There was a little wobble (.01") in the blade at first, but in my experience it was no better or worse than other contractor saws I used
Mathias' techniques to flatten the arbor flanges and got it down to about .002" so it is quite acceptable now. I had to do he same thing to my Ridgid. As far as the blade raising, mine actually moved in the other direction (away from the fence) when I got it, there is an adjustment set screw on the guide post that corrects this.
It is definitely an induction motor (Phase 1 3450 RPM etc), not sure why they don't use the horsepower rating but if I had to guess, it's probably that they are typically selling to people used to buying things with universal motors. (just a wild guess, god know what these marketing guys are thinking.) There IS a small enclosed belt directly under the arbor. the motor is mounted parallel to the arbor, I have it apart right now to work on the dust collection, so Ill take more pics this weekend and upload them.
I have decided that I am going to remove the dust collection and take advantage of the motor being inside the box and seal it up and put a 4" dust port in the bottom. After using it a bit, I find that the dust collection shroud inside is a bit in the way for blade changes and if small pieces fall down there, it is really difficult to get them out. Also, while the dust collection is pretty good for a Lowe's factory feature, and would be very adequate if I were using it more as a mobile saw, there is still a bit more free range dust than I would like, and being the most used tool in the shop, I need to upgrade it a bit.