I have been telling classmates and business partners not to buy the TPT

[deadday]

They look at mine and ask me about, when I first bought it, I recommended it to everyone who asked. Now I have to tell them all of the problems that Lenovo appears to have no interest in fixing. I have to tell them that the bundled software is crap, either buggy as hell, incomplete, or merely a trial version even though it is touted as a feature of the TPT. I went from a diehard supporter of this product to a dissatisfied customer in a matter of weeks. Lenovo, responding to our posts here, the issues you asked us to make you aware of, and a full license to the [programs you said were features of the TPT just might turn me into a supporter again, but you are doing yourselves no favors. I paid a good amount of money for this tablet when I could have, seems now that I should have, gone with a competitor with a lower price.

[splotz]

I told workmates and friends to wait.

They liked to buy a Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet when they saw mine in action, but i had to tell, that using the pen still doesnt work without problems.

[deadday]

I use the pen in Writepad to take notes and have no complaints about it. One of the fee things I can't complain about. I can complain about: 1. Browser browser randomly crashing (stock and others) 2. Screen randomly tossing to black then the screen image, the black, etc. and not stopping until I re-boot the machine 3. Notes mobile is crap 4. McAfee is a trial version 5. SD card works sporadically 6. Door to USB port broke in about 3 days 6. Lock screen lags horribly, even though this was 'fixed' in the last OTA 7. The background image randomly between stock images, and my own 8. I'll stop here

[splotz]

I have problems with the statusbar  and settings popping up when writing also problems with non inking area on half the screen very often .(writepad)

In other apps the palm rejection is not working well, thats an issue of this tablet/os  

Would palm rejection work you would be able to use all drawing and writing apps...

Also on PDF Editors you would have no problems any more because of  drawing points or lines with your palm *goingcrazy *

[Techkidd4400]

I have told folks the same thing I said about the iPad 1 when it first sold in the US, which was that the device is nice, has some neat features, but wait until the bugs are worked out. The difference in my experience with Lenovo versus Apple is not the numerous "bugs" - both devices were shipped with plenty of issues - but in Apple's rapid response. Even when Apple took a couple of updates to resolve a problem, they issued press releases or got the message out - occasionally in an email - that a fix for a particular problem was or was not upcoming. I like the TPT, but Lenovo is killing their own device with their slow response to many known problems. We are the early adopters and Lenovo should know if we don't support the device, it's not likely to sell itself.

The one major "bug" I point out to everyone is that Lenovo markets the device as uniquely fully implementing pen input when in fact pen input is poorly implemented (and that the battery discharges too rapidly and requires too much time to fully recharge). Still, instead of telling folks to skip the TPT, I recommend that folks wait to see if the bugs are fixed.

[p600]

---

We are the early adopters and Lenovo should know if we don't support the device, it's not likely to sell itself.

---

Lenovo may have a very different view on this one, with TPT pushed to corporate users as a part of "Lenovo solution" with custom firmware etc (unlike Apple, that was and is consumer oriented). The purchase decision is, generally, not made by user, so voices of unhappy individuals can be ignored.

TPT has its issues, and I, as many, bought it sight unseen because it's a Thinkpad. Waited for it for more than a month to be shipped etc, the usual set of problems with Lenovo direct. Was majorly disappointed with it (90% software related) after the first couple of weeks, and was considering returning the device and getting something else instead. But that something really needs to be better.

My requirements are quite simple (or so I think). I don't need the device to replace a laptop in any way (it's impossible: 10" screen is too small and too glossy, CPU too underpowered, OS too limited etc ). Nor I want a proof-of-concept thing, 'oh,wow, you can view some parts of a word document on a tablet, and even not all formatting is corrupted!'.

Just wanted a decent  browser / e-book reader / picture viewer (including RAW files)  / car TV  - game console for kids on long trips / etc, in a more portable form factor than a laptop. Should come in a decent, and not too fragile, case, that will survive reasonably careful use pattern w/o any protective screens/covers/folders (like any Thinkpad laptop would do). Ideally, it should permit handwritten notes / diagrams / PDF annotation, and copy files in/out w/o iTunes / clouds etc. 

To my surprise, I found out that it's possible to do a lot worse that TPT does. iPad2 falls short on so many points it's not even funny. Starting from the browser (upload a file to the web? no way!), to the ridiculous keyboard where to enter a password with uppercase/lowercase/digits/special chars one must press three times the number of keys necessary, inability to view camera RAW files directly from the SD card etc.

Other android tablets do better in some areas. However, almost none have pens, and thus the whole 'tablet' point is moot. Samsung devices are mostly okay, but they follow iPad-cloning too seriously. No ports and SD card slots? And generally the case & build quality of TPT are hard to match too.

Overal, my conclusion so far is that while TPT has tons of problems, the current alternatives aren't that much better, and often are much worse. Samsung 7 Slate is the only device that is better all around so far, but it's just started shipping (unless you got one from Microsoft BUILD) and prices are a bit high at this moment.

So I kept the TPT for now. It's not great, but is still one of the better, if not best, Android tablets. IMO just need to lower expectations, and accept that pretty much all included apps are either trialware, or junkware, or both. Luckly Android market has plenty of everything now. Opera Mobile is much better than built-in browser, Quill is much better than Notes Mobile, built-in speaker can made louder with Equalizer etc. 

[bevo]

p600, all in all I share your point of view. Hadn't the TPT crashed completely once, I would have been even more forgiving. The most frustrating realization was that it couldn't replace my Newton 2100 for my needs of writing.

(The Newton unfortunately is an yesterdays machine.  No support, software, connections outdated. There's nobody I could beam anything anymore.    BTW, I don't understand how google could dare to name its new sharing method "beam". "Beam" is exactly the name of the Newton's sharing method, I think Apple must be waiting with a cheerful heart to spring the trap when ICS arrives...)

No, I can't use the TPT's HWR. I have to take notes on the fly, when I am out of reach of my much mightier equipment. Or simply feel like it.  I add ideas everywhere, and I'd rather avoid doing it with a keyboard. That's why I need handwriting recognition.To have everything ready, ready to be included in larger texts or even sent directly to a publisher. Notes Mobile doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell against the Newton, at least the way I'm using it. One even can't write a poem on it without having line break. How to write a story when you can't move words or sentences around as you like? The Newton's 162MHz Arm-CPU beats that of the TPT hands down regarding the speed of recognition, it starts translating soon after I've started writing (NM does not). No pause needed. It detects every penstroke, no omissions, never.

I literally wrote novels with the help of the Newton, once I got acquainted with it - and it with me. No way with the TPT.

But for other tasks I think it delivers. I would recommend it to others if it suits their needs, it can be a nice and capable mobile device. I won't do so unasked. 

p600 wrote it could be used as a game console -  since a family kid discovered that it could plug in an old Microsoft gamepad, fire up an emulator and play even older Sega Genesis or Nintendo games, I'm having a hard time defending the TPT