The parade of new IFA 2013 mobile hardware continues this morning with some fresh goods from Lenovo. The company today took the wraps off of a new smartphone and tablet, dubbed the Vibe X and S5000, respectively.
The Lenovo Vibe X is an Android 4.2 Jelly Bean-powered smartphone that features a 1.5GHz quad-core MTK 6589T processor encased in a 6.9mm-thick polycarbonate body. On the front of the device is a 5-inch 1080p 20/20 Vision Display that's covered with Gorilla Glass 3. The Vibe X's face is also home to a 5-megapixel camera, one of the beefier front-facing cams that we've seen lately, and around back is a 13-megapixel shooter with LED flash. Also included is 16GB storage, 2GB RAM and a "fully-featured photo application" that allows users to create puzzles and games based on their images.
Lenovo also announced today that it's updating its K900 smartphone, which debuted earlier this year, with new color and storage options. The device will soon be offered in black and orange hues and with either 16GB or 32GB of built-in storage.
Stepping things up in the screen size department is the Lenovo S5000, a tablet that features a 7-inch 1280x800 touchscreen. Lenovo highlights the S5000's chassis as one of its main features, saying that the unit comes in a 7.9mm thick and weighs 246 grams (0.54 pounds). Other features of the S5000 include a 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek 8389 processor, 5-megapixel rear and 1.6-megapixel front cameras, 3,450mAh battery and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
As far as availability goes, the Lenovo Vibe X will hit China in October and roll out to other countries where Lenovo hardware is sold in December. The company has no plans to release the Vibe X in Europe, and considering how infrequently we see Lenovo's mobile hardware in the U.S., I wouldn't be surprised if the Vibe X never makes its way stateside either. The Lenovo K900 and its new color/storage options is now available in China and will hit other countries later this year. Finally, the Lenovo S5000 is slated to hit shelves in Q4 2013.
Lenovo is a big player in the Chinese wireless game, but the company has never done much here in the U.S. mobile market aside from a few tablet releases. That's disappointing not only because devices like the Vibe X and K900 look pretty interesting, but also because more choice is always a good thing. Lenovo did recently say that it hopes to begin selling its smartphones in the U.S. by mid-2014, though, so it may only be a matter of months before Lenovo-branded handsets begin infiltrating our pockets. Until then, you can check out Aaron's hands-on with the K900 at the bottom of this post to get an idea of the type of hardware that Lenovo can churn out.
