Lenovo discontinues 8" windows tablets for the US, keeps 10"

[Roland00Address]

http://www.dailytech.com/Lenovo+Pul...ts+for+North+American+Market/article36238.htm

Due to a lack of interest, Lenovo is discontinuing both its Miix 2 (introduced in October) and ThinkPad 8 (introduced in January) for the North American market. "In North America, we're seeing stronger interest in the larger screen sizes for Windows tablets and are pleased with initial customer demand for the ThinkPad 10," said Lenovo spokesman Raymond Gorman.

Even though sales in the United States are a bust, Lenovo adds that sales in Brazil, China, and Japan have been strong for its 8”-class Windows tablets.

Personally I prefer the 8" size tablets compared to the 10" tablets. I do not see the point of a 10" tablet unless it has a keyboard dock since the 8" is lighter and is able to go more places than a 10". Now if the 10" tablet has a keyboard dock like the t100 then that is completely different. Now you have a tablet that is also a netbook / mini laptop, aka a hybrid device. Then again you really want to go to a larger 12" size but we really do not want to go with most 12 tablets" for usually the weight is too heavy for that size.

8" tablets excel at consumption tasks such as the internet and apps. They do not excel at traditional productivity stuff like office.

Guess why then you see a lot of small android tablets selling and lots of big windows tablets sell? Because they are geared to different users and the software ecosystem is vastly different. Is there a reason we do not see a nexus 10" that has been released since 2012? Is there a reasons we see Microsoft go to 12" with the surface. Yeah I think there is a big reasons why those two companies ideas for tablets are completely diverging.

 

[Ravynmagi]

The issue isn't lack of interest. It's lack of quality options and none from Lenovo. The Thinkpad 8 looks okay, but it's a tad expensive, has no digitizer to justify that price and uses a 16:9 aspect ratio that I don't think is good on a small tablet. And the Miix 8 is just out classes by the Dell Venue 8 Pro.

I'm giving nobody high marks for their 8 inch Windows 8.1 tablets though. Dell did a pretty good job with the impressive build quality. But everyone made mistakes. Many don't have HDMI out, all seem to be charged by the single micro USB port (can't dock it very well), most had kinda low resolution displays.

I don't think this should be a race to make the cheapest crappiest tablets, like it appears some were trying to do. I wouldn't mind paying $400 for a good 8 inch Windows 8 tablet.

What I'd like to see Lenovo or anyone make...

8 inch (maybe even 8.4 inch) 1920x1200 (16:10) display.
Digitizer, pen, and silo.
Baytrail.
4GB RAM.
64/128GB options.
2 micro USB ports.
1 micro HDMI port.
1 micro SD slot.
Rotation lock.
Either no Windows button on the bezel or a slightly recessed physical button.

 

[Raduque]

I agree with Lenovo. I have a Note 3, so I have no reason to buy a 7-8" tablet. I only buy 10" tablets.

 

[vbuggy]

I agree with Lenovo. I have a Note 3, so I have no reason to buy a 7-8" tablet. I only buy 10" tablets.

I guess that's the way a lot of people reason. I find the Note 3 a hopelesly unproductive machine in comparison to even an 8" Windows tablet with ultimately a useless digitiser (and also less effective as a general noodling Android tab than e.g. the Nexus 7 in terms of form factor and tablet-mode behaviour), but purely looking at hardware on paper what you're saying makes sense.

 

[vbuggy]

What I'd like to see Lenovo or anyone make...

8 inch (maybe even 8.4 inch) 1920x1200 (16:10) display.
Digitizer, pen, and silo.
Baytrail.
4GB RAM.
64/128GB options.
2 micro USB ports.
1 micro HDMI port.
1 micro SD slot.
Rotation lock.
Either no Windows button on the bezel or a slightly recessed physical button.

You don't realise that if someone comes out with one, you'll complain it's too heavy and big for an 8-inch due to all the hardware hanging off it and the case having to be thicker to accommodate all the ports and still retain a decent battery inside?

I'm not sure 8-inch tablets behave well with digitisers (it's certainly useless on 6-inch phablets like the Note, even if you excuse Samsung-Android for not being Windows in terms of digitiser support): It's getting to the state where you'd need to adopt a writing posture that's too much on the crabbed side for most of the area that you'll be doing the writing on. I personally think a 10" is the smallest thing that accommodates productive inking.

 

[Ravynmagi]

You don't realise that if someone comes out with one, you'll complain it's too heavy and big for an 8-inch due to all the hardware hanging off it and the case having to be thicker to accommodate all the ports and still retain a decent battery inside?

I'm not sure 8-inch tablets behave well with digitisers (it's certainly useless on 6-inch phablets like the Note, even if you excuse Samsung-Android for not being Windows in terms of digitiser support): It's getting to the state where you'd need to adopt a writing posture that's too much on the crabbed side for most of the area that you'll be doing the writing on. I personally think a 10" is the smallest thing that accommodates productive inking.

