back to article Bendy, but hangs loose too: Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 10-inch Android tab

When I reviewed Lenovo’s original Yoga Android tablet I was impressed by the design but underwhelmed by the technology within. Now Lenovo has released its successor, rather predictably called the Yoga 2. Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 10-inch Android fondleslab A 10-inch fondleslab with a difference: Lenovo's Yoga Tablet 2 Although …

  1. Tony Paulazzo

    Well, I love the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 1, and it was battery life that decided it for me, the lack of power / res, not such a huge problem as the only tablet type games I play are Bejewelled and Mahjong - books on my kindle, music on my phone. GBs of graphic novels (on the SD), bedroom TV and surfing are the reason d'etre for me having a tablet and it functions perfectly, but this looks a good upgrade (more battery and better resolution).

    Pro consumer tip: Buy em from John Lewis, same price as everywhere else and two year warranty as standard.

    1. RustyNailed

      The two year warranty from JL might be nice depending on what exactly it offers, and bear in mind that consumer items purchased in the EU get a two year guarantee no matter where you buy them:

      http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/shopping-abroad/guarantees/index_en.htm

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        On a couple of occassions I've tried to get Amazon to honour the EU warranty/UK Sale of Goods act. In essence they won't, and they're not the only ones. You'll have to take them to the small claims court in order to get your money back and they are well aware that most people won't bother. If I could get something of this value for the same price in JL then I sure would!

        1. Lallabalalla

          2 year warranty

          Same goes for WH Smith and the dire Kobo hardware. If you're wondering if you should get one - just - don't.

          1. Tapeador
            Angel

            Re: 2 year warranty

            You don't necessarily have to go to small claims to get your pro-rata refund when Amazon won't cough up for faulty goods (the pro-rata refund based on how long the item ought to last given the price, which is always up to six years).

            If you pay in part or full by credit card - NOT debit card - for an item costing over £100 in the UK or as a distance sale while in the UK, then the CC provider assumes the same Sale Of Goods Act obligations as the retailer (or which the retailer would have if they were subject to UK law). CCA 1975 s 75.

            ....

            Incidentally the 'EU 2 year warranty' is no such thing. It is a requirement that the item "conform to contract" for 2 years. If the price is sufficiently low, then the contract might be construed as providing that the item last for a very short time indeed, e.g. maybe 2 months for something you bought at Poundland, depending on what it is! Poundland will not be liable for a 2 year warranty because their requirement is only that for 2 years the item "conform to contract [in lasting for 2 months]". D'y'see? :-)

          2. Lallabalalla

            Re: 2 year warranty

            Thumbs down from Kobo lovers, but I'm telling you: We have 2x Kobo Touch and a (13 month old broken) Kobo Glo. Compared to them the Kindle is just awesome. When you touch it, it turns the page. No waiting. No manic stabbing the display. No resetting the device because it froze again. TO coin a phrase - it just works.

            Amazon are cheaper than Smiths too. And don't give me crap about "supporting the evil empire" unless you are prepared to live in a cave and eat roadkill, otherwise it's BS. Plus, have you ever tried to FIND any of those 1,000,000 free books on Kobo? Good luck with that.

            Anyway, the point is that our Kobo Glo broke after 13 months and Smiths were all "2 year guarantee? No. We don't know the law and we don't care, either".

            As far as the Yoga: we have a v1 at work and it's pretty awful, so the bar wasn't very high. I hope the v2 is better as the screen size is decent. I believe the one to beat at the budget end these days is the new Hudl though?

        2. Pseudonymous Coward

          > On a couple of occassions I've tried to get Amazon to honour the EU warranty/UK Sale of Goods act.

          I thought after a certain period of time (a month?) you've got to go to the manufacturer who is bound by the EU warranty. This is from memory though, apologies if wrong.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            the Italian state fined Apple many millions for their 'undefined' second EU year warranty policy

            Apple is now very happy, smiling & pleased to honour consumer rights for iPad/iPod etc in the second year, in Italy. To be fair, they mostly honoured it as far as I was concerned, but not always. Italy tends to assume that the EU legislation means first year is covered by the merchant, with 2nd year covered by the item producer.

            In several Italian white-goods shop, like "Mercatone", there's a 230V socket in the delivery warehouse area where knowing consumers plug *everything* in to test - before taking it home, as otherwise the shop denies that they actually sold the item to you.

            back to Lenovo, Lenovo Italy wouldn't sell me anything! I ended up buying a Lappy at Lenovo UK (both 'language variant' Lenovo website is actually based in NL) UK Lenovo did phone me up to check I existed before posting the laptop, which is excellent.

