Lenovo is opening more doors for the traveller or for the person who likes to just sign up to the best deals from a network provider at a given point in time. It is soon to roll-out at least on its higher priced laptops a SIMless version which eliminates the need to purchase a SIM card.
What’s the current situation?
Unless you choose to go the expensive global roaming way with your home network provider when you go overseas you’ll always be on the lookout at your next overseas airport for the right SIM that fits your unlocked phone. That’s not an easy situation to deal with.
Even if your phone is unlocked it will still have to match the frequency of available providers. At times it’s often cheaper to choose your phone provider once you arrive at the overseas airport and buy one of their phones for the duration of your stay in the country. There is always some way of getting connected where and when you want it’s just the question of learning about your choices. Often of course it depends on who’s paying, meaning whether your trip is for business or pleasure.
Connect e-SIM is Lenovo’s
Lenovo is trying to match the gap in the market and is calling its new addition the Connect e-SIM feature. This will allow a seamless connection to local networks when the owner goes overseas.
Which Lenovo laptops will have e-SIM capability?
Apart from the Connect e-SIM feature Lenovo has also announced its new Miix 320. This is expected to include the e-SIM capability. The Miix 320 is one of those multi-purpose laptops with a detachable keyboard which operates on Windows 10 either using the keyboard, or detaching it and using the device as a tablet.
It has a 10.1-inch display unit which uses Windows Continuum tech. enabling it to operate either in laptop mode or tablet.
It will also have a battery life of at least 10 hours at a time and is being marketed to travellers or others who are constantly on the move. The price tag on this e-SIM compatibility unit is expected to be around $US 423.
Two other releases from Lenovo announced at the MWC are the:
- Yoga 520
- Yoga 720 convertible laptops.
These machines are becoming lighter and thinner than anything ever seen before and they both use the Intel Core i7 processors, which are considered to be 7th generation. A scanner for fingerprints has been included in the 520 which is great for the security minded owner.
The e-SIM Lenovo Connect technology will be included with the Miix 320 detachable when it’s soon released while the Yoga models will see the technology surface later this year.
What devices can use the Lenovo Connect e-SIM?
It will be possible for laptop users to share any plan with other connected devices, providing they have been enabled to accept the Lenovo Connect e-SIM.
The Lenovo Group’s vice- president Wang Shuai, who is also the general manager for Lenovo Connect, showcased the new featured laptops following the development of cooperation between China Unicom, as well as other Chinese and global telecom operators and the manufacturers of SIM cards. Because there is no physical SIM card present, the e-Sim can be rewritable, so the network provider can be changed as required by the user.
Shuai has revealed that users will be able to use their devices across networks, across regions, across devices, across-accounts, and also across-industries. Before the e-SIM could be finally developed and utilised, Lenovo had to wait for GSMA to come up with its standards. This took place last year which gave Lenovo the green light to both develop and market its product. Shuai is referring the development as a ‘global one stop service’.
Summary
Travellers are certainly going to gain in many countries but as yet Telstra does not support eSIM technology even devices like the Samsung Gear S2 3G. It’s imperative that a big telco like Telstra doesn’t miss the boat on taking on eSIM technology as it’s an innovative piece of much needed technology that needs listening too. With big data becoming the norm this is the time for telcos working in a competitive environment to use the eSIM technology to offer competitive pricing on large data packages.