Review Specification
Design
I give credit to Lenovo for addressing the unnecessarily tight hinge on the original Yoga Tablet. This time around, the metal kickstand is easier to open, if not quite seamless
The rest of this silver slate is made of plastic, but the overall design felt solid. The back panel has a pleasant finish of raised dots.
When positioned in landscape mode, the Yoga Tablet 2 houses the power button on the left side of the cylinder, and the right side has a headphone jack. A microUSB port and a volume rocker line the left side above the cylinder.
Open the kickstand, and you'll find a door underneath that pops out to reveal microSD card and SIM Card slots.
The Yoga Tablet 2's versatility comes at a price -- it's a heavyweight. Coming in a 1.36 pounds, this slate is significantly heftier than the 0.96-pound iPad Air 2 and 1.25-pound Asus Transformer Pad TF103C.
Yes, being able to hold the device by its cylindrical bulge helps in terms of comfort, but even in this mode, the Tablet 2's weight started to strain my wrist after a few minutes.
Display
The Yoga Tablet 2's 1920 x 1200-pixel display is brighter than the previous Yoga 10 HD+, but it still doesn't offer the richest color palette. When I watched the Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens Trailer, the screen delivered a fine level of detail, from the sweat on John Boyega's face to the scuff marks on his Storm Trooper uniform. However, the sand and sky looked paler on this panel versus on my iPhone 6
According to our colorimeter, this slate can display 68.4 percent of the sRGB color gamut. That's a far cry from premium tablets such as the iPad Air 2 (99.6 percent) and the category average (83 percent), but in the same ballpark as other budget devices, such as the LG G Pad 10.1 (63.9 percent) and Asus Transformer Pad TF103C (59.4 percent).
The Yoga Tablet 2 doesn't offer great color accuracy either, as its display registered a Delta-E score of 9.4 (closer to 0 is best). That's worse than the category average (5.6) and the G Pad 10.1 (1.5), but at least it beats the TG103C (10.5).
Lenovo's tablet beats most of the value-priced competition on brightness. The screen averaged 374 nits, which is higher than the previous Yoga 10 HD+ (339 nits), the category average (336 nits) and the G Pad and Transformer Pad.
Audio
Thanks to its front-facing stereo speakers, the Yoga Tablet 2 is one boisterous tablet. Even with the volume at 75 percent, the slate filled my office with sound when streaming Alex Care's "Too Close." I would just stay away from max volume, as the audio becomes too tinny.
To help you customize the sound to your liking, Lenovo bundles a Dolby app that includes different modes, equalizer presets and various effects. For listening to tunes, I found that engaging the Rich Intelligent EQ and Surround Virtualizer settings delivered the best results.
On the Laptop Mag Audio Test, the Yoga Tablet 2 hit 90 decibels, which is a lot higher than the 79 dB average.
Interface
Although it runs Android 4.4 KitKat, Lenovo has modified Google's OS in a few significant ways. For example, swiping up from the bottom of the screen reveals a custom quick-settings menu called Bottom Switch. (It's very reminiscent of iOS.) Swiping down from the top of the screen shows the Notifications menu.
In the Bottom Switch menu, you can toggle everything from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to Dolby audio effects and Multi Window mode. You can also adjust the screen brightness from this menu, take a screen shot, fire up the camera and more.
The most interesting Bottom Switch option is Lenovo Smart Switch, which enables the Yoga Tablet 2 to automatically change display and Dolby audio profiles as you switch from one mode to the next. For instance, entering Hold mode (holding the tablet by the cylinder portion) can trigger a matte display setting that's optimized for reading. You can also customize what happens yourself.
I like that Lenovo doesn't offer an apps menu separate from the home screen area. You just swipe from left to right to see your apps.
Window
The MultiWindow functionality on the Yoga Tablet 2 is so limited, it's almost not worth it.
Yes, it's nice that you can run up to three apps on the screen and one in a floating window -- or two in split-screen mode -- but MultiWindow works with only six apps. These include Email, Gallery, Chrome, File Browser, Calculator and Video (player).
I would have liked to see Gmail and YouTube added to the list, as well as Facebook and Twitter. What I do like is that that apps you've opened in MultiWindow mode show up at the bottom of the screen when minimized, just like icons on the Windows taskbar.
