Lenovo Launches the Innovative Yoga Book and Phab 2 Series of Phablets
Not too sure how I feel about Lenovo’s dual-screen laptop. Feels too close to a Nintendo DS.
We haven’t heard much from Lenovo these days on what they’ve been up to, and we were generally curious as to what they have in store for us Malaysians. Plenty of brands out there pushing new stuff for the holiday season and it would be weird if one were to be left out.
Well, Lenovo did launch a few products, a lot more than I anticipated so if you’re shopping around this holiday season, you might want to keep your eye out on these.
Lenovo Yoga Book
Lenovo today launched the highly innovative Yoga Book and their latest series of Phab 2 smartphones. The Yoga Book is the first of its kind, which features a dual-screen laptop with one being the regular computer display while the other is for their patented Halo keyboard, which appears when a user needs to type and disappears with the touch of a button.
The screen on the Halo keyboard can also be used for sketching or taking notes with the use of the Real Pen stylus. It is said that the Yoga Book has a 15-hour battery life, which is pretty amazing but I won’t believe it until I’ve personally tested it myself.
The best example I can honestly give for this would be a laptop version of the Nintendo DS. After all, the screen where the keyboard is supposed to be is touch-sensitive. It is pretty innovative, I can you that.
There are 2 versions of the Yoga Book:
Lenovo Yoga Book for Android
[table style=”table-hover”]
| Processor | Intel® AtomTM x5-Z8550 Processor |
| Operating System | AndroidTM 6.0.1 Marshmallow |
| Display | Size: 10.1” FHD IPS (1920 x 1200)
Color Depth: 16.7 Million Color Gamut: 70% Brightness: 400 nits Touch On Screen: Capacitive Touch with AnyPen Technology Create Pad: Capacitive Touch and EMR Pen Technology |
| Camera | Rear: 8 MP Auto-Focus
Front: 2 MP Fixed-Focus |
| Audio | Dolby Atmos® |
| Memory | RAM: 4GB LPDDR3
ROM: 64GB Card Slot: microSDTM; Supports Up to 128 GB |
| Battery | 8500 mAh Li-ion Polymer |
| Pen Input | 2,048 levels of pressure |
| WLAN/ WiFi | WIFI 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac |
| SIM | Type: Nano
Slots: Single SIM Slot |
| Weight | 690g (1.52 lbs) |
[/table]
Lenovo Yoga Book for Windows
[table style=”table-hover”]
| Processor | Intel® AtomTM x5-Z8550 Processor |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro |
| Display | Size: 10.1” FHD IPS (1920 x 1200)
Color Depth: 16.7 Million Color Gamut: 70% Brightness: 400 nits Touch On Screen : Capacitive Touch with AnyPen Technology Create Pad: Capacitive Touch and EMR Pen Technology |
| Camera | Rear: 8 MP Auto-Focus
Front: 2 MP Fixed-Focus |
| Audio | Dolby AudioTM Premium |
| Memory | RAM: 4GB LPDDR3
ROM: 64GB Card Slot: microSDTM; Supports Up to 128 GB |
| Battery | 8500 mAh Li-ion Polymer |
| Pen Input | 2,048 levels of pressure |
| WLAN/ WiFi | WIFI 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Dual Channel (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) |
| Dimensions | Width (mm): 256.6
Thickness (mm): 9.6 Height (mm): 170.8 |
| Weight | 690g (1.52 lbs) |
[/table]
Lenovo Phab 2 Series
The Phab 2 series of smartphones include the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, Phab 2 Plus, and the Phab 2. The Phab 2 Pro is a 6.4-inch Android smartphone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 chipset and built for Google’s Tango technology. The Phab 2 Pro also features the Dolby Audio Capture 5.1 with Dolby Atmos playback capabilities, which enables you to record crystal clear, surround sound audio which is made possible with the the Phab 2 Pro’s 3 microphones with spatial capture and noise reduction.
The Phab 2 Plus on other hand is similar to the Phab 2 Pro, except that it’s powered by the Mediatek MTK 8783 octa-core chipset. It’s a more camera-centric phablet as the camera boasts an F/2.0 aperture lens with Fujitsu Milbeaut image signal processor that is seen in Leica cameras for better image production.
The baseline Phab 2 focuses on augmented reality (AR) technology, and is powered by the Mediatek MTK 8735 quad-core chipset. It’s equally as big as its Phab 2 brethren, but is more focused on giving consumers an affordable AR-capable smartphone.
