Lenovo’s Intel-powered Tab S8 is actually pretty good for the money

Tablet sales may be leveling off in mature markets like Europe and the US but manufacturers seem unfazed by the trend. Take Lenovo, for example. In addition to showcasing a brand new 17-inch gaming notebook and a budget gaming PC, the company announced a new Android tablet during IFA that’s drawing attention for all the right reasons. This low-cost 8-inch Android slate is powered by Intel’s quad-core Atom processor (Bay Trail), the Z3745 to be exact. And just because it’s priced for the masses doesn’t mean Lenovo skimped on the screen as it operates at a resolution of 1,920 x 1,200.

As one of the largest laptop computer makers in the world, Lenovo has a good relationship with Intel. So it’s not surprising that Lenovo is one of the leaders trying to take Intel-powered Android tablets mainstream in the United States. At IFA on Wednesday, Lenovo is set to announce the Tab S8, an affordable eight-inch tablet with an Intel Atom processor. The Tab S8 is shaping up to be a good deal. The $200 slate will come with a 1920 x 1200 screen, a slim bezel and a quad-core Intel Z3745 processor based on Bay Trail architecture. Unfortunately, the high-resolution screen and Intel processor comes with a tradeoff: According to Lenovo, the 4290mAh battery in the Tab S8 will only muster “up to seven hours of battery life,” a disappointment when Lenovo’s Yoga tablets boast up to 18 hours of battery life. The Tab S8 will come with 16GB of storage space, although there isn’t a MicroSD card slot. There will eventually be a version with an LTE modem as well as four different colors to choose from. While Android doesn’t currently have 64-bit kernel support, the next major update (currently in developer preview as Android L) will be able to take advantage of the 64-bit Bay Trail processor in the Tab S8. Although the tablet will only come with 2GB of RAM, Intel says that computer-intensive Android applications “can see significant improvements when moved from 32-bit to 64-bit.”