Bendy, but hangs loose too: Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 10-inch Android tab When I reviewed Lenovo’s original Yoga Android tablet I was impressed by the design but underwhelmed by the technology within. Now Lenovo has released its successor, rather predictably called the Yoga 2. Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 10-inch Android fondleslab A 10-inch fondleslab with a difference: Lenovo's Yoga Tablet 2 Although …
Well, I love the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 1, and it was battery life that decided it for me, the lack of power / res, not such a huge problem as the only tablet type games I play are Bejewelled and Mahjong - books on my kindle, music on my phone. GBs of graphic novels (on the SD), bedroom TV and surfing are the reason d'etre for me having a tablet and it functions perfectly, but this looks a good upgrade (more battery and better resolution).
Pro consumer tip: Buy em from John Lewis, same price as everywhere else and two year warranty as standard.
On a couple of occassions I've tried to get Amazon to honour the EU warranty/UK Sale of Goods act. In essence they won't, and they're not the only ones. You'll have to take them to the small claims court in order to get your money back and they are well aware that most people won't bother. If I could get something of this value for the same price in JL then I sure would!
You don't necessarily have to go to small claims to get your pro-rata refund when Amazon won't cough up for faulty goods (the pro-rata refund based on how long the item ought to last given the price, which is always up to six years).
If you pay in part or full by credit card - NOT debit card - for an item costing over £100 in the UK or as a distance sale while in the UK, then the CC provider assumes the same Sale Of Goods Act obligations as the retailer (or which the retailer would have if they were subject to UK law). CCA 1975 s 75.
....
Incidentally the 'EU 2 year warranty' is no such thing. It is a requirement that the item "conform to contract" for 2 years. If the price is sufficiently low, then the contract might be construed as providing that the item last for a very short time indeed, e.g. maybe 2 months for something you bought at Poundland, depending on what it is! Poundland will not be liable for a 2 year warranty because their requirement is only that for 2 years the item "conform to contract [in lasting for 2 months]". D'y'see? :-)
Thumbs down from Kobo lovers, but I'm telling you: We have 2x Kobo Touch and a (13 month old broken) Kobo Glo. Compared to them the Kindle is just awesome. When you touch it, it turns the page. No waiting. No manic stabbing the display. No resetting the device because it froze again. TO coin a phrase - it just works.
Amazon are cheaper than Smiths too. And don't give me crap about "supporting the evil empire" unless you are prepared to live in a cave and eat roadkill, otherwise it's BS. Plus, have you ever tried to FIND any of those 1,000,000 free books on Kobo? Good luck with that.
Anyway, the point is that our Kobo Glo broke after 13 months and Smiths were all "2 year guarantee? No. We don't know the law and we don't care, either".
As far as the Yoga: we have a v1 at work and it's pretty awful, so the bar wasn't very high. I hope the v2 is better as the screen size is decent. I believe the one to beat at the budget end these days is the new Hudl though?
Apple is now very happy, smiling & pleased to honour consumer rights for iPad/iPod etc in the second year, in Italy. To be fair, they mostly honoured it as far as I was concerned, but not always. Italy tends to assume that the EU legislation means first year is covered by the merchant, with 2nd year covered by the item producer.
In several Italian white-goods shop, like "Mercatone", there's a 230V socket in the delivery warehouse area where knowing consumers plug *everything* in to test - before taking it home, as otherwise the shop denies that they actually sold the item to you.
back to Lenovo, Lenovo Italy wouldn't sell me anything! I ended up buying a Lappy at Lenovo UK (both 'language variant' Lenovo website is actually based in NL) UK Lenovo did phone me up to check I existed before posting the laptop, which is excellent.
I received one of these a few days ago to test and I must say it is a nice looking piece of kit.
Although I got it for a larger project, I wouldn't mind having one of my own. It feels really, nice, well made and options with the stand (flat on desk, slanting, upright/photo frame & hanging) make it really practical (although you'd lose the practicality if you wanted to use it with a case).
I have passed it over to our other departments to evaluate at the moment so I don't have it with me for this week. The stand is very stable on a hard surface, on a soft but firm surface it would balance okayish I would expect however there are just too many variables and a lack of a bed at work to be able to test it.
I would equate it to standing a large book upright.
Ticks just about every box, as a Nexus 10 owner I'd prefer a higher res screen but then that would be reflected in extra £££ of course.
I don't actually need a new tablet, the 10 continues to do everything I need, but this is the first one that's come along with a combination of the "want one" factor and a sensible price (and extra kudos to Lenovo for not charging silly money for more storage!)
I guess it depends why you want a Nexus 9. I just got one to replace an old Asus TF101. I quite like the slightly smaller form factor (from 10" down to 9"), and combined with the higher resolution display it makes for a nice device to read on. I also wanted to go 'Google' with respect to more speedy OS updates, and no vendor bloat on the device.
The Yoga does appear to be worth serious consideration, and having read the review I wondered if I should have gone for the Yoga instead. On reflection though, I'm happy with the 9, it does what I need it to do at a price that I was comfortable with. YMMV.
Nexus has an extended "life expectancy" because of the third party (AOSP/Cyanogen) ROMs.
While there is some work on getting a working build for the Yoga it is neither very active, nor very successful.
That alone (the extended life option) gives the 9 a slight advantage. Not that I need one - for the time being the old Nexus 7 and Samsung 3 are more than sufficient in their "electronic pacifier" duties. If either one of them breaks I would go for the 9 (or something from Samsung which has a Cyanogen port) instead of a Yoga.
If you want to feel like you're living in the future, have a google for Onda.
Couple of hundred quid, you can get something that looks similar to (and has the retina screen of an ipad mini), with full blown windows 8 running on it.
I spent years trying to get my 'portable stuff' to do what was simple of my 'proper' machine.
My next decision isn't going to be iOS or Android. It's going to be Android or Windows ('proper' windows)
To all reviewers, not just this one:
Look at the photos in your review.
Notice the reflections that obscure the screen ?
Do you think people also notice those reflections when they use these devices ?
Glossy screens look nice in the showroom but suck in real use.
It's time the manufacturers realised this, and not even mentioning it in a review does potential buyers a disservice.
Looks pretty nice.
Any chance of a review of the 13" Pro model with built in projector?
"I also wonder, does this ever matter to users ?"
Depends on what your needs/wants are. For standard Android apps, this one will run about as well as a midrange ARM based tablet.. The issues will appear when you start getting into apps that use the NDK (native development kit). These apps, primarily graphics intensive (read: games) are coded "closer to the bare metal." That means they're more dependent on the processor architecture. Since Android has been an ARM game until recently, most NDK stuff is going to run better on those chips than Intel for the foreseeable future.
On a side, but related, note: I find it humorous to see the reviewer's comment that Intel for Android is "every bit as quick as the best ARM devices" right under a graphic showing a half dozen ARM devices with a significant performance advantage.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
