Lenovo's Android Laptop Will Bend Over Backwards

Combining Android with the IdeaPad A10's clamshell form factor. "The nice thing is, they're using the microUSB port for power so they can use the same adapter as your cellphone. I like that because you don't have to carry a big heavy PC adapter when you're on the road."

Manuals from Lenovo that were leaked onto the Internet indicate that the company is working on a laptop running Android.

Not only were two manuals for the IdeaPad A10 discovered this week on the Web -- one dated July and the other dated August -- but Lenovo has reportedly since confirmed the upcoming product.

Android will come preinstalled on the device, whose convertible form factor allows the screen to be flipped around backwards so as to enable upright viewing.

Powered by a 1.6 GHz Rockchip RK3188 ARM quad-core processor, the A10 will have a 10.1-inch screen, two USB 2.0 ports, one microUSB port that doubles as a charging port, one microSD card slot, two speakers, a built-in microphone, an HDMI port, a 6.3 MP integrated camera, and a keyboard and a touchpad.

Standard memory will be 1 GB or 2 GB DDR 3l; the A10 will have an eMMC 16 GB or 32 GB solid state drive. Bluetooth and WiFi are both supported.

A Simple Device for Consumers

Lenovo's motives for creating the device are likely similar to those of Dell, "which launched its own Android-based tablets last week.

That is, to deliver a device aimed at consumers who want a simple device that can take advantage of the entertainment and media content, and tens of thousands of apps available through Google Play.That might go down well with the current generation of consumers.

For many people, the primary computing device is the handset or smartphone, and if the smartphone has become the primary computing platform, do you really need to go backwards or sideways to a different environment to work on a PC?

"Mobile platforms are the preferred computing platform in the world right now." 

Android on the PC

There are already several solutions that let PC owners use Android on their computers.

Asus, for instance, offers the Transformer Book Trio, which it bills as the world's first 3-in-1 notebook, tablet and desktop PC.

That device is a dual-boot Windows 8 and Android laptop running Windows on an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and Android on an Intel Atom. The screen detaches to become a tablet, and the Trio plugs into an external monitor to serve as a desktop PC. The tablet runs Android apps that are on users' smartphones.

Acer, meanwhile, offers the DA241HL, a 24-inch all-in-one desktop PC running Android.

In March, Intel released a pre-alpha build of an optimized version of Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 that would run on an x86 processor. There's one catch, though: Apps written for ARM-based devices will need to be recompiled for x86 or emulated.