablet instead of merely consuming media, this is the tablet to buy. Let’s find out why.
First Impressions
Upon opening the box, the first thing I noticed when picking up the IdeaTab S2110 is that it’s thinner and lighter than I expected at a scant 0.34 inches thick and weighing only 1.28 pounds. The S2110 makes my iPad feel heavy and slightly thick by comparison.
The plastic back does feel slightly cheap and though textured, it picks up an awful lot of fingerprints. The two-toned black and grey design isn’t ugly per se, but it certainly isn’t striking or as industrially beautiful as aluminum tablets are. There’s also an ungodly amount of bezel, probably necessary to make a keyboard dock wide enough to be usable. In fact, the IdeaTab S2110 is only fit for landscape mode, as it its far too wide to use in portrait without looking silly and feeling uncomfortable.
The IdeaTab S2110 has a variety of ports, including microUSB, microHDMI, an SD card slot, and two (craziness!) USB ports on the dock.
Software Experience
Running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) skinned with Lenovo’s own touches, the IdeaTab S2110 runs smoothly and quickly. The custom experience is mostly a bunch of widgets on the home screen designed to group apps and provide information, but in practice does little more than folders already do in Android 4.0. The screen transitions on this tablet in the home screen and app drawer are unnecessary, slowing down what is otherwise a fast experience.
Another issue on this tablet is the extremely large amount of pre-loaded, irremovable applications. These bundled apps include SugarSync and Shazam, which can all be easily downloaded from the Google Play Store and don’t belong on here.
Performance
Other than the annoying 3D screen transitions, the performance on the IdeaTab S2110 is fairly consistent. Chrome runs well with as much as 10 tabs open, while playing Pandora music and switching back and forth to the Facebook app.
WiFi works well enough, but has a shorter range than other tablets I’ve tested, which is strange given the S2110’s plastic build.
Regarding battery life, the IdeaTab S2110 is impressive. It manages around eight hours of life when heavily multitasking with the tablet alone, but manages to extend it to around 14 hours when connected to the dock. Frankly, that’s fantastic.
The cameras on the front and back of the S2110 are both serviceable, working well for video chat. Regarding the back camera, it works, but don’t expect to be the next great American photographer. Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead using a tablet camera to take pictures. It’s embarrassing.
The Strengths
The 1280 x 800 IPS display isn’t exactly high resolution, but it has great viewing angles, is fairly bright, and matched my expectations pretty much exactly. The performance is also extremely solid minus the annoying transitions.
Obviously, the biggest strength of this tablet is the dock, which is handsome and utilitarian, even if it somewhat clashes with the tablet’s aesthetic. Besides increasing battery life, the dock makes the S2110 an incredibly useful device for productivity, not only media consumption.
With dedicated shortcuts, a full six-row keyboard with spacing is absolute bliss. I do have smaller hands, but all of the keys were large enough for me, even the small function key row up top. The one issue is the dock with tablet connected doesn’t open easily and takes some getting used to. The trackpad works passingly well, but I mostly ignored it, using my ability to plug in a wireless mouse with glee.
The Weaknesses
The design is quite frankly the weakest part of the S2110, with the ergonomics of the dock and tablet pieces not entirely comfortable or beautiful. The wideness and extreme bezel aren’t too fantastic either. The speakers are also not as loud or filled with bass as other Lenovo tablets I’ve tested, which is disappointing.
Pricing & Availability
The Lenovo IdeaTab S2110 is available for $499 from Lenovo directly with the keyboard dock included and 32 GB of storage. There are no other options available.
The tablet is also available from Amazon for $429.99, also including the keyboard dock but with only 16 GB of internal storage. Amazon also has the S2110 available without the dock for $339.99, with 16 GB of storage.
Wrap-up
The Lenovo IdeaTab S2110 is the tablet to buy for productivity. The keyboard dock is fantastic and extends usage by a substantial amount over other tablets on the market. If you need to type, your other options on the market are Asus’s Transformer TF300, which is comparably priced on Amazon.
You can’t really go wrong with the S2110, but only for the right price. Depending on deals at the time, Asus’s tablets may offer a better value, but Lenovo’s S2110 has an amazing dock, long battery life, and great performance. What Lenovo manages to do here is fill a niche only Asus has been able to provide for before with its Transformer line of tablets. For full productivity and enhanced battery life, the Idea S2110 is a good bet.
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