Lenovo is back this month with another Android tablet, only this time is aiming for a different crowd with a budget friendly price and new size. Shaped and spec’d very similar to the iPad 2 we have the Lenovo IdeaTab S2109 here to check out. Coming with a 9.7-inch 4:3 aspect ratio screen and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. See if it’s worth it after the break.

Yup, the Lenovo S2109 runs on the same 1024 x 768 IPS display used on the iPad 2 — coming in at 9.7-inches for a nice 4:3 aspect ratio change of pace. Under the hood gets you a 1.0 GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8 or 16GB of storage. They’ve done away with the rear camera and instead equipped it only with a 1.3 front shooter capable of 720p video. The entire design looks strikingly similar to the iPad and without the Lenovo logo and uni-body plastic shell you’d hardly tell a difference. Then you boot up Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and know you’re in heaven. Here’s our quick video:

One plus here with Lenovo’s latest tablet — unlike their recent slates — is they’ve opted for completely vanilla Android 4.0 ICS. No custom launcher or weird square widgets front and center like the Honeycomb tablets. So far the performance has been pretty swift, although the screen resolution is the weakest link no doubt. Other than the screen everything else about this tablet is pretty nice.

Lenovo has stepped up their build quality, they’ve added SRS quad-stereo surround sound that works amazing, and the rounded uni-body design is quite pleasing in the hand. It looks aluminum but indeed is a hard plastic. The power and volume buttons have a lot of feedback and are a bit too squishy and sometimes I have to try more than once but I can’t complain as I’ve only had it a day.

Offering both 16GB of storage at a great price, a large 6,000 mAh battery, micro-SD support for extra storage and HDMI-out makes this a pretty compelling device for only $311. Yup Lenovo is pricing this under the iPad 2 at just $349 for the 8GB model, and $399 for the 16GB but this weekend only they are on sale starting at $311 for the 4th of July. We’ll continue to test the performance, screen, and battery life over the course of the week so stay tuned for a full review on this decent budget friendly sleek and lightweight Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet.

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