Lenovo to start accepting pre-orders for smart TVs in China

PanARMENIAN.Net - Lenovo will start accepting pre-orders for its smart TVs on April 10 in China, as the company prepares to test the waters with the new product on its home turf, PCWorld reports.

The company has opened a new Chinese-language website announcing the pre-orders. The company's smart TVs come in four models, at LED screen sizes of 42-inch and 55-inch.

One of those models, the 42-inch K71 will go on sale at the end of this month for 6499 yuan (US$1,029), said a customer sales representative on Friday. Pricing and launch dates for the other three models are still being determined.

The Chinese PC maker unveiled its smart TVs earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show. The TVs use the Android 4.0 operating system, allowing them to run mobile apps, and are also designed to recognize voice commands. The TVs come built with a 1.5 dual-core processor and three of the models feature flicker-free 3D capability.

Lenovo is preparing to launch its smart TV in China as the company wants to bridge PCs, smartphones, tablets and televisions through its cloud computing services. Last month, the company announced Lenovo Cloud Storage, as a way users can auto-sync their personal files between mobile devices and PCs.

At the same time, Apple has also been rumored to want to enter the market with its own smart TV device, while other companies including Samsung have already rolled out new smart TVs with voice control.

Lenovo, however, doesn't have high expectations for sales of its smart TVs, and wants to use the products to test the market, company CEO Yang Yuanqing said in February.

Lenovo has often launched its newest gadgets in China first before bringing them to other major markets including the U.S. For markets outside China, the company planned on using the "Idea TV" brand as a name for its smart TV products. But Lenovo did not comment on when the product would begin selling in other countries.