Tablet comparison

Competition is always good, because more products mean more options for consumers. Asus Transformer Prime is – probably – the most powerful Android-based tablet, being the first to include a quad-core Tegra 3. High end technical specs inside coupled with an elegant, stylish and super slim design make the tablet one of the most wanted product.

Still, its title of the most powerful tablet seems to be desired by Lenovo’s recently announced IdeaPad S2 tabet that has been announced at CES 2012. One of the most excited tablet incorporating a docking keyboard which offers extra battery life, the Transformer Prime is a solid machine constructed from aluminium material with concentric circles, having 0.31-inches at the thickest point and weighing 1.29 pounds.

The keyboard dock transforms the tablet into a functional laptop, which is more good looking than the original Asus Transformer. Still, its best feature is the quad-core processor which is pretty fast, offering really fast gaming performance. Nvidia and Asus have added the USB host support so you can add a gaming controler, which is great for gamers.

If you wanna purchase the keyboard dock, you’ll have to pay an extra $150, but you may realize it’s worth the investment, transforming and adding more battery life to your tablet. Software-wise, the Transformer runs Android Honeycomb, but it could see an ICS upgrade anytime soon. Basically, it’s the same platform used on the original Trasnformer, but lacking more apps.

As far as the Lenovo IdeaPad 2, it doesn’t impress with its form factor, being more classy and simple than the stylish Transformer Prime. Moreover, there is no quad-core processor inside, meaning you’ll be treated with a dual core Snapdragon CPU clocked at 1.5GHz, both having a standard 1GB of RAM. Regarding the storage space, besides the 32 and 64GB of built-in memory, the IdeaPad S2 has also a 16GB model available.

When it comes to the display part, we can say it’s a draw, both using a 10.1-inch IPS touchscreen (Super IPS+ for the Transformer) which is great for viewing angles, being more readable outdoors. Both will provide and deliver sharp and great images. In the camera section there is the same 8MP camera on the back coupled with a frontal one for video calls. We can’t say how performant is Lenovo’s cam, but the Transformer Prime offers good pics, being able to capture videos at 1080p.

If you’re more into software part, which is basically the most important part of any gadget, you’ll find the IdeaPad S2 a better version, because of its Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android. Both tablets use different user interfaces, but they still have access to Android Market and a lot of interesting apps.

As for the battery life, Lenovo IdeaPad S2 is said to last up to 12 hours of usage without the keyboard dock, which go up to 20 hours. On the other side, the Transformer Prime will offer also 12 hours on a single charge plus a few more hours extra with the additional dock, which means is basically the same battery life.

Probably not as impressive as the Transformer Prime, but Lenovo’s new IdeaPad S2 is a great piece of kit with pretty good specs inside and a real competitor for Asus Transformer Prime.