Android Tablets Lenovo IdeaPad K1 and Toshiba Thrive vs. Apple iPad 2

It's raining Android tablets again as Lenovo joined the Android bandwagon as it announced a band of two new 10.1-inch tablets.

The announcement comes just days after Japanese electronics maker unveiled its 10.1-inch Android tablet, the Toshiba Thrive.

Lenovo's Android tablet strategy is built around two tablets - one for the consumer market and the other for corporate use. The consumer tablet is named IdeaPad K1 while the business tablet - and no points for guessing - is called ThinkPad tablet.

The key difference between the two is in the design and not per se in the specifications. IdeaPad Tablet K1 has a curved back while the ThinkPad Tablet sports a boxy rectangular design. IdeaPad Tablet K1 offers 10 hours battery life with two cell battery while ThinkPad Tablet offers 8 hours battery life. Also the IdeaPad K1 has been optimized for landscape use while ThinkPad tablet for portrait use.

The biggest plus for Lenovo's offering is the price as IdeaPad Tablet K1 comes at $499 for 32 GB which is the cheapest price point for a 32 GB tablet. A 32GB iPad 2 costs $599.

Toshiba Thrive hit the market on July 10 but has encountered problems as some users faced a minor glitch as the tablet refused to come out of the sleep mode and required a hard boot. Washington Post reported that Toshiba will be rolling out an update to fix the problem. The tablet's key distinguishing feature is the number of ports it offers -SD card, USB, miniUSB and full size HDMI.

Both the tablets run on Android 3.1 or Honeycomb. However both the tablets have to deal with the iconic Apple iPad 2, as the benchmark for design and performance has been set by the Cupertino giant.

Here is a comparison between Toshiba Thrive, Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 with Apple iPad 2: