Lenovo has rolled out the Vanilla Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) for IdeaPad K1. The IdeaPad K1 went on sale in July 2011 and ran the Android 3.1 Honeycomb operating system. The new update does not include customisations such as launcher, pre-installed apps or underlying framework. Lenovo claims that the release is not recommended for casual users who are new to customisation of the Android OS. Also, the company seems to have no plans about the Over-The-Air (OTA) updates for the tablet.

The 10.1in IdeaPad K1 tablet packs internal storage variants of 16GB and 32GB. It sports a microSD card with an additional space of 32GB. From its Honeycomb tweaks to its surplus of preloaded apps the device also features Digital Rights Management (DRM) that allows users to legally download and store movies in any format. It is powered by Nvidia Tegra 2 T20 chipset with 1GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor.

Lenovo IdeaPad K1 Gets Vanilla Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Update [How to Install]
Lenovo IdeaPad K1 Gets Vanilla Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update [How to install]. Image Credit: Lenovo Forums

Take a look at the steps below on how to update IdeaPad K1 to ICS via Windows OS: [Check here for more details]

Before proceeding, please note that the method involves risk of data damage. IBTimes UK also advises users to proceed at their own risk and reiterate we will not be held responsible for any consequences. Users are advised to make a back-up of all data, APN settings as well.

  • Download the image file from here and extract all the files onto your PC and store them in a folder.
  • Turn off your tablet and by using the USB cable connect it to the PC.
  • Boot it to recovery mode; to do so keep holding the Volume Up and Down buttons.
  • While holding the Volume buttons, press and hold Power button too. Keep holding the button until the LED light turns on.
  • Notice that the extracted image files include the required APX driver for Windows. If you have already installed the driver then skip to step 7.
  • In order to install the APX driver follow the below steps:

§ Open Computer Management by heading into Start > Right click on Computer > Click Manager

§ Now, Click Device Manager located in the left pane and look for Other Devices in the right pane. Look at the APX and double-click on it.

§ Click Driver tab and then click Update Driver.

§ Click "Browse my computer for driver software" and click the Browse button in next window.

§ When the pop-up box appears, open the folder where you have extracted the image files. Select usbpcdriver and click OK.

§ Click "Install this driver software anyway" when the Windows Security appears.

§ After the complete installation of the driver, close the window.

  • To install Android ICS, browse to the folder that contains the extracted Android OS files. Now, open the flash_oldsbk.bat file. The installation will begin showing up several messages.
  • Switch off the tablet's power and boot into Recovery mode. To do so, hold Power button until the LED light turns off. While holding the Volume buttons, hold Power button until the LED light turns on.
  • Your tablet is now in Recovery mode again, run flash_newsbk.bat file. The Android installation will begin.
  • After installation, your device will boot into Android OS.

You have now installed the ICS on your Lenovo IdeaPad K1.