Holy shit, I bought a tablet I actually think I'll keep

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 07/24/2015 at 10:43 • Filed to: None

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Last night, I bought a tablet I never thought I’d buy, and I actually like the damn thing: a Lenovo !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Yes, the goofy-ass one with a built-in kickstand and stupid Ashton Kutcher commercials. It’s kinda good though!

In all my searching for a 10” Android tablet, the Yoga Tablet 2 kept showing up in searches with specs that met my criteria, and it’s cheap, but I never took it seriously. When I checked it out at Best Buy, it was running a laggy, bloat-laden build of KitKat. And come on, who would buy a tablet with a kickstand and a huge bump on one end, that’s endorsed by Ashton Doof-face, who Lenovo is claiming is really an engineer at Lenovo and designed the damn thing?

Another reason I didn’t take the Yoga Tab 2 seriously is the non-yoga !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which topped out at 720p streaming video even though it had a 1920x1200 screen.

But the Yoga Tab 2 kept staring at me with its totally-acceptable specs and $229 price tag, so I went to Best Buy (again) to see if it could stream 1080p video. 1080p streaming worked! KitKat was still laggy & bloated, but I noticed a system update notification. Turns out Lenovo pushed out a Lollipop update on July 21, so even though the demo model wasn’t running the update yet, a couple online reviews mentioned the Lollipop update was a huge improvement.

So I took a flyer on it, and first thing I did after taking it out of the box was update it to Lollipop. It actually runs nicely with much less bloat. I replaced the stock Lenovo launcher with Google Now launcher, installed Swype for my keyboard, deleted a few of the Lenovo bloat apps, and it’s good to go!

So yeah, it’s heavy, but the fat kickstand base cylinder makes it easier to grab. Pretty much every 10” Android tablet—which except for the couple 9.7” 4:3 Samsung models all have 16:10 aspect ratios—is a bit awkward to hold in its own way. The kickstand bump is effectively a handle, and it houses a super beefy 9600 mAh battery which lasts a real long time.

The screen is OK but slightly un-sharp for its 1920x1200 resolution, and colors aren’t amazingly great. Still better than a 1280x800 screen.

I might actually get some use out of the kickstand when I’m using it in the kitchen, either for displaying a recipe, or streaming some sports game while I cook.

Sound is really good. It has 2 front-facing speakers on the kickstand bump, and some Dolby sound processing gimmicks that I haven’t bothered to adjust yet.

On the off chance that I change my mind and decide to return it, I haven’t taken the ugly stickers off the screen bezels just yet:

But I think it might be a keeper! Now I just need to work on making this pose:

TheHondaBro > Textured Soy Protein 07/24/2015 at 10:45

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*fanfare*

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > Textured Soy Protein 07/24/2015 at 10:46

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I find that Lenovo always makes good stuff.

itschrome > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 07/24/2015 at 10:47

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Said no one ever....... ever since the brand was sold of to the Chinese it’s been junk junk junk..

Textured Soy Protein > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 07/24/2015 at 10:49

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This saga all started with my buying and returning a Lenovo Tab 2 A10-70 (not a Yoga one) because it was inexplicably capped at 720p streaming video.

Textured Soy Protein > itschrome 07/24/2015 at 10:49

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Lenovo was always Chinese.

IBM sold the ThinkPad brand to Lenovo.

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > itschrome 07/24/2015 at 10:55

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Lenovo was the OEM manufacturer for many IBM-branded thinkpad laptops (like Foxcon is the OEM for Apple iDevices). They’ve been made in China (at least partly) for the better part of 30 years, the only thing that changed was IBM decided to get out of consumer-level computer systems and sold the business rights (including design language and trademarks) to the Chinese outright. arguably they have made some junk in the name of lower price-points since going full-independent, but they also still make excellent hardware if you’re willing to pay for it. The higher end stuff used to be made in the US, even when owned by the Chinese, some is made in Japan now.

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > Textured Soy Protein 07/24/2015 at 11:08

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Yeah, the tab 2 was a swing-and-miss. Their proper computers, however, are fantastic.

Nibbles > itschrome 07/24/2015 at 11:26

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Said me, athankyouverymuch

I love my Lenovos, even the chiclet keyboard units are leagues better than their Dell or HP counterparts. At least they are in the business world; the T-series sets the standard for business workstation laptops and for good reason

PS9 > Textured Soy Protein 07/24/2015 at 11:28

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IF YOU DON’T KEEP THIS TABLET OR GET AN IPAD IF YOU DUMP THIS ONE NEXT, I’M HELICOPTER-DROPPING EVERY BROKEN TABLET BEING SOLD ON EBAY OVER YOUR HOUSE!

Textured Soy Protein > PS9 07/24/2015 at 11:55

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The power of Ashton compels you.

MonkeePuzzle > Textured Soy Protein 07/24/2015 at 11:57

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STAND, commanded the company logo to the oddly sitting man

KirkyV > Textured Soy Protein 07/24/2015 at 13:07

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Congrats! I just gave up and bought a bloody iPad, which I regret whenever I want to post a .gif to this website and have to reach for my phone. I did get it super fucking cheap, though, which helps.

Textured Soy Protein > KirkyV 07/24/2015 at 13:31

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I came this close to buying a Nexus 9 from Amazon last week but this one was $140 less.

KirkyV > Textured Soy Protein 07/24/2015 at 13:38

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I had a Nexus 9 for a few days, but returned it to Amazon after I realised that all the people who said that it was pretty much incapable of keeping more than one browser tab loaded at a time were, in fact, completely right.

When Prime Day rolled around, the iPad Air 2 went on a very brief sale at over £150/$233 off retail, and I thought, ‘Fuck it’, and bought the thing. It’s worked out fairly well so far, though I do still very much prefer Android.