Lenovo has an arsenal of tablets that fit into the Windows ecosystem, but they’re becoming more aggressive in the Android tablet market as well – evident by recent devices like its new Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 line. Taking charge, the company isn’t backing down one bit, as they intend on becoming an even stronger player with the arrival of its Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro. Quite simply, it’s one beast of an Android tablet because it pushes the threshold in terms of size with its 13.3-inch display. Not only that, but it’s able to differentiate itself by incorporating a useful pico-projector as well – where it’s gunning to be a productivity beast worthy for the business professional.
The package contains:
microUSB cable
microfiber cloth
Wall charger
Stereo headphones
Getting to know guide
Design
It takes the design we’re familiar with in the series to a grander scale.
Uncannily different from most other tablets, the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro employs the same unorthodox design that first arrived on the scene with the first Lenovo Yoga Tablet – albeit, it’s on a significantly larger scale. Even though it sports a relatively svelte construction, aside from its cylindrical hinge, this is something that occupies more room in a backpack than the traditional 10-inch tablet. Nevertheless, it still bears an intriguing design that screams sophistication thanks to its metal and plastic combo construction.
Just like the other models in the series, the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro’s kickstand has been marginally improved by offering a full 180-degree rotation, which interestingly enough, is justified for usage with its “hang” mode. We wouldn’t say it’s a practical thing, but the other modes prove to be more effective – especially its stand and tilt modes, which make it great for watching videos and typing. In making the multimedia experience engaging, Lenovo has outfitted it with dual front-firing JBL speakers with Wolfson Master HiFi audio processing and Dolby surround sound – while a 5W subwoofer is positioned in the rear.
Display
It’s generously sized at 13.3-inches, but it’s also accompanied with Quad HD to give it a sharp look.
Android tablets in general rarely push past the 10-inch mark with their screen sizes, but the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro very well blasts past that with its ginormous 13.3-inch 2560 x 1440 Quad HD IPS display. Needless to say, there’s a lot to like about the screen, from its impeccably sharp details, to the generous amount of real estate we have to work with, and its decent brightness output of 393 nits, it has enough attractive elements to complement the tablet’s larger-than-normal size. Despite its 7755 K color temperature, which gives the display a colder tone, our eyes do take a liking to the saturated colors it produces. Blessed with that “Pro” touch, the display that’s present here is inviting on so many levels – more so when it exudes the specs of some higher-end models.
The numbers below represent the amount of deviation in the respective property,observed when a display is viewed from a 45-degree angle as opposed to direct viewing.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
Tucked into the one corner of its cylindrical hinge is a discretely placed pico projector that enables the tablet to project whatever is on its display onto any surface, which therefore, adds some versatility to both its multimedia and productivity experiences. With the simple long-press of a button on its side, a 40 to 50 lumen unit delivers a usable projection of up to 50-inches – though, its resolution of 854 x 480 can make it look a bit grainy at times. There’s a slider nearby, too, that allows us to adjust its focus accordingly.
Naturally, it’s a beneficial thing when it comes to sharing content or hosting a presentation, since it’s more practical than using the display. However, its effectiveness is most profound when it’s used in really dark conditions – mainly because its brightness is somewhat underpowered, so it becomes faint when ambient light is present. Another thing we find problematic, is trying to properly position the tablet so that the projection is flat. And since the tablet is prone to sliding when the kickstand is up, so that the tablet is in its “tilt” mode, it becomes rather tough trying to interact with the tablet without disrupting the projection.
Overall, it’s a useful feature that we really don’t mind having on board, especially when it’s such a rare feature. Sure, it begs the question whether or not it’s a practical thing to have in a tablet, as opposed to a separate or dedicated unit, but the fact remains that having it despite some complications in finagling it is still better than not having it at all.
Interface and Functionality
Lenovo appropriately enhances the experience to give it a more rounded appeal.
Still favoring the same simplified interface from before, the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro’s customized Android 4.4.2 KitKat experience receives some new features that make it more versatile. Visually, it’s rather conventional looking and straightforward – though, it can be a bit cluttered looking due to the elimination of the traditional apps panel, so all icons are placed on the homescreen.
In enhancing the experience, Lenovo has tweaked the interface by adding a multi-tasking element where pressing the button on the bottom left corner of the UI presents us with a few supported apps – such as Email, Gallery, Chrome, File Browser, Calculator, and Video. At the most, we’re able to select up to three of the apps, as they’re launched in their own respective windows.
Additionally, Lenovo is attempting to paint the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro as a productivity centric tablet – despite its competitive price point. They’re able to achieve this by appropriately optimizing the layout arrangement of several native apps for tablet usage, so multi-paned windows are heavily used. And finally, it comes preloaded with Kingsoft Office’s WPS Office app, giving us the ability to edit and create text documents, presentation slides, and spreadsheets.
