Lenovo’s Dazzling Yoga Book Redefines Convertibles With Futuristic Halo Keyboard

The Yoga Book consists of two display panels that are joined by Lenovo’s 360-degree watchband hinge. It is the world thinnest 2-in-1 convertible, measuring in at 9.6mm thick when closed. The 10.1-inch (FHD) device is also incredibly light, weighing in at a feathery 1.52 pounds.

Where the Yoga Book deviates from the traditional 2-in-1 formula is with its keyboard — or rather, its faux keyboard. The Yoga Book doesn’t have traditional moveable keys, and instead relies on backlit, touch screen-based Halo Keyboard. The glass covering the screen has a slightly rough, matte texture to make it more touch-friendly and an anti-glare coating (for obvious reasons).

When the Halo Keyboard is called upon, a solid white outline defines the keys and touchpad on the screen. The Halo Keyboard also includes artificial intelligence that is continually learning and adapting to your typing style with a built-in prediction engine (like what you’d see in iOS, Android, and Windows Phone software keyboards). The Halo Keyboard also includes haptic feedback which gives you some semblance of typing on a real keyboard. When not in use, the keyboard panel goes dark, in turn conserving battery life.

When not being used as a keyboard, the secondary panel can also double as a drawing pad. And given the finely textured surface that we mentioned earlier, it gives the sensation of drawing on real paper using the included dual-use stylus. The stylus can be used as a regular pen (complete with conventional ink), or you can take advantage of its 2,048 pressure levels and 100-degree angle detection when used digitally. The stylus doesn’t require batteries, and can be used with the keyboard panel or the primary display panel.

Interestingly enough, the Yoga Book is available in both Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and Windows 10 variants. The Android version includes the Book UI which “draws from the best UI features of laptops and tablets” and allows you to run multiple apps at once using multiple windows (a feature that is incorporated into Android 7.0 Nougat). Windows 10 users can simply take advantage of Windows Ink technology baked into the Anniversary Update. The Yoga Book’s 8500 mAh battery is capable of lasting up to 15 hours per charge for the Android version, while the Windows 10 version cuts that to 13 hours.

Now we come to the part where we have to cite the obvious shortcomings. The Yoga Book is powered by a meager Intel Atom x5-Z8550 processor paired with 4GB of RAM. Likewise, internal storage is limited to just 64GB, but that can be expanded by 128GB with the integrated microSD slot. So while some may be able to squeeze by with using the Yoga Book as their primary machine, this is by no means a powerhouse system aimed at enthusiasts.

The Yoga Book will be available in the United State in October, priced at $499 and $549 respectively for the Android and Windows 10 versions.