Lenovo is using this week’s IFA show in Berlin...

Lenovo is using this week’s IFA show in Berlin to introduce the TAB S8, its first 8-inch Intel-powered Android tablet, the company said in a webinar briefing last week. The tablet features an Intel Atom Quad-Core 1.83-GHz processor, in-plane-switching LCD infinity screen (1920 x 1200) and dual front-facing speakers with Dolby audio, the company said. At 0.31 inches thick and weighing 10.5 ounces, the TAB S8 is “super-thin and super-light,” said Andrew Barrow, Lenovo director-worldwide consumer product marketing. Its infinity glass “gives you a very clear view of the screen and the actual images you're looking at,” Barrow said. The display also has “a very wide viewing angle,” and a “super-slim bezel gives you the maximum picture it can for the size of the device,” he said. Lenovo has used infinity glass screens on its laptops to “eliminate gaudy frames surrounding your actual display area by stretching the display area to the very edge” of the frame, the company said in a “glossary of terms” on its website (http://lnv.gy/1qNUcaQ). “Multiple colors” and “a range of options” will accompany the TAB S8, which starts shipping this month at $199, he said. Lenovo remains the world’s biggest PC supplier, and has outperformed the PC industry “21 quarters in a row,” said Ray Gorman, Lenovo executive director-external communications. “Even in a tough market, we've grown our market share to 19.4 percent worldwide, and 12.5 percent in North America.” PCs “are still our core,” though “more and more we're becoming a competitor in the tablet and growing smartphone space,” Gorman said. “We now sell more smartphones and tablets than we do PCs.” Last quarter, Lenovo became the world’s third-biggest tablet supplier, “and we're currently the world’s fourth-largest smartphone supplier,” he said. “Just last quarter, we became the number one smartphone company in China for the first time ever, and we're shifting our focus beyond China to other markets.” Of Lenovo’s pending acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google for $2.91 billion (CED Jan 31 p3), “this deal will make us the number three global smartphone provider,” Gorman said. “We're on track to close this deal, and we're excited to bring Motorola-branded products to new markets going forward.”