Apps
Lenovo loads the Yoga Tablet 2 with a mix of bloatware and useful apps. The apps I'd use include KingSoft Office, Kindle and perhaps Lenovo eFrame for showing off photos in Stand mode. I'd delete the pointless Gamestore (use Google Play) and Route 66 Navi (use Google Maps).
Among Lenovo's own apps, ShareIt is the most compelling, provided the other person has the same app installed. With this tool you can share large files via Wi-Fi direct. SyncitHD backs up contacts, which you don't need, and Cloneit copies apps, contacts and system settings to a new device.
The Security HD app is a misnomer. It doesn't offer any antivirus protection, but it can help block ads within apps and can give you suggestions on what permissions to allow or not. The app also promises to speed up the Yoga Tablet 2 by closing unused apps.
My biggest problem with Android tablets continues to be that many apps (like Facebook, Pandora and Yelp) are still merely stretched-out versions of their phone counterparts. Developers need to optimize their wares for larger displays.
Performance
The Yoga Tablet 2 swaps the Snapdragon 400 processor inside the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ for Intel's 1.86-GHz Intel Atom Z3745 CPU with 2GB of memory. The tablet provided smooth performance in the frenetic Bruce Lee game; even with multiple bad guys on the screen at once, the Yoga Tablet 2 kept pace with my quick finger-swipes. I also appreciated that I could quickly switch apps and scroll in Chrome without lag. However, switching screen orientations took longer than I'd like (nearly 1.5 seconds).
On Geekbench 3, which measures overall performance, the Yoga Tablet 2 scored 2,396, similar to the Asus Transformer Pad TF103C (2,376) and the category average (2,375). The cheaper LG G Pad 10.1 (1.2-GHz ARM A7) mustered only 1,150. Similarly, the Yoga took about the same amount of time as the Transformer Pad to transcode a 1080p video, 5:28 versus 5:22. The tablet average is about 9 minutes.
The Yoga Tablet 2 finished slightly ahead of the Transformer Pad on the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited graphics test, notching 15,055 to the Asus' 14,569. The Lenovo even beat the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (13,481).
Cameras
Don't expect any masterpieces from the Yoga Tablet 2's back 8-megapixel camera.
A shot of a couple tchotchkes looked grainy, and a red character came across as more pink. A selfie shot with the front 1.6-MP camera captured the sheen in my striped tie, but the overall photo looked blurry.
I tested the 1080p camcorder by shooting some footage of traffic, and the Yoga Tablet 2 struggled a bit with focusing on moving cars. When the camera did lock on, I could easily make out the many cracks in the road.
On the plus side, the Yoga Tablet 2 includes a surprising amount of camera settings and effects for a tablet. You'll find a handful of scene modes (from Portrait to Sports); a few color effects, including Mono, Sepia and Negative; and myriad other settings for tweaking exposure, brightness, contrast and more.
Battery Life
If you're looking for a tablet with serious staying power, the Yoga Tablet 2 is it. The 9,600-mAh battery allowed this slate to last an epic 12 hours and 37 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which involves continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi on 150 nits of screen brightness.
This runtime is a whopping 5 hours longer than the category average and smokes the Asus Transformer Pad TF103C (7:18). The LG G Pad 10.1 lasted an even longer 13:55.
Bottom Line
The Yoga Tablet 2 is the kind of Android tablet that grows on you over time. The kickstand comes in so handy, I found myself using this device more than competing slates, whether I was watching videos or checking sports scores in Stand mode or typing a quick email reply in Tilt mode. The Yoga Tablet 2's more than 12 hours of battery life is another big selling point, especially since it costs just $269. And while the sound quality could be better, the twin front speakers pump out a lot of noise for your money.
On the other hand, the bulbous cylindrical design makes this slate noticeably heavier than other tablets, making it better suited for home use than on the go. In this price range, the Asus Transformer Pad TF103C gives you a bundled keyboard dock for an even cheaper $245, and the similarly priced LG G Pad 10.1 lasts even longer on a charge. But if you want a value-priced tablet that oozes versatility, the Tablet 2 should be on your short list.
Design
I give credit to Lenovo for addressing the unnecessarily tight hinge on the original Yoga Tablet. This time around, the metal kickstand is easier to open, if not quite seamless
.
You just need to apply a bit of pressure to the hinge to get the stand to pop up, then glide the stand into the desired position. (See Multiple Modes below for more detail).
You just need to apply a bit of pressure to the hinge to get the stand to pop up, then glide the stand into the desired position. (See Multiple Modes below for more detail).
