Lenovo unveils new tablets, smartphone and plans 'smart TV'

IDG News Service - Lenovo unveiled three new tablets and a smartphone for the Chinese market on Tuesday and said it will launch a smart TV product in the first quarter of next year.

No details on the smart TV were given, but Lenovo said it would be called "ideatv" for international markets. The smart TV is part of a series of products including tablets, smartphones and PCs that can easily share content between one another.

Lenovo officials announced the smart TV product as the company detailed its strategy for mobile devices. During Tuesday's company-sponsored event, Lenovo showed off the second generation of its line of LePad tablets, which are intended for Chinese consumers.

The LePad comes in three screen sizes: 5, 7 and 10 inches. Both the 7- and 10-inch devices run the Android 3.2 operating system and have a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor. The two tablets features a user interface designed to resemble a checkerboard, with each icon tile connecting to applications and services. Both support China Unicom's WCDMA and China Telecom's EVDO networks.

The 5-inch tablet can also make phone calls and supports Unicom's HSDPA data network. It uses Android 2.3 and runs with a dual core 1.2 GHz processor.

Lenovo also unveiled its second generation LePhone, which can take panoramic, 270-degree photos. Lenovo released no pricing details or launch dates for the products.

The "Le" series of devices will be sold under the "idea" brand name outside of China. The LePhone will become the "ideaphone." In Chinese, "Le" can mean "happy."

Lenovo, now the world's second-largest PC vendor behind HP, established a new business unit in January to focus on tablet and smartphone development. Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said the company's smartphone sales in China have reached 1 million units a month.