Lenovo Android 4.0 Smart TV is a Decent Google TV Alternative
Lenovo has long been known for their laptops and most recently their tablets and smartphones. It looks like they’re breaking into the smart TV game, though, because they have a Qualcomm S4-enabled television set ready for consumption in the Chinese market.
It’s a dual-core TV that uses Android 4.0 at its core. You won’t recognize Android, though, as Lenovo has heavily customized the user interface for the handful of functions they’ve provided here.
For starters we’ve got your usual live TV. Nothing too special in that regard but the device does attempt to be social by allowing you to tweet something about the show you’re watching while you’re watching the show. It’s cool but I don’t see myself using it much.
Lenovo’s apps and games store is present here. Of course, we’d love the Android market but considering the market it’s in and the type of device it is we can’t say we’re too surprised. We’re not sure how their market is doing up against other outlets but we’re sure they’re having no issues swaying a number of key developers. There are apps built in for playing your music and video.
They also had China’s premier streaming content provider BesTV. It’s their version of Netflix, really, but integration was great and it looks like any number of content providers could easily hook into their platform.
The hardware is what really impressed me, though. for starters, Lenovo provides a Bluetooth gaming controller (compatible with any Bluetooth-enabled Android device, by the way) that is compatible with several games in Lenovo’s store. It’s a pretty comprehensive gamepad that we enjoyed using to play games like Asphalt 6.
Also on the gaming end of the spectrum was the TV’s remote. It may look like an ordinary remote at first glance but it actually has a gyroscope sensor which will allow your remote to act as a Wii-Mote. For instance, to play tennis you’d swing your remote back and forth to hit the ball with the tennis racket.
We’ve also got a camera on the bottom front of the device which can be used to face-lock apps. Say, for instance, you don’t want your children to play a certain game or watch a certain video until they do their homework. They won’t be able to unlock the device unless you’re there. (Well, they could also just grab a head-on picture of you.)
We imagine that the camera can be used for video calling and other applications in the future but that is not certain at this time. As for other specs, the device has 3GB of internal storage for apps, an SD card slot for media, Bluetooth, WiFi, USB ports and more. It’s no Google TV but it is positioned to do quite well in the Chinese market. Check it out above.