A couple of years ago technology boomed with smart devices hitting the market. Each year more and more gadgets are introduced to us, many of them try to bridge the gaps of functionality but making all-in-one devices. Some people have called this the “Post PC era” as PCs stand on imminent threat from tablets and smartphones due to portability, versatility, and let’s say, even cool factor. But according to Lenovo, this is what they call as the “PC+ era”. Lenovo doesn’t see a reason why not to integrate both the PC and the newer smart devices into a single device with multiple functions. Lenovo has invited Manila Bulletin to their home base in Beijing China, to let us know what they’re up to in order to re-introduce to us this new tech age era.
As it turned out, Lenovo is quite a rock star in China and as competition heats up, as in IFA 2013, Lenovo introduced to us the Vibe X smartphone. It features a 1.5GHz quad-core processor that runs on Android Jelly Bean, 16GB internal storage and 2GB RAM. It boasts a 5-inch Corning Gorilla Glass 3 touchscreen with 1920×1080 resolutions, 5- and 13MP front and read facing cameras. Then they’ve showed us the S5000 is an 7-inch tablet with 1280×800 resolution screen, 16GB internal storage and 1GB RAM, and 1.6- and 5MP autofocus front and rear cameras, and sports a USB port.
Lenovo then announced that they will be releasing other devices for the PC+ growth. The Yoga 2 Pro 13 boasts a whooping 3200×1800 touchscreen, runs on fourth-gen Intel Core – up to i7 – and with that, we can expect amazing battery life for a laptop, and features a significantly slimmer design. The device is the Flex, which can be flipped into a stand mode, and this one is designed more for people who don’t mind not having a tablet or a convertible. It will sport up to i7, 1TB hard drive, 14 and 15-inch variations. And yes, both devices’ keyboards are still amazing.
ThinkPads are powerful business laptops and Lenovo showed us how they put their devices to the test by putting them on a series of stress tests. Some of their tests include shock testing, temperature, vibration, even altitude.
But the most interesting is the mini-weather machine oven where Lenovo keeps their product stored for a time. The oven simulates extreme temperatures. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos of these, and even if we tried, Lenovo have kill switches here and there, which basically shuts down our own devices and can’t use them anymore.
The tour involved introducing Lenovo how it began in 1984 with the name Legend, which aimed to bring home computers to the Chinese people. It was rebranded in 2002 to reach global scale into Lenovo. “Le” to maintain Legend, and “Novo”, latin for new. It’s also translated as Creativity, or how Lenovo puts “The Spirit of New Thinking.”