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Lenovo Yoga Tablet review: long battery life in an otherwise disappointing device
Lenovo's Yoga Ultrabook is often name-dropped as one of the best Windows 8 convertibles out there. It's no surprise, then, that the company would want to get more mileage out of its Yoga brand. Curiously, Lenovo's chosen to expand the lineup with an Android slate: the simply named Lenovo Yoga Tablet. Like the original Yoga and the new Yoga 2 Pro, the tablet works in several positions -- in this case, thanks to a built-in kickstand. It's rated for a staggering 18 hours of battery life, as well. Oh: and newly minted Lenovo spokesman Ashton Kutcher is shilling the device, so there's that. While Lenovo's Yoga Ultrabooks are flagship products with the price tags to match, the Yoga Tablet is surprisingly affordable: $249 for the 8-inch model, and $299 for the 10-incher. So, curious how the Yoga's acrobatic capabilities translate into a standalone slate? Read on for the full report.
Lenovo exec on why you're probably not using one of his phones... yet
If you look around now, chances are you won't spot a single Lenovo smartphone nearby. Unless you're in one of the 15 countries -- mostly in emerging markets -- where the company's been rolling out its mobile devices since last year. JD Howard, the VP of Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group, was in Hong Kong earlier this month to extend Lenovo's reach with its super slim and light Vibe X, in addition to three similar-looking dual-SIM phones: the S930, S650 and A850. While there's a lot of catching up to do before entering mature mobile markets, Howard believes his company's off to a solid start, especially by bucking the trend and expanding its in-house manufacturing.
Lenovo's 'Yoga' Android tablet has a built-in kickstand containing an 18-hour battery (hands-on)
What does Ashton Kutcher have to do with a couple of Android tablets? We don't know either. What we do know is that Lenovo just announced a highly unusual device, and it's unique enough that Lenovo would have had our attention even if didn't use the "Jobs" actor as a spokesperson. What you see above is the previously leaked Yoga Tablet, which has a built-in kickstand that also houses a humongous cylindrical battery (one capable of lasting 18 hours, according to Lenovo). A little more memorable than Lenovo's previous Android tablets, wouldn't you say? True to its name (it's named after Lenovo's convertible Yoga PCs), the screen can fold over, though it's not quite as flexible as the original. All told, it can rotate 135 degrees, allowing for three different usage modes. As you'd expect, you can use it as a traditional tablet with the kickstand closed ("Read mode") or you can open the kickstand so that the tablet's propped up on its own (that'd be "Stand mode"). But there's also "Tilt mode," which involves laying the tablet face-up with the cylindrical battery keeping the device slightly propped up, allowing for easier on-screen typing.
Lenovo teases Yoga Tablet that can literally stand itself up, shift its center of gravity
Looks like Lenovo and its executives are taking a page out of Huawei's book to start leaking its own products, with the victim this time being an oddly named Yoga Tablet. Our source told us that unlike the Yoga laptop series, this mysterious device isn't a transformable device. Instead, the main selling points here are the product will have a "leg" that can somehow stand itself up (and our source specifically said this is not a kickstand), plus it has some sort of mechanism that can shift its center of gravity, in order to give you the illusion that it's lighter in hand. As a bonus, the Yoga Tablet claims to be the world's slimmest slate with the longest standby battery life, according to Lenovo's own "spy shot" above. If all goes well, we can expect this intriguing device to launch a month from now, as confirmed by Lenovo SVP and head of China, Chen Xudong, on Sina Weibo.
