Lenovo has outed a new Android Yoga during MWC 2014 – this time toting a slightly more than Full HD display, but not Android KitKat.
Instead, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean is supplied. The company reckons this will be upgraded to the new 4.4 OS via an update in due course.
Despite the enhanced visuals, Lenovo is still citing an impressive 18 hours of battery life for the tablet, which boasts a 9000 mAh battery.
The HD+ also boasts the same aluminium kickstand. This is the first time we’ve seen the stand in action and it is significantly harder to pull the stand out of the tablet’s body than other stands such as the one on the Surface. And here it is: as you can see, the kickstand folds flat, so you can stand the tablet up.
Once again, Lenovo is claiming three modes for the tablet, one of which is “hold” – yep, that’s a usage mode now. It can also lie at an angle as well as stand (or be flat, of course, but we guess that’s classified as “hold”).
Stereo Dolby-enhanced speakers are incorporated within the tablet’s hinges. There’s also a noise cancelling mic and headphone jack, as you’d expect.
The tablet also now comes with Lenovo’s line of DOit apps pre-installed including security and backup apps. There’s also a sharing app that enables you to share between Lenovo devices as well as another for synchronization of contacts and files.
When standing, the tablet can be positioned anywhere from 30 to 80 degrees, so you can position it practically any way you want to. The brushed aluminum finish looks great: this is certainly one of the smarter Android tablets around. It definitely doesn’t look cheap.
Weight is around the 600g mark while the thickness is around 8.1mm at the base, thinning out to around 3mm at the top edge. The tablet itself is 261 x 180mm.
You can see the kickstand folded in here:
There’s also a microSD card slot to expand the storage, while the 3G version takes a microSIM. The headphone jack lives in the end of the hinge – the design is a reminiscent of some older ultraportable Sony Vaio laptops that had the power button in the same place.
In terms of the key specs, we’re looking at a quad-core 1.6GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor MSM8228 (3G models) / APQ8028 (Wi-Fi-only) backed up by 2GB of memory and 32GB of storage (up from the original’s 16GB, though 16GB is stiill available). The tablet has a single micro USB port plus 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.
There’s also an ambient light sensor included alongside a tech that Lenovo calls Smart Display to even up images and text on screen. Camera-wise, you get an 8MP rear snapper (sadly without autofocus or flash), and a 1.6MP front camera.
We weren’t fantastically impressed with the results from the camera, but it is really difficult to get a good impression on the show floor.
The 10.1-inch (1,920 x 1,200) IPS display is lovely and bright and we really were impressed by it – although under bright lights the Smart Display tech didn’t really seem to adjust to our eyes.
The Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ release date is May and price is from £299 (around US $497, AU $552) for the Wi-Fi-only version and £329 for the 3G version (around US $546, AU $607).
Early verdict
We really love the screen on this new Lenovo Yoga, but the fact is the resolution still lags behind some other larger-screened tablets such as the iPad Air. The difference is price – this tablet is significantly cheaper than many competitors and is still quite powerful.
Whether you plump for it could come down to the physical design. Do you want the built-in stand? If the answer is yes, then this makes for a great Android alternative to Microsoft’s Surface.
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