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Lenovo may be best known for its humble laptops, but it’s now striding confidently into the TV world with the K91 Smart TV, an ambitious 55-inch 3D LED TV running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Ice Cream Sandwich is the latest version of Google’s Android operating system, designed to provide a unified experience across mobile phones, tablets and now, apparently, TVs. Many smart TVs that have popped up over the past 18 months use their own custom software to access online content, such as BBC iPlayer, 4OD and YouTube, and have often been needlessly clunky and difficult to use.
With Android, the K91 should be able to offer an experience more familiar to those who use Android devices already — such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Inside the TV you’ll find a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, which should be plenty of juice to help you run all the smart TV goodness you like.
Smart TVs have been blurring the line between computers and TVs for a while now and the K91 seems only too happy to continue the trend. We don’t know how the Android OS will be implemented on the K91 at this point, but it’s expected you’ll have access to the same apps for productivity, video and gaming that you would find on your Android tablet, allowing you to do most of the things on your TV that you would normally do on your computer.
You’ll likely be controlling the TV with voice commands or by using your existing Android device. We also expect Bluetooth keyboards and trackpads will also be available for a more desktop-like experience.
The K91 has only been confirmed for sale in China so far, but it’s expected other regions will be announced soon, although there’s yet to be any word on pricing.
The Lenovo K91 was unveiled at CES in glittering Las Vegas and we fully expect to see a raft of other, similarly clever TVs follow suit — including the much anticipated Apple TV sometime this year. Keep your eyes peeled on CNET UK and over on CNET.com’s dedicated CES coverage page for all the breaking news.
