Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 Review
The Lenovo Yoga Tablet is an 8-inch Android device with a cylinder-looking base. It has a kickstand at the back that swivels, allowing the tablet to stand and be adjusted. The cylinder base is of good weight and seems very solid when I have it horizontally upright. It isn’t flimsy at all.
You can also just lay the tablet flat on a table, with its cylinder base elevated which makes it easier to type. The cylinder base could also act as a grip for when you want to hold the tablet vertically ““ perfect for those who like to read ebooks with one hand. Unfortunately, there’s no way to have the kickstand open and have the tablet stand vertically upright. It will only stand horizontally.
The base isn’t also designed to just keep the bottom upright ““ it is where the 6000mAh battery is stored. The Yoga tablet has a slim main body that is millimeters thin and it packs a substantial battery. I was pleasantly surprised that with less than 5% of battery left, I was able to take a bunch of photos and play around with the phone before it went empty.
The Lenovo Yoga tablet has a nice, dark matte finish. It is 8.4″x5.7″ and it weighs 0.8lbs. On one side, there is an oversized power button that you can’t miss, which is convenient to press as well when you’re not looking. Right next to it is a micro-USB port. The tablet has a 1.6-megapixel front and 5-megapixel rear camera. You can find the 5-mpx camera at the back of the cylinder base. I must say, I end up covering this when I’m holding it horizontally.
On the opposite end of the base is the 3.5mm earphones jack, the volume controls, and the microphone.
Features
The 8-inch screen has a 1280×800 resolution and is still very clear even when angled.
Inside this Yoga tablet is a quad-core MediaTek MT8389 processor running at 1.2GHz. It has 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, but you can add up to 64GB through the microSD slot. It also comes with Android 4.4.2.
You can connect this tablet through Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and it has a SIM card slot for 3G cellular data.
Upon unlocking the device, you’ll see the home and menu screens, as well as widgets. All these you can scroll continuously. There are six icons permanently docked at the bottom. I’m not used to navigating through the Android environment but I didn’t really have much of a problem navigating this. When I pinch to zoom out, I’m able to see the widgets and a form of manager.
Initially, I was prompted to fill in my Google information and a lot of my browsing history and preferences from my desktop are suddenly loaded into the tablet. It wasn’t so hard to set the tablet up to customize it to my needs.
In the Smart Bar, there are three viewing modes ““ Tilt (for gaming), Stand (for video) and Hold (for audio/music). This changes the display and audio settings depending on how you prefer it. Upon changing modes, the layout changes as well and some apps are highlighted that suit the mode. When I placed it on Stand mode, videos and photo apps were at the top spot. Pretty neat.
I’m liking the Lenovo apps that is preloaded in the tablet. There’s a file browser, Wi-Fi manager and power manager. There is also a guide that is useful for those non-Android users like me:
The speakers have Dolby Digital technology. There’s also a Dolby app that you can use to enhance your video/gaming/music experience:
As for the camera, it wasn’t that impressive but I thought it was good enough for a tablet. Shots taken outdoors had vibrant colors but there’s a big difference indoors. Anyway, I’m still a firm believer that tablets shouldn’t be used as cameras (hehe). Here are my shots nonetheless:
Here’s a sample video taken by the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8.
Overall, the Lenovo Yoga 8 is a pretty good deal for a family tablet ““ great for watching videos, playing games, reading ebooks, and Skyping with relatives to name a few. I like the big screen and the battery life. Not to mention that overall, the tablet looks really good. It is an easy tablet to use and I think it was easy to set up as well.
Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 Specs
MT8389 Quad Core 1.2GHz processor |
8″ HD display (1280×800) with multitouch & 178° wide viewing angle |
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean |
1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, microSD up to 64GB |
5-megapixel rear camera |
1.6-megapixel HD front camera |
3G, call and text function (Yoga Tablet 8 only) |
WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, USB OTG |
Dual front-facing speakers |
Dolby Digital Plus DS1 |
Up to 18 hrs of WiFi web browsing, Li-Ion, 6000 mAh |
8.4 in x 5.7 in x (0.1-0.3) in |
0.88 lbs |
The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 has an SRP of Php 14,999. The tablet is also being offered by SMART Bro for Php 999 per month