14 DAY TRIAL // "A better way" for tablets has arrived, as expected. Lenovo pulled the veil off its “game-changing” new slate model, the Yoga tablet, at an event in Los Angeles. The Chinese manufacturer chose Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher to do the honors and introduce the device.
Lenovo asked “Tablets can’t hold themselves up, can they?” in the teaser preceding the event, so you might be wondering what that was all about. Well, it turns out the Yoga features a hinge-cum-handle that allows the slate to stand and tilt.
Customers will be able to choose between 8-inch or 10-inch variants with a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. Lenovo has slipped in 1.2GHz MT8125 quad-core processors (or MT8389 quad-core processors for 3G models), coupled with 1GB of RAM. 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage are provided from the start, with the option of extending it to 64GB.
The slate has three modes: hold, tilt and stand. If you go ahead and open the cylindrical hinge, it will produce a Microsoft Surface-like stand. The manufacturer says the tablet will boast a massive battery life of 16 to 18 hours via a single charge.
Senior Vice President Liu Jun commented on the launch by saying that “watching and discovering that people frequently use tablets in three main ways allowed us to break the mold of the current ‘sea of sameness’ designs.”
US customers will be able to grab the two Yoga versions starting October 30. The 8-inch model can be exclusively purchased off Best Buy and Lenovo.com for $249 / €181 a pop, while the larger model will become available through BestBuy.com, Lenovo.com and other selected retailers for $299 / €217.
