{"id":14590,"date":"2012-11-12T11:05:17","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T17:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcitement.com\/?p=14590"},"modified":"2012-11-12T20:23:29","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T02:23:29","slug":"review-lenovo-ideatab-a2109a-fits-a-specific-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/column\/review-lenovo-ideatab-a2109a-fits-a-specific-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Lenovo IdeaTab A2109A Fits A Specific Need"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes a 10-inch tablet is too large and a 7-inch tablet is too small. For those Goldilocks circumstances, the few 9-inch tablets on the market can make due. The Lenovo IdeaTab A2109A<\/a> fits the bill, capable of both content creation and media consumption in a smaller, relatively light, and somewhat cheap package at only $299.<\/p>\n

First Impressions<\/h3>\n

Upon opening the A2109A\u2019s box, I immediately felt torn. On the one hand, I love the back of the tablet. It\u2019s smooth, with dual SRS speakers and an elegant dark grey finish. The front, however, has a gaudy and overly large glossy bezel that mars the smaller format of the device. The A2109A is also a bit too thick at 0.46 inches compared to tablets such as the iPad Mini, which is close to half as thin.<\/p>\n

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The A2109A is fairly easy to get started. The power button is on the upper left and the basic Android setup is extremely easy to get into.<\/p>\n

Software Experience<\/h3>\n

Speaking of Android, Lenovo\u2019s 9-inch tablet runs\u00a0Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) instead of the newer Jelly Bean operating system (Android 4.1\/4.2). The software runs smoothly, though there is some slowdown when switching between home screens due to the fancy animations.<\/p>\n

Apps run well on the 9-inch screen even when they\u2019re tablet optimized, but there’s definitely a dearth of apps compared to the iPad. In general, the apps for Android are not as powerful, well-designed, or optimized for the larger screen area. This issue obviously isn\u2019t exclusive to the A2109A, but it’s something important to consider when purchasing a tablet.<\/p>\n

Performance<\/h3>\n

Other than minor software niggles with home screen animations, the A2109A runs smoothly on its quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. Apps load quickly, WiFi is as fast as an iPad 3, and it performs well overall for a $299 tablet. However, I do encounter extreme slowdowns at times, specifically while browsing in Chrome with more than three tabs open. Even with decent performance, now that the Nexus 7 exists, good performance on a cheap tablet isn\u2019t some far-fetched goal. And at $100 cheaper for either the Nexus 7 or products from Amazon or Barnes & Noble\u2019s, a 9-inch screen for so much extra money isn\u2019t as enticing.<\/p>\n

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The battery life on the A2109A holds up decently, getting me through a day of moderate usage, or about five and a half hours of streaming video at a time. However, battery life doesn\u2019t last quite as long as an iPad 3 or the Nexus 7, which get me through a bit more than a day and closer to seven hours of streaming video.<\/p>\n

The Strengths<\/h3>\n

The speakers are good. Not as absolutely fantastic as the speakers on the last Lenovo tablet I tested<\/a>, but superior to much of the competition.<\/p>\n

The Weaknesses<\/h3>\n

The 1280 x 800 screen is weak in a day where 720p is the standard for 7-inch screens and 10-inch Retina displays are popping up all over the place.<\/p>\n

Even though the screen is smaller at 9 inches, the footprint of the device is comparable to some larger-screened tablets and heavy at 1.25 pounds.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Pricing & Availability<\/h3>\n

The A2109A is only $299, but for $100 less there are various 7-inch tablets on the market that give the A2109A a run for its money, and the iPad mini (whether you love or hate it) is only $30 more.<\/p>\n

Wrap Up<\/h3>\n

<\/strong>Unless you\u2019re specifically in the market for a 9-inch tablet for a specific ergonomic reason, there aren\u2019t enough reasons to buy the A2109A. It\u2019s not a bad tablet, and it works pretty well, but for $299 in a market where your tablet is either premium or $199, the IdeaTab A2109A<\/a> working pretty well just doesn\u2019t cut it. It\u2019s too thick, too heavy, and too expensive for what it brings to the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes a 10-inch tablet is too large and a 7-inch tablet is too small. For those Goldilocks circumstances, the few 9-inch tablets on the market can make due. The Lenovo IdeaTab A2109A fits the bill, capable of both content creation and media consumption in a smaller, relatively light, and somewhat cheap package at only $299. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":14591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,1085],"tags":[244,34,16,1588,74,105,3420,184,1056],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14590"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14593,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14590\/revisions\/14593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}