The evolution of the Lenovo Yoga Tablet
by Volker Weber
The Yoga Tab line of Android tablets took a turn this year. Lenovo skipped the nonsense of having Asthon Kutcher posing as an engineer. And in some respect the Tab 3 generation did not improve over the Tab 2 generation. Screen resolution for isntance went from 1920x1280 down to 1280x800, both at 10 and 8 inches. But they added interesting new ideas, like a camera that swivels between front and back.
Why would you make a product with lower screen resolution? Simple answer: you have to bring the price down. And you save money where most people don't care. If I look at my first generation 8" Tab, they made a clever choice. I never felt it needed more than those 1280x800. Not for what I use it.
That's the Tab 2 vs the Tab 3. But there is a "Pro" model in both lines. The Pro moniker is somewhat silly. You don't use this device for professional work. "Pro" means "the really good one". For the Tab 2 that meant a giant 13 inch screen and a projector. Plus, a pretty good sound for a tablet. Stereo speakers and a "subwoofer", which in itself is also a misnomer. But this thing was certainly good enough to watch movies on it. And a few times I used the projector to blast a giant image on the wall or the ceiling.
And now there is a new Yoga Tab 3 Pro. First surprise: it went from 13" down to 10". As it turned out, most people don't want a 13" tablet, even if it never leaves the house. It's very unwieldy. I can rest this nicely on my lap, but even on a table, it can get in the way. So, for the third generation, Lenovo kept the resolution, but they made it smaller. Acutally the resolution went up from 2560x1440 to 2560x1600. And I like that. And they moved the projector from the side to the kickstand. It's now much easier to set up. And the projector got brighter and better. And there is a lot more that improved over the previous generation.
I will be back with more about the Yoga Tab 3 Pro soon.
