The Lenovo Yoga Tablet: is it a #betterway?

This is James Whatley, reporting to you from Milan…

Yoga

That’s not me, that’s Ashton Kutcher. He’s just been on the screen to announce that he’s the new product engineer for Lenovo. No, really.

Fortunately, that’s not the only thing Lenovo were throwing a big shindig to celebrate. Tonight they announced the new Lenovo Yoga Tablet.

Yoga

‘Ooooooo! Shiny!’

First things first: this tablet is THIN. Not completely, it has a bulb at the end, but we’ll come back to that, but it is THIN. 3mm at its thinnest end (and 21.5mm at its thickest). Available in two sizes, 8″ and 10″ respectively, this Android (4.2.2) tablet from Lenovo really is a lovely bit of kit.

It being part of the ‘Yoga’ range, the tablet comes with several different ‘modes’. Unlike its PC/laptop predecessor, these modes are actually quite useful. At only 605g for the 10″ model [single] hand mode is super comfy. There’s also stand mode for consuming media, and tilt mode, is probably the mode I’d use it in most, is there for ‘desktop’ work, if you will.

lenovo

The model I’ve got is wifi only, but I’m assured that the Tablet is also available with a 3G Micro SIM slot in case you want to get mobile data on the go. While we’re at it, the Tablet also comes with an expandable micro SD memory slot, a micro USB port (supporting OTG, worth its weight in gold on any mobile device), and a 9000mAh battery (on the 10″ model, again) resulting in a stonking 18hrs of usage.

That is mental.

Screen-wise, you’re looking at an HD display of 1280×800 and a 178 degree viewing angle. That’s great but I’ll be honest, having been spoilt by both a retina MacBook Pro and iPad, the resolution on the Yoga Tablet is the only downside that I could find in otherwise outstanding piece of kit. Saying that, once I’d played around with the settings a bit and installed my own launcher, you’ll find youself getting over that minor issue quite quickly.

Finally, the Tablet is also available with a fairly snazzy magnetic Bluetooth keyboard that just so happens to double up as a cover. Very nice. I like that, a lot (although I can’t give you any feedback on how good it is quite yet as mine is still charging on the other side of the room).

It’s getting quite late here in Italy and I need to schedule this post for the embargo drop in about an hour or so. As I said, I’ve been given one of these beautiful things to have as my own and, having never had an Android tablet before, I’m very much looking forward to giving it a whirl.

Pics are up on Flickr, and go search ‘#betterway‘ on Twitter for more.

Whatley out.

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UPDATE: Pricing has been released and the 8″ and the 10″ models are estimated to arrive at €229 and €299 respectively. The Bluetooth keyboard is an additional purchase and that’s estimated at €99.

UPDATE 2: UK pricing for the basic models is set to be £199 for the 8″ and £249 for the 10″.

Specs (PDF)
Press Release (doc)