Lenovo unveils trio of budget Tab A-series Android tablets

Lenovo continues its budget strategy for Android tablets, announcing three new models that are priced between $129 and $249. The new additions to the Tab A-series include a 7-inch, 8-inch, and 10-inch tablet.

As befits the pricing, specs are nothing to write home about, with all shipping with the same MediaTek MTK 8121 quad-core processors, 1GB of RAM, and Android 4.2 JellyBean  (though upgradeable to Android 4.4 KitKat). They all come with 16GB of solid-state storage, 2-megapixel front-facing and 5-megapixel rear-facing cameras, and 1,280x800 displays.

For the $129 7-inch Tab A7-50, that screen resolution is perfectly acceptable, surpassing the 1,024x768 display on the original iPad Mini. It's slightly less exciting for the $179 8-inch Tab A8-50, and mediocre for the $249 10-inch Tab A10-50. Then again, it's still $50 cheaper than the old Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, and $80 less than the Galaxy Tab 3, both of which feature the same resolution.

The new Tab A-series tablets will be available starting early next month, right around the time that budget slates could face some new competition in the form of the first Chrome OS tablets.