A 10in Android tablet with a quirky design
Many tablets are designed to resemble the iPad, but the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 takes a different approach. Not to be confused with the 8in Yogas and those versions running Windows 8, this Android tablet has a cylinder on its bottom edge (in landscape mode) that houses a flip-out stand. This can be used to prop up the tablet at a slight angle for easier typing or at a 45- or 90-degree angle for watching videos.
The stand even has a small hole in it so you can hang it from a hook in the shed or garage, making it easier to refer to when working on a DIY project, for example. The stand is quite stiff however, so it’s a little tricky to flip out, and although it’s made of sturdy metal, the rest of the Yoga Tablet 2 is cased in creaky plastic that bends and creaks under pressure.
The metal stand is responsible in part for the tablet’s hefty 600g weight which, along with the bulky cylinder, makes it uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time. One reason for the cylinder’s bulk is that it houses a sizeable battery, which in our tests lasted an impressive 13 hours 20 minutes when playing video. Performance was also impressive, with the 1.3GHz Intel Atom Z3745 quad-core processor and 2GB of memory speeding through our demanding benchmark tests.
Responsiveness was lacking though, with the touchscreen often lagging behind our finger swipes and prods. Even more annoying was the poor quality of the 10in screen. While it has a high 1920x1200-pixel resolution, text was disappointingly fuzzy, while colours suffered from oversaturation and poor contrast. Turning off Lenovo’s screen settings lessened some of these flaws, but not all.
Irritatingly, Lenovo has modified the Android 4.4 KitKat interface so that it imitates iOS by removing Android’s app drawer. This means all your apps end up on your homescrecn whether you want them there or not. Lenovo has also changed the Notifications drawer by segregating the Settings shortcuts into their own slide-up drawer at the bottom of the screen. You can at least restore the app drawer by installing Google’s Now' Launcher app, which also makes the Google Now personal assistant easier to access.
There are some useful enhancements, such as the ability to use two apps on screen side by side, but even this isn’t an unqualified success. But the Yoga has a much smaller selection of compatible apps than Samsung’s Android tablets, which have a similar feature.
The lOin Yoga Tablet 2 has a lengthy battery life, fast performance and is affordable. But it’s let down by a poor-quality screen, bulky design, irritating interface and poor responsiveness. Unless you’ll frequently use the stand, it’s worth paying a little more for the Google Nexus 9 instead.
VERDICT
Not without its charms, but this tablet is let down by multiple flaws.
SPECIFICATIONS
10in 1920x1200-pixel touchscreen • 1.3GHz Intel Atom Z3745 quad-core processor • 2GB memory • 16GB storage • Intel integrated graphics chip • Android 4.4 KltKat • 600g • 8x261x180mm (HxWxD) • One-year warranty