Lenovo: Expect More “Pure Media-Based” Android Devices in New Year

Lenovo might be demonstrating its continued commitment to Microsoft Windows with a slate of new products scheduled to ship around Windows 8, but the China-based PC maker isn’t totally closing the door on Google’s Android.

In an interview yesterday with AllThingsD, Jay Parker, vice president and general manager of the company’s North American consumer and small business unit, said consumers can expect to see more Lenovo devices running Google’s Android operating system in the first quarter of next year.

And unlike the current Android devices Lenovo has out on the market, these products will run on the newest flavor of Android, Jelly Bean 4.1.

“We plan to continue with Android devices in the foreseeable future. We believe there’s a place in the market for those kinds of devices,” Parker said.

He went on to say that the Android-based products Lenovo offers generally have smaller screen sizes and start at a lower price point. “We see them as pure media-based devices, where people are going to be surfing the Internet, reading books or watching a movie and really not a heck of a lot else.”

Parker declined to offer more specific details about the upcoming devices, but if Lenovo’s most recent Android product launches are any indication — specifically the IdeaPad S2110, the IdeaPad A2109 and the IdeaPad A2107 — they’ll likely be convertibles, with tablet-like touchscreens and tactile keyboard or dock options. The IdeaPad S2110, which I reviewed here, starts at $399 and comes with a $150 battery-packed keyboard.

For Lenovo, the Android devices have been a deviation from its usual, Windows-based PCs. Earlier today the company showed off four new convertible PCs running the upcoming Windows 8 OS: The consumer-oriented IdeaPad Yoga 13 and Yoga 11, the IdeaTab Lynx, which comes with an optional keyboard, and the business-focused ThinkPad Twist, which has a display that lifts and twists out of the keyboard, as its name would seem to imply.