Lenovo Miix 3 8 (830) Launched In China Only

11 months after Lenovo launched their first ever 8-inch Windows 8.1 tablet with the Lenovo Miix 2 8, they have now launched the Lenovo Miix 3 8 in China.

We'll jump right to the specs of the Lenovo Miix 3 8 (830). For starters, the former 8-inch screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution have been replaced by a 7.85-inch IPS screen with a 1024 x 768 resolution display. So a lower resolution, but also a different aspect ratio, now at 4:3. This is significant, and it should go down well with customers, since this is the aspect ratio of the iPad mini as well. The brightness goes to 300 nits.

The quad-core processor have been swapped to a newer 1.33GHz (1.86GHz Turbo speed) Intel Atom Z3735F processor that supports faster 1333MHz RAM and Intel HD4000 GPU. It also supports DirectX 11 and OpenGL 3D. And it still has 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM. Storage options are 16GB and 32GB this time, with microSD card support.

The 15Wh lithium battery now only gives it a 7 hours battery life says Lenovo, which is pretty strange when you consider that the original had a battery life of over 10 hours of real world use! Wi-Fi bands supported are 802.11b/g/n, as well as Bluetooth 4.0.

The front camera is a Full HD 2MP, and the rear camera is 2MP as well, while it has an anti-noise microphone in the bezel. It is still among the lighter Windows 8 tablets, with a weight of 375 gram.

The thickness of the tablet is 9.2mm. Actually, the dimensions for the old Lenovo Miix 2 was 215.6mm x 131.6mm x 8.35mm while for the new Lenovo Miix 3 8, they are 200.3mm x 136.9m x 9.2mm.

The launch price in China is the equivalent of $249 in the US. The Asian market is where Windows 8 tablets are most popular, so it makes sense that Lenovo launches the new Lenovo Miix 3 8 there first.

Will there be a Full HD version of the Lenovo Miix 3 8? There have been speculations about this the last couple of months, but considering the specs of this new tablet, and the low sales of the Full HD Lenovo ThinkPad 8, it seems less likely now.

I don't think the Lenovo Miix 3 8 is inferior in every way. The new aspect ratio is clever, but a lot of potential customers will sigh over the low resolution, and some of the other downgrades.

Toshiba and maybe Acer too have preceded the downgrade move that Lenovo made with this tablet. So what manufacturer will actually upgrade the specs on their small Windows 8 tablet this year?

– Tom Bowen

Jim Miller

Jim's passion for Apple products ignited in 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone. This was a canon event in his life. Noticing a lack of iPad-focused content that is easy to understand even for “tech-noob”, he decided to create Tabletmonkeys in 2011.

Jim continues to share his expertise and passion for tablets, helping his audience as much as he can with his motto “One Swipe at a Time!”