    2. Neal Stephenson
      Thumb Up

      Thanks Tony,

      I just checked the JL site and see that there is a " Claim your VAT Back" promotion running until 5th December. Absolute bargain at about £200

      1. FartingHippo
        Thumb Up

        John Lewis

        Not that is a Bobby Bonanza price. I'd like a Tab S or a Nexus 9, but for £150 less, this is a clear winner.

        Now to see if the missus is up for buying me my Christmas present early...

        1. Graham 24

          Re: John Lewis

          The VAT-back offer isn't specific to John Lewis - it's run by Lenovo. Applies to a range of their hardware.

          See https://lenovo-offers.com/winter-vatback

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I received one of these a few days ago to test and I must say it is a nice looking piece of kit.

    Although I got it for a larger project, I wouldn't mind having one of my own. It feels really, nice, well made and options with the stand (flat on desk, slanting, upright/photo frame & hanging) make it really practical (although you'd lose the practicality if you wanted to use it with a case).

    1. JDX Gold badge

      I don't suppose that stand would function on a soft surface like a sofa/bed, would it? I like to watch iPad in bed and getting a stand which is stable to keep the screen near-perpendicular on a duvet was a bit of a pain.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I have passed it over to our other departments to evaluate at the moment so I don't have it with me for this week. The stand is very stable on a hard surface, on a soft but firm surface it would balance okayish I would expect however there are just too many variables and a lack of a bed at work to be able to test it.

        I would equate it to standing a large book upright.

  3. GregC

    Very tempting....

    Ticks just about every box, as a Nexus 10 owner I'd prefer a higher res screen but then that would be reflected in extra £££ of course.

    I don't actually need a new tablet, the 10 continues to do everything I need, but this is the first one that's come along with a combination of the "want one" factor and a sensible price (and extra kudos to Lenovo for not charging silly money for more storage!)

  4. Abacus

    This tablet makes it very hard to justify buying a Nexus 9, or am I missing something?

    1. RustyNailed

      I guess it depends why you want a Nexus 9. I just got one to replace an old Asus TF101. I quite like the slightly smaller form factor (from 10" down to 9"), and combined with the higher resolution display it makes for a nice device to read on. I also wanted to go 'Google' with respect to more speedy OS updates, and no vendor bloat on the device.

      The Yoga does appear to be worth serious consideration, and having read the review I wondered if I should have gone for the Yoga instead. On reflection though, I'm happy with the 9, it does what I need it to do at a price that I was comfortable with. YMMV.

    2. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      It still justifies it in my book

      Nexus has an extended "life expectancy" because of the third party (AOSP/Cyanogen) ROMs.

      While there is some work on getting a working build for the Yoga it is neither very active, nor very successful.

      That alone (the extended life option) gives the 9 a slight advantage. Not that I need one - for the time being the old Nexus 7 and Samsung 3 are more than sufficient in their "electronic pacifier" duties. If either one of them breaks I would go for the 9 (or something from Samsung which has a Cyanogen port) instead of a Yoga.

  5. James 51

    Tablet specs are starting to approach lower end laptops. How long before we'll be able to stick ubuntu or something else like that on without too much fuss?

    1. Professor Clifton Shallot

      I think it might be the case that these particular tablets are also being released running Windows on the same or only very slightly different (more RAM?) hardware.

      So Linux ought to be no problem in terms of the capabilities of the device.

      1. James 51

        Don't know if it is baked into the silicon or the license but I've never seen a machine with this atom cpu and more than 2gb of ram.

    2. Meerkatjie

      The last time I looked there were versions of linux and maybe ubuntu that can run on 10 year old kit so shouldn't be too much of a stretch to get it to run on one of these.

    3. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Unfortunately the Intel chipsets almost always enforce secure boot so rooting is not an option.

    4. goldcd

      erm Lenovo do a windows version

      If you want to feel like you're living in the future, have a google for Onda.

      Couple of hundred quid, you can get something that looks similar to (and has the retina screen of an ipad mini), with full blown windows 8 running on it.

      I spent years trying to get my 'portable stuff' to do what was simple of my 'proper' machine.

