The new Lenovo Smart Tabs double as Android tablets and Alexa smart displays

• Nick Gray
• 6 years ago

Here’s a question for you: when is a tablet no longer a tablet? When it’s docked into a speaker and transforms into a Smart Display.

The new Lenovo Smart Tabs do just that. Unveiled today at CES 2019, the Lenovo Smart Tab M10 and Smart Tab P10 look and act like ordinary Android tablets, but both come bundles with a special dock which allows the tablets to transform into Alexa-powered smart displays. The Lenovo Smart Tab is basically a larger and more versatile Echo Show.

In addition to charging the tablets, the dock also includes an array of speakers and microphones so that you can listen to music, watch TV shows or video clips and control the device with your voice from across the room. The Lenovo Smart Tab can do everything that Amazon’s Echo Show can do. It’ll allow you to control your smart home devices, listen to music, watch shows, display recipes, display feeds from your smart cameras around the house or simply display the weather.

When used as a tablet, the Lenovo Smart Tab M10 and Smart Tab P10 work like any other Android tablet that’s out there. Both devices are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 chips with 10.1-inch (1920×1200) IPS display. The most expensive Smart Tab P10 comes with a larger battery, more storage and RAM, a few additional sensors and an upgraded exterior glass finish on the back. It also has a fingerprint sensor which can recognize different family members and unlock the tablet to their customized user profile.

In order to offer a seamless transition between Smart Display and tablet modes, Lenovo has worked closely with Amazon so that there are no interruptions in music and video playback when the tablets are docked or undocked from the speaker.

Lenovo Smart Tab pricing & availability

The best part about the Lenovo Smart Tab M10 and P10 are their prices. While Amazon’s Echo Show typically costs $229, the entry-level Smart Tab M10 will cost $199 and the premium SMart Tab P10 will cost $249. Both devices will go on sale in January, but the exact date hasn’t yet been set.

Lenovo Smart Tab specifications