Processor and Memory
The Intel Atom chip under the hood runs effectively, but it’s not as snappy or buttery smooth with its performance than some other prized chipsets.
Ticking under the hood is a quad-core 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z3745 chip that’s based on 64-bit architecture – coupled with 2GB of RAM and the Intel HD Graphics GPU. As much as it handles most basic operations without any evidence of strain, it lacks the snappiness and buttery finesse we see in some other prized processors. It’s good for the usual productivity stuff, but its performance is tested by some of today’s 3D intensive gaming titles.
Endowed with 32GB of internal storage, that’s more than enough to appease anyone who’s big into multimedia, but there’s also a microSD card slot that’s ready to supplement things.
With Chrome being its native web browser, we can’t complain about the surfing experience on the tablet, mainly because of its sharp display, quick page loads, and decent on-the-fly rendering. Best of all, the amount of real estate presented to us is something to behold. Scrolling is okay, but it’s a little bit jittery with its movement at times. However, we do appreciate the new multi-tasking aspect that’s available to us – where we can access Chrome at any time in its own separate window.
At the moment, there are no plans to make a variant with cellular data connectivity – albeit, there seems to be a placeholder for a SIM slot near the microSD slot. Nevertheless, it’s armed the usual connectivity features such as aGPS, Bluetooth 4.0, and dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. Sadly, though, NFC has been omitted from its arsenal.
Camera
Photos come out decent looking with the camera, but you can forget about shooting video with it.
Despite receiving the “Pro” status, the tablet doesn’t get treated to a better camera than its other siblings in the line – so it’s once again an 8-megapixel one. Thankfully, though, its placement is in a more ideal location in the back of the tablet, as opposed to being built into the corner of its cylindrical hinge. Checking out the camera app, it’s rich with several shooting modes and manual controls that offer us plenty of control in what we want to capture.
Not surprisingly, its quality mirrors that of its smaller sized sibling in the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2. We’ll certainly say that the results are more than usable, but our biggest concern is the slow focus of the camera, which is the culprit behind many of our shots coming out blurry. Details are okay when lighting is plentiful, but it becomes more soft and indistinct under low light. However, we will mention that it does a better job of adjusting its white balance accordingly under artificial lighting – it just has better looking neutral tone than the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2.The quality of 1080p video recording is by no means impressive, but it gets the job done. Details and colors are fine for the most part, but the continuous autofocus is decidedly slow in readjusting. Additionally, the audio recording is very thin- and sharp-sounding, which isn't good.
This is arguably the ultimate multimedia consuming device, as it boasts an arsenal of features that leaps the experience to a whole new level.
The sole and native music player is the Google Play Music app, so there’s nothing new here that we haven’t seen or experienced elsewhere. Armed with dual front-firing speakers, supplemented by a 5W JBL subwoofer in the rear, it musters up an audio output of 72.5 dB. Without the aid of Dolby sound, it sounds rather underpowered and thin in quality, but upon turning it on, there’s definitely more of a poppy and cleaner tone to it.
This is the dream lover’s device for video watching, thanks in part to its super detailed and generously sized display. Not only that, but its built-in pico projection solidifies the experience as it presents us with another experience we normally don’t get exposed to with other tablets – so it’s a perfect companion if you want to share the video watching experience with other people.
Battery
Of course, the compromise in having such a large and high-res screen is having reduced battery life.
The biggest opponent to battery longevity in any device is its screen, so we’re not too shocked by the average-like results we get from the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro’s 9600 mAh battery. It’s actually the same capacity as the smaller sized Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2. Therefore, after taking that into consideration, it doesn’t surprise us to find it reaching a mark of 6 hours and 43 minutes in our battery benchmark test. Conversely, it’s able to power us through one-day of normal usage, which is pretty average.
Before we get down and dirty with our final judgment, let’s first think about the kinds of tablets we can pick up for $500. At that cost, we can select popular models such as the iPad Air 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, which are undoubtedly rich with stellar specs and top-notch performances. Rather than trying to out-do its rivals in the specs department, the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro aims to entice us with its different approach of being a larger, more generously sized tablet that blends fun and play into one neat package – especially when it features a rarely seen built-in pico projector. If you’ve been waiting for a tablet with a larger-than-normal display, you’ll certainly find the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro’s $500 priced package to be enticing.
Software version of the review unit: Android Version: 4.4.2 Software Version: YOGA Tablet 2 Pro-11380F_141124 Build Number: YOGATablet2PRO-1380F_S000090_141124
Pros
It features a larger-than-normal 13.3-inch quad-HD display
Pico Projector is a great addition that’s rarely seen in devices
Ultimate multimedia consuming tablet
$500 cost is pretty easy on the pockets when factoring in its features and size
Kickstand provides us with practical modes
Cons
Slow focus with the camera
Performance can be pressing with gaming
Battery life is average for something so large in capacity
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