      My next decision isn't going to be iOS or Android. It's going to be Android or Windows ('proper' windows)

  6. ukgnome
    Thumb Down

    Why does it look 90's?

    Who beat it with the ugly stick?

    1. Tapeador

      the 90s

      The 90s were great!

      Yes I can see how it doesn't seem to have been designed purely to look like an alien in Autocad 3d, but that's good sometimes no?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    To all reviewers, not just this one:

    Look at the photos in your review.

    Notice the reflections that obscure the screen ?

    Do you think people also notice those reflections when they use these devices ?

    Glossy screens look nice in the showroom but suck in real use.

    It's time the manufacturers realised this, and not even mentioning it in a review does potential buyers a disservice.

    1. Al Taylor

      The reflections look much, much worse in the pics than in real life. More a testament to my lack of photographic expertise than anything else.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        So it has a Matte screen then, like some HP and Asus models ?

        Maybe it is worth mentioning that in your reviews ?

  8. YP

    8 inches for £170

    With the current VAT cash back. With the SD card slot this could be viable despite the 16GB on board memory. I just wish there was an option for 32B out the box.

  9. Peter Clarke 1

    One Omission

    As someone who uses a Playbook for catch up TV on the smaller bedroom TV, the lack of HDMI means no sale. It might also be the same for anyone showing presentations in the workplace

    1. David Paul Morgan

      Re: One Omission

      perhaps it supports the MHL protocol? in which case, get a £5 - £10 micro-usb to hdmi adaptor off eBay etc?

  10. AbelSoul

    Thirteen incher

    Looks pretty nice.

    Any chance of a review of the 13" Pro model with built in projector?

  11. Dave Lawton
    FAIL

    Intel based

    POC

    Let the downvotes commence

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Intel based

      Who cares? If the performance/price combination matches up to expectations, what does it matter?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Intel based

        I also wonder, does this ever matter to users ? Is there any chance we would notice ?

        1. Vector

          Re: Intel based

          "I also wonder, does this ever matter to users ?"

          Depends on what your needs/wants are. For standard Android apps, this one will run about as well as a midrange ARM based tablet.. The issues will appear when you start getting into apps that use the NDK (native development kit). These apps, primarily graphics intensive (read: games) are coded "closer to the bare metal." That means they're more dependent on the processor architecture. Since Android has been an ARM game until recently, most NDK stuff is going to run better on those chips than Intel for the foreseeable future.

          On a side, but related, note: I find it humorous to see the reviewer's comment that Intel for Android is "every bit as quick as the best ARM devices" right under a graphic showing a half dozen ARM devices with a significant performance advantage.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Intel based

            Thanks.

            But will NDK stuff even run ?

            1. Vector

              Re: Intel based

              Intel says they have an on the fly recompiler that will handle most NDK stuff. How well this works remains to be seen. I haven't tried it myself and haven't seen much press about it. My experience with this kind of thing is that it's a poorly stuck bandaid at best.

    2. sabroni Silver badge

      Re: Let the downvotes commence

      Attention seeking much?

  12. BenjaminHare

    What about the projector on this unit? The tech specs at the Lenovo web site don't provide much information about that particular piece. Mr. Taylor didn't mention it.

    1. DaLo

      There isn't a projector on it, that is a different model.

  13. Atomic Duetto
    Thumb Down

    Bastards

    In there any reason I have to pay nearly twice as much for it here in Australia

    (US$499 vs A$799)

    I didn't think so..

  14. Booty003

    "as silky smooth as warm massage oil running off the back of an oriental courtesan"

    - That will make me smile for the rest of the week; Cheers!!

    1. Marcus Aurelius

      Re: Silky Smooth

      The question is whether this is misogynistic or a beautiful turn of phrase.

      Only Skittles have the answer...

      1. sabroni Silver badge
        Happy

        Re: The question is whether this is misogynistic or a beautiful turn of phrase.

        I'm more potentially offended by the racist overtones,tbh.. Oh, which faux outrage to choose.....?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The question is whether this is misogynistic or a beautiful turn of phrase.

          In the ( not actually even conceivably offensive, but still retracted after faux outrage ) words of Joey Barton "It's like choosing between ugly girls".

  15. Andy Davies

    no HDMI output ...that’s not so much a big a deal

    yes it is

  16. Graxer

    I had a Asus Atom based Android tab for about a week before I returned it. Horrible tablet. I'm not going near another. ARM all the way.

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