News
News Categories

Lenovo launches new Yoga series of products

By Kenny Yeo - on 31 Oct 2014, 11:09am

Lenovo launches new Yoga series of products

Lenovo has a history with their line of Yoga products. Offering a decent blend of cost and performance, the Yoga line has constantly led the field in convertible devices. In fact, according to figures which Lenovo shared with us, over 48% of all convertible products sold are Lenovo devices, which is very impressive. And at today's event in Golden Village Vivo City, Lenovo aims to continue that tradition with the next generation of Yoga devices, which aims to continue on the Yoga's legacy of excellence. While previous entries in the series were respectable on their own, the next generation of the line (especially the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro) looks set to blaze new territory with innovative new features.

Yoga 3 Pro

The Yoga 3 Pro convertible notebook in its "tent" mode.

The Yoga 3 Pro is the successor to the Yoga 2 Pro, the winner of the Best Windows 8 Ultra Portable Notebook category in our last Tech Awards. The first thing that strikes you about it is its brand new hinge design, which allows it to be folded completely flat. The hinge, we are told, is made up of over 800 little parts and took Lenovo a long time to engineer.

Additionally, the Yoga 3 Pro is remarkable thin and light, coming in at just under 13mm thick and weighs a scant 1.19kg. This is made possible by Intel's new processor. The Yoga 3 Pro will be powered by Intel's new Broadwell processor, specifically the dual-core Core M-70 (up to 2.6GHz, 4MB L2 cache), which will also come with the new Intel HD Graphics 5300 integrated GPU. The new Broadwell processors are especially energy efficient, as such, Lenovo was able to design the Yoga 3 Pro to be completely fan-less for a quiet computing experience. Complementing the processor is 8GB of RAM and flash storage of up to 512GB. To find out more about the proposition and positioning of the new Broadwell based dual-core Core M processors, you can refer to this report.

The Yoga 3 Pro's 13.3-inch touchscreen display supports up to 10 points of multi-touch and will output a resolution of 3,200 x 1,800 pixels. And despite the large display and compact dimensions, Lenovo touts a battery life of around seven hours for the Yoga 3 Pro. As for connectivity, the Yoga 3 Pro will support the latest Wireless-AC standard.

The Yoga 3 Pro will go on sale later in November with prices beginning from S$2299.

Yoga Tablet 2

The Yoga Tablet 2.

Lenovo has also refreshed its Yoga Tablets. First seen last year, the new Yoga Tablet 2 features the same integrated kickstand and cylindrical battery design of its predecessor. The integrated kickstand and cylindrical battery allows the Yoga Tablet 2 to be used in hold, stand and tilt positions. However, new this year is a fourth "hang" position, made possible by the inclusion of a hole in the kickstand. This allows the Yoga Tablet 2 to be hung from hooks, which can be useful in certain situations, doubling as a digital photo frame or as an entertainment device for children sitting the back of the car.

The Yoga Tablet 2 will be offered in 8-inch and 10-inch sizes and its specifications have been thoroughly improved throughout. First of all, Lenovo has made the switch from MediaTek processors used in the original Yoga Tablet to Intel's latest Atom processors, specifically the quad-core Atom Z3745 (up to 1.86GHz, 2MB L3 cache). Memory has also been doubled up to 2GB, while storage options have been increased for the 10-inch model, which now comes with 32GB of capacity - the 8-inch model will still get 16GB.

The original Yoga Tablets were criticized for their lackluster displays and Lenovo has dutifully updated the displays on these new models with new ones that support a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, which means images are much sharper. Unfortunately, support for Wireless-AC is lacking. But interestingly, only the 8-inch model will include support for LTE voice, which means you can make and take phone calls with it. Both models will be preloaded with Android 4.4.

Like its predecessor, these tablets offer up to 18 hours of battery life and can also double up as mobile battery packs. The Yoga Tablet 2 will be available from early November with prices beginning at S$499 for the 8-inch model and $599 for the 10-inch model.

Taking advantage of Windows 8.1 with Bing, Lenovo will also be introducing variants of the Yoga Tablet 2 that will run Windows - they can be differentiated by their all-black chassis. The specifications of these tablets will remain the same as the Android models. One thing to note, however, is that only 10-inch models will be available for public retail. These will retail at S$699 and will also come bundled with a dockable keyboard.

Yoga Tablet 2 Pro

The Yoga Tablet 2 Pro has an integrated pico projector, making it easy to share content.

New to the Yoga family is the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, which can be thought of as an upsized Yoga Tablet 2. The Yoga Tablet 2 Pro has a 13.3-inch display that supports QHD resolution, meaning 2560 x 1440 pixels. It shares mostly the same specifications of the 10-inch Yoga Tablet 2 and so it too is powered by the same Intel Atom Z3745 processor and has 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Support for Wireless-AC, like the Yoga Tablet 2, is notably missing.

However, it does have one nifty trick up its sleeves, which is its integrated pico projector, which can be used to quickly share videos, photos or even presentations. This projector outputs a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels and has a brightness rating of a maximum of 50 lumens. It's best used at a distance of 2 meters, at which it will output a display roughly equivalent to that of 50-inches. We saw a demonstration of this and it worked well and we can imagine using it to output movies onto the ceiling as we lie in bed.

The Yoga Tablet 2 Pro will go on sale in late November for S$1199.

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.