We knew a Lenovo-made tablet was coming with Echo Show capabilities. And now at CES the said device (or we should say devices) has made its debut. The Lenovo Smart Tab works both as an Android tablet and an Alexa Smart Display. You get the latter when you dock it with the included smart speaker dock. This feature is already available with Amazon’s own Fire tablets but in that iteration, you needed to buy the speaker dock separately. Lenovo, on the other hand, is bundling the dock with the tablet. The company is calling it a tablet first with Echo Show features as a nice bonus.
There are two versions of the Smart Tab: the M10 and the P10. The M10 is the entry-level version with a soft-touch finish back, up to 32GB storage, two front-facing Dolby Atmos speakers, a 5-megapixel camera at the back and 2-megapixel camera in front, and a 4,850mAh battery. The P10 is the premium model with a dual-glass design, up to 64GB of storage, four front-facing Dolby Atmos speakers, an 8-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front shooter, and a 7,000mAh battery. Both, however, run on Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor and have a 10.1-inch Full HD LCD IPS display. This means when you place them on the dock, they look and feel the same. The dock comes with two three-watt, full-range speakers and three far-field mics, which in theory could mean it can pick up your voice even when you’re across the room.
When it comes to its Alexa features, you get almost the same look and feel. One thing Engadget notes is the drop-down panels on gets you Android settings instead of the one you see on an Echo Show. For the US, there is no full integration with Hulu Live TV and NBC, because of different commercial agreements. But these devices have the same “technical readiness,” according to Lenovo. It also doesn’t get Alexa communications suite at launch, so you can’t make calls right now. But it could come later. The M10 will retail for US$199, while the P10 goes for US$299. These are coming to the US this month.