For a more detailed look into the Phab 2 series, check out the technical specifications just below here:
Phab 2 Pro
[table style=”table-hover”]
| Processor | Qualcomm® SnapdragonTM 652 Processor Built for Tango |
| Operating System | AndroidTM 6.0 |
| Display | Size: 6.4” Quad HD (2560 x 1440) 2K IPS Assertive Display
Type: 2.5D Curved Glass |
| Camera | Rear: 16 MP PDAF Fast-Focus,
Depth Sensor for Tango, Motion Tracking Sensor for Tango Front: 8 MP Fixed-Focus F2.2 Aperture 1.4 µm Big Pixel |
| Sound | Triple Array Microphones with Active Noise-Cancellation
Dolby Atmos ® Dolby AudioTM Capture 5.1 |
| Memory | RAM: 4 GB
ROM: 64 GB Expandable Memory: Up to 128 GB, microSDTM |
| Battery | Type: 4050 mAh Li-Ion + Fast Change |
| GPU | Adreno 510 |
| SIM | Type: Nano SIM + Nano SIM /Micro SD Card
Slots: Dual Slots |
| Connectivity | WLAN: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth®: Bluetooth ® 4.0 3.5mm Audio Jack: Yes |
| Dimensions | Width (mm): 88.57
Thickness (mm): 6.96 – 10.7 Height (mm): 179.83 |
| Weight | 259 g (0.57 lbs) |
[/table]
Phab 2 Plus
[table style=”table-hover”]
| Processor | Media Tek (MTK 8783) Octa-Core Processor |
| Operating System | AndroidTM 6.0 |
| Display | Size: 6.4” Full HD IPS
Type: 2.5D Curved Glass Resolution: 1920 x 1080 |
| Camera | Rear: 13 MP Dual Camera
Mibeaut® ISP, F2.0 Aperture 1.34 Big Pixel, Laser Focus with PDAF Light Supplement Front: 8 MP Fixed-Focus F2.2 Aperture 1.4 µm Big Pixel Light Supplement |
| Sound | Triple Array Microphone with Active Noise-Cancellation
Dolby Atmos ® Dolby AudioTM Capture 5.1 |
| Memory | RAM: 3 GB
ROM: 32 GB Expandable Memory: Up to 128 GB, microSDTM |
| Battery | Type: 4050 mAh Li-Ion |
| GPU | MaliTM-T720 |
| SIM | Type: Micro SIM + Nano SIM /Micro SD Card
Slots: Dual Slots |
| Connectivity | WLAN: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth®: Bluetooth ® 4.0 3.5mm Audio Jack: Yes |
| Dimensions | Width (mm): 88.3
Thickness (mm): 5.5 – 9.6 Height (mm): 173.89 |
| Weight | 218 g (0.48 lbs) |
[/table]
Phab 2
[table style=”table-hover”]
| Processor | Media Tek (MTK 8735) Quad-Core Processor |
| Operating System | AndroidTM 6.0 |
| Display | Size: 6.4″ HD
Type: IPS Resolution: 1280 x 720 |
| Camera | Rear: 13 MP PDAF Fast-Focus
Front: 5 MP 85O Wide Angle |
| Sound | Triple Array Microphone with Active Noise-Cancellation Dolby Atmos ® Dolby AudioTM Capture 5.1 |
| Memory | RAM: 3 GB
ROM: 32 GB Expandable Memory: Up to 128 GB, microSDTM |
| Battery | 4050 mAh Li-Ion |
| GPU | MaliTM-T720 |
| SIM | Type: Micro SIM + Micro SIM/ Micro SD Card
Slots: Dual Slots |
| Connectivity | WLAN: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth®: Bluetooth ® 4.0 3.5mm Audio Jack: Yes |
| Dimensions | Width (mm): 89.5
Thickness (mm): 5.5 – 9.6 Height (mm): 175 |
| Weight | 225 g (0.5 lbs) |
[/table]
Pricing and Availability
The Lenovo Yoga Book will be available in both Windows and Android versions, and will be retailing for RM2.599 inclusive of GST. It will be bundled together with a Yoga Book sleeve, Real Pen, and Book Pad, and will be available in Lenovo Exclusive Stores starting end of December.
The Phab 2 series of smartphones will be bundled with a protective clear case, and will be available in Lenovo Exclusive Stores as well as Lenovo Multi Brand stores starting mid-December. The Phab 2 Pro, Phab 2 Plus, and the Phab 2 will be retailing for RM1,899, RM1,299, and RM899 respectively and inclusive of GST.
Pokdepinion: While the Lenovo Yoga Book is indeed highly innovative, it’s going to be tough to find a crowd that’s willing to swap out a regular keyboard in favour of the Halo keyboard. Sure, you can always connect an actual keyboard externally how many people are willing to do lug around a keyboard? The smartphones are affordable, that’s for sure, but three 6.4″ smartphones seems a bit too much. Maybe just one would do fine because the phone is EFFING HUGE!
