Lenovo Yoga Tablet Hands-On Preview With Video

Lenovo just unveiled a duo of affordably priced multi-mode tablets, the Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10. As their names suggest, the Yoga Tablet 8 features an 8” screen, while the Yoga Tablet 10 sports a larger 10.1 display, and like Lenovo’s Yoga-branded ultrabooks, these two devices also feature a unique design that allows them to be used in multiple orientations. Here’s a quick video we put together of the two devices in action that better demonstrates what we mean.

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10

Out of the box, the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10 feature Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean). The devices are powered by quad-core MediaTek 8125 (1.2GHz, four Cortex A7 cores) SoCs with PowerVR Series5XT SGX544 graphics and they feature 1280x800-res displays, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, 5MP rear and 1.6MP front cameras, and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. The Lenovo Yoga Tablets are outfitted with dual front-facing speakers as well, which sound surprisingly good, along with a microphone with noise reduction capabilities, and micro USB, micro SIM, and 3.5mm audio ports.

36-24-36? Only if she's 5' 3"!

The Lenovo Yoga Tablets feel very good in the hand and build quality is obviously top-notch. The batteries used in the devices, which reportedly offer up to 18 hours of battery life, however, result in a cylindrical bulge that extend across the bottom edge of the devices. The bulge makes holding onto the Yoga Tablets with one hand much easier than other tablets, but it also means one edge is much thicker than the other. We suspect the design is going to be somewhat polarizing, but ultimately, it’s not a huge deal. Plus, the innovative stand built-into the Yoga Tablets leverages the cylindrical bottom edge and enable what Lenovo calls Hold, Stand, and Tilt modes. As you’ll see in the video having a tablet than can be oriented in multiple positions, without the need for any additional accessories can be quite useful.

The Yoga Tablet’s performance is somewhat of a mixed bag. In terms of the user experience, the Yoga Tablets feel quite snappy. In the short time we’ve had the devices, we haven’t felt that browsing, running apps, or tooling around the OS was slow. The Yoga Tablet's benchmark scores, however, trail many other mobile devices. The Yoga Tablet finished about in the middle of the pack in Browsermark, but trailed most other platforms in SunSpider and 3DMark Ice Storm. A full suite of benchmark scores will be coming in our full review.

With that said, the Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10 arrive at only $249 and $299, respectively. We’ll wait until we complete our full review before passing final judgment, but the innovative form factor, built-in stand, long battery life, and affordable prices may make the Yoga Tablets interesting to consumers looking for full-featured, well-built devices on a budget.