An extra micro USB port is going to have a negligible impact on weight and thickness.

Galaxy Note 8 and ASUS Note Tab 8 have working digitizers (they have issues not related to the digitizer).

I don't think 8 inch tablets are too cramped to write on, it's larger than many notepads. But this is definitely a personal decision. I think a 10 inch tablet feels a bit too large to write on.

 

[Roland00Address]

An 8 inch tablet 16x10 tablet will have an internal screen size of 6.8" by 4.2" People easily write on something that size. An 8.4" tablet will be over double the size of two 3x5 note cards.

Personally I do not see the point of a windows tablet in that size without some form of handwriting stylus, redone apps with larger button sizes (so you do not click on a line on the desktop that is less than 1/2 an inch tall), or some form of pinch to zoom feature that works extremely well like an internet browser but for older windows apps.

The size is too small that you need redone apps you can't use the x86 traditional apps effectively. Thus this size encourages new apps and thus encourages android.

Now 12 inch tablets are another matter entirely. They are big enough that if the screen is accurate enough you do not have a problem hitting what you are trying to hit. It would still be nice to move to a touch designed apps but you can use your old programs just fine with a touchscreen instead of a mouse.

 

[EvilYoda]

Saw that yesterday or whatever...I would love to find a clearance Dell Venue 8 Pro for my folks. I have one already that I bought for $150 and actually quite like it.

 

[Raduque]

I guess that's the way a lot of people reason. I find the Note 3 a hopelesly unproductive machine in comparison to even an 8" Windows tablet with ultimately a useless digitiser (and also less effective as a general noodling Android tab than e.g. the Nexus 7 in terms of form factor and tablet-mode behaviour), but purely looking at hardware on paper what you're saying makes sense.

I'm not interested in being productive on a device smaller than a 10" tablet. A phablet with a 5.5" or larger screen is, imo, just as good as a 7" Android tablet at basic media consumption with the added benefit of being slightly more portable (Note 3 fits in my jeans pocket - a N7 or GTab7 doesn't). I also can't stand the "tablet UI" that Google has forced tablet devices running Google-stock Android to use. It's terrible.

 

[Crono]

I see the point of larger tablets and don't mind using anything up to and including the size of the Surface 3 (and I'd very much like one if I could justify spending the cash right now), but the 7" and 8" tablets definitely hit the sweet spot for portability.

I just bought an ASUS VivoTab Note 8 and I like it so far. Picked it over the Dell Venue 8 Pro for the Wacom digitizer and included stylus. The last Windows tablet I owned was the original Surface RT, so being able to run full Windows applications on a tablet that's less than half what I paid for a Surface RT tablet when it launched is a real plus.

I considered going Lenovo, and it was tough to choose between the various offerings from Dell, ASUS, HP, and Acer - which is probably part of the problem on what must be low-margin devices. It's too bad Lenovo is leaving that segment, though, the competition at the low end makes for a few surprisingly good tablets, even if you can't reasonably expect ultrabook-like specs in an inexpensive 8" form factor.

 

[Qbah]

Obviously it must be the consumers and not Lenovo's typical uninspiring and low quality products to be the reason for this /sarcasm

Reminds me a bit of EA saying they "innovated too much" when they stuffed the latest Dungeon Keeper with micro transactions every place possible and then saw a huge backlash of the mobile world.

It's corporate bullshit, some companies do it. Gives you a way to recognise the good ones from the bad ones.

 

[hans030390]

Straight from Lenovo, they are in fact not getting out of the 8" Windows tablet market: http://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1803

 

[JustMe21]

I don't expect anyone to make an 8" tablet with a 1900x1200 resolution. I agree that 8" is the right size for me, because the 10" Windows (or Android or iPad) are just too bulky. While the Thinkpad 8 had nice specs, and I wanted to get one, it was backordered for so long that I just picked up a Dell Venue 8 Pro locally. Anytime I checked after that it was backordered, so I don't think it was lack of demand, but lack of availability in the first place. With that said, here is what I would like to see, which is similar to Ravynmagi.

8" - 8.9" IPS min 1920 x 1080 w Gorilla Glass or equivalent
Digitizer (Pen would be a purchasable accessory)
Quad Core Atom Processor
4 GB RAM
64/128 GB eMMC 4.5.x or 5.x
Bluetooth 4.1
GPS (including aGPS and GLONASS as well, but still have true GPS)
Micro USB 3 port
Micro HDMI Port
Micro SD Card Slot
User replaceable battery (A layout where the tablet can be disassembled and the battery replaced, not necessarily removable like on the Venue Pro 11, but would be nice)
Front facing stereo speakers with good audio quality and volume (This is often skimped on, which it shouldn't be)
$349 for 64 GB/ $399 for 128GB

Also, accessories, like a solid case with a touch type keyboard I=would be necessary as well because there usually aren't any good accessories.