The Lenovo Thinkpad 3G Android Tablet has been a lemon since it got released. When initially released the GPS in the tablet didn’t work. The ICS update fixed the GPS issues but caused more problems with 3G and Wifi. Here’s a link Lenovo Wifi and 3G issues.
Today I updated the tablet to ThinkPadTablet_A400_03_0070_0132_ROW and the 3G would no longer connect. I tried a Telus SIM card and a Bell SIM card. After 45 minutes on the phone with Telus tech support and 2 phone calls to Lenovo ( 1 that ended with the CSR hanging up on me for using big words ) the tablet would still not register on the Network.
With no resolution forthcoming from Lenovo I decided to ask the Great Google to help. Luckily some European customers have had a similar issue ( check post 28 which is an English translation of a German post ). The steps below are from those posts with Canadian cell providers instead of the European ones.
You will need a 2G SIM-Card. I used speakout wireless but Rogers or Fido should work too. You don’t need an internet plan for this to work. Anywhere below where I mention Telus you can also substitute Bell.
- activate 3G (mobile broadband connection)
- activate 2G only (go to: setting -> mobile connections and activate “use only 2G”)
- press the reset button (the one between sim card slot and sd card slot
- After the reboot you should have a 2G internet connection with the speakout card
- reactivate 3G (go to: settings -> mobile connections and deactivate “use only 2G”)
- you should now have a 3G connection with the speakout SIM-Card
- you should be able to switch between 3G and Wi-Fi without any problems
- Turn the tablet off.
- Take out your speakout SIM-Card and insert your Telus SIM-Card
- Turn the tablet on again.
- The Telus SIM-Card should work now.
Overall I really can’t recommend this tablet as one of the primary reasons I purchased it was for the 3G functionality. I’ve already spent more time diagnosing this tablet than it is worth. The other business class value add from Lenovo can be had from other manufacturers for less. The business features also seem to make the tablet mush slower than comparable devices.