Lenovo S10-3t: More computer for your tablet

FULL REVIEW

The Lenovo S10-3t is an interesting PC/Tablet hybrid that tries to integrate the flexibility and versatility of an Atom-based netbook running Windows 7 starter with a touch-sensitive swivel screen. An iPad alternative it is not, but it's an entirely different beast.

More computer for your tablet, least PC for your laptop
Tablets that are essentially scaled-up phones have considerably less horsepower than a tablet-netbook hybrid like the S10-3t. A quick look at its specs, a full unabridged version here:

CPU: Intel Atom Processor N450 (512K Cache, 1.66 GHz, 667 MHz FSB)
Display: 10.1 SD LED Glare & Multi-Touch
Battery: Black Hybrid 8 Cell Battery
RAM: 2GB DDR2 (667MHz)
Storage: 250GB (9.5mm 5400rpm)
Graphics: Intel GMA 3150
OS: Genuine Windows 7 Home Basic 32bit
Misc: Bluetooth 2.1 / Camera 1.3M / 4-in-1 card reader / Meteoric Stone /
Extras: Face Recognition; One Key Rescue System; Lenovo ReadyComm

The Indian version is a bit different from the one we’ve spotted in the West, which has an Intel Atom N470 / 1.83 GHz processor - about 10-15% faster than the N450. The S10-3t is powered by a single core Intel Atom N450, this Pinetrail CPU can't be expected to do anything more than basic email, editing, web surfing. To its credit, it handles those functions speedily.

Sadly you will have to make do with Intel GMA 3150 graphics, it’s not likely to be able to play any cool 3D games or HD movies. Here’s a list of games for netbooks that might play well on the S10-3t – the  allure of playing these games on a 10-inch screen is wasted on me, you might have luck playing 10 year old games like Quake III and Half Life.

Form Factor, Build Quality, User Experience
Having found my match on a 11.6-inch netbook, I was previously convinced that 10-inch netbooks are just too small to be any fun while writing. The S10-3t has an extra inch of bezel around its 10-inch display, and the keyboard is well spread out to take advantage a 12-inch form factor. I found the keyboard a lot easier to type on, which is not usually the case with 10-inch netbooks. The trackpad however, was extremely tiny and incapable of parsing multi-touch actions, as was the touch screen while browsing. Your best approach to scrolling a webpage would be to hit [Pg up] or [Pg down]. I was unable to use two-fingered touch scrolling while browsing, even though the screen is multi-touch capable.  Only the narrow scrollbar on the right hand is touch sensitive, and scrolling like that using the tip of your thumb is an altogether painful browsing experience. 
The 180-degree swivel screen is a neat design trick, letting you fold the screen over the keyboard with the display facing outwards. The battery sticks out a bit and acts as a hand grip in this scenario. Windows 7 is not really optimized for touch, so we have a couple of applications bundled to take advantage of the 10.1 inch TFT (WSVGA) touch screen - BumpTop and Lenovo NaturalTouch.

Lenovo Natural Touch is a media organiser that brings all your movies, music, pictures in an interface optimised for the touchscreen. Pinch to zoom on pictures worked here. Here's a video capture of the UI.



I thought it’d be great to have Jolicloud with Touch running seeing as to how it’s a neat netbook OS with large spaced out icons and a layout befitting this form factor. Sadly, touch support has not been extended to the S10-3t yet, I tried looking around for a way to get it working and was unable to find any workarounds.
If you were to look at it a certain way, the Lenovo S10-3t is arguably more open standards and versatile than its tablet only companions, and to its credit, there are no add-ons that you will have to buy separately: it has VGA, TV-out, USB ports, and a built-in keyboard. If you were to factor in the price of all that, it would be a lot cheaper than building a personal computer around the iPad. The S10-3T is a lot heavier than the iPad - with the 8-cell battery, this thing is nearly three times heavier, at 1.5 kgs - it feels like I’m lugging a miniature battle tank in my bag.
The S10-3t can also be used to play movies on to a projector or big screen using the VGA or TV-out port. It can’t play HD movies or rips though, and you would be stretching it with a videos larger than 720p. I’ve used a Z-series netbook with 1 GB of memory and this thing is more responsive and frustration-free in comparison to XP based netbooks. To its credit, Windows 7 Home Basic with 2GB of memory keeps the hard drive from thrashing with a decent number of programs running on the taskbar. (Chrome, Word, Google Talk, IE 6, Irfanview). While it lacks a SIM-card slot, those USB slots can be put to use with USB data cards.
I was able to achieve more than 6 hours of total usage (Wi-Fi browsing) on a full charge thanks to its mammoth 8-cell battery and a few simple tweaks such as dimming the screen. The standby life is also quite impressive: this afternoon, the battery icon on the taskbar status reads: “2:28, 41% remaining”. I last charged the netbook a week ago. This is a testament to two aspects of this device: great battery life in an altogether un-engaging form factor.
In recent news, Moore’s law is finally getting around the hump of anemic Atom cores on netbooks by giving you two of them. At a similar price point we are seeing interesting innovations such as this CULV laptop from HP (if you want more laptop for your money,)  The S10-3t is bundled with a trial version of Microsoft Office 2007, which seems like an annoyance. I would have definitely warmed up to this netbook had it come with a full version of the same. For 30,000 there oughta be a few extras here. It's a very flexible form factor and can saddle up rather well next to your PC in portrait mode as a secondary monitor, but as a primary computing device it can be quite frustrating. The screen is just too small for long periods of usage and the touch implementation isn't all that well done, or widely supported by third party apps. In my view the multi-touch convertible tablet PC genre can be made better with a device that supports two OSes, Windows 7 and a free OS that is optimised for touch.