Hands On With the Lenovo Yoga Tablet - PC Magazine

Despite a recent surge of inexpensive Windows 8-based tablets, Lenovo isn't giving up on Android quite yet. In fact, it's doubling down with two new additions to its Android family—the 8-inch and 10-inch Yoga Tablets. These two tablets draw from the company's Yoga line of laptops, offering clever mechanisms for multi-mode use. We had a chance to get our hands on Lenovo's flexible new tablets, so read on for our first impressions.

To this point, Lenovo hasn't done the best job of wowing us with its Android tablet offerings. It has generally featured safe designs that ended up feeling pretty bland. But that all changes with the Yoga Tablets.

The key here is a clever hinge mechanism that can be used to prop the tablet up in multiple positions or simply serve as a comfortable hand grip. It's a bit reminiscent of Sony's Tablet S^[1] , with a rolled, cylindrical end that tapers down to a more svelte edge. The rounded end accommodates a large battery pack, and the weight of the battery concentrated in the rounded end also helps the tablet feel lighter than it is in the hand. The metal hinge rotates out to prop the tablet up at a 90-degree angle or keep it at an optimal angle for typing on the tablet's virtual keyboard.

Speaking of, Lenovo will also be selling a Bluetooth Keyboard Cover that helps transform the tablet into a productivity machine. The keys felt pretty comfortable in our brief hands on, though it's still limited by the tablet's small footprint.

The 8-inch and 10-inch tablets are powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT8125 processor, and both sport 16GB of internal storage. The displays on both will also use the same 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution. That's a bit low for 10-inch tablets these days, but the panels on the larger device were nice and bright with a wide viewing angle. Rounding out the core specs are a microSD card expansion slot and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera.

The 8-inch Yoga Tablet will retail for $249, while the 10-incher is priced at $299. Both products are available starting today. Stay tuned for a full review once we get a chance to test these two tablets in our labs. Until then, check out the slideshow above.

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