The rest of this silver slate is made of plastic, but the overall design felt solid. The back panel has a pleasant finish of raised dots.
When positioned in landscape mode, the Yoga Tablet 2 houses the power button on the left side of the cylinder, and the right side has a headphone jack. A microUSB port and a volume rocker line the left side above the cylinder.
Open the kickstand, and you'll find a door underneath that pops out to reveal microSD card and SIM Card slots.
The Yoga Tablet 2's versatility comes at a price -- it's a heavyweight. Coming in a 1.36 pounds, this slate is significantly heftier than the 0.96-pound iPad Air 2 and 1.25-pound Asus Transformer Pad TF103C.
Yes, being able to hold the device by its cylindrical bulge helps in terms of comfort, but even in this mode, the Tablet 2's weight started to strain my wrist after a few minutes.
The Yoga Tablet 2's 1920 x 1200-pixel display is brighter than the previous Yoga 10 HD+, but it still doesn't offer the richest color palette. When I watched the Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens Trailer, the screen delivered a fine level of detail, from the sweat on John Boyega's face to the scuff marks on his Storm Trooper uniform. However, the sand and sky looked paler on this panel versus on my iPhone 6
According to our colorimeter, this slate can display 68.4 percent of the sRGB color gamut. That's a far cry from premium tablets such as the iPad Air 2 (99.6 percent) and the category average (83 percent), but in the same ballpark as other budget devices, such as the LG G Pad 10.1 (63.9 percent) and Asus Transformer Pad TF103C (59.4 percent).
The Yoga Tablet 2 doesn't offer great color accuracy either, as its display registered a Delta-E score of 9.4 (closer to 0 is best). That's worse than the category average (5.6) and the G Pad 10.1 (1.5), but at least it beats the TG103C (10.5).
Lenovo's tablet beats most of the value-priced competition on brightness. The screen averaged 374 nits, which is higher than the previous Yoga 10 HD+ (339 nits), the category average (336 nits) and the G Pad and Transformer Pad.
Audio
Thanks to its front-facing stereo speakers, the Yoga Tablet 2 is one boisterous tablet. Even with the volume at 75 percent, the slate filled my office with sound when streaming Alex Care's "Too Close." I would just stay away from max volume, as the audio becomes too tinny.
To help you customize the sound to your liking, Lenovo bundles a Dolby app that includes different modes, equalizer presets and various effects. For listening to tunes, I found that engaging the Rich Intelligent EQ and Surround Virtualizer settings delivered the best results.
On the Laptop Mag Audio Test, the Yoga Tablet 2 hit 90 decibels, which is a lot higher than the 79 dB average.
Interface
Although it runs Android 4.4 KitKat, Lenovo has modified Google's OS in a few significant ways. For example, swiping up from the bottom of the screen reveals a custom quick-settings menu called Bottom Switch. (It's very reminiscent of iOS.) Swiping down from the top of the screen shows the Notifications menu.
In the Bottom Switch menu, you can toggle everything from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to Dolby audio effects and Multi Window mode. You can also adjust the screen brightness from this menu, take a screen shot, fire up the camera and more.
I like that Lenovo doesn't offer an apps menu separate from the home screen area. You just swipe from left to right to see your apps.
Window
The MultiWindow functionality on the Yoga Tablet 2 is so limited, it's almost not worth it.
Yes, it's nice that you can run up to three apps on the screen and one in a floating window -- or two in split-screen mode -- but MultiWindow works with only six apps. These include Email, Gallery, Chrome, File Browser, Calculator and Video (player).
I would have liked to see Gmail and YouTube added to the list, as well as Facebook and Twitter. What I do like is that that apps you've opened in MultiWindow mode show up at the bottom of the screen when minimized, just like icons on the Windows taskbar.
Apps
Lenovo loads the Yoga Tablet 2 with a mix of bloatware and useful apps. The apps I'd use include KingSoft Office, Kindle and perhaps Lenovo eFrame for showing off photos in Stand mode. I'd delete the pointless Gamestore (use Google Play) and Route 66 Navi (use Google Maps).
Among Lenovo's own apps, ShareIt is the most compelling, provided the other person has the same app installed. With this tool you can share large files via Wi-Fi direct. SyncitHD backs up contacts, which you don't need, and Cloneit copies apps, contacts and system settings to a new device.
The Security HD app is a misnomer. It doesn't offer any antivirus protection, but it can help block ads within apps and can give you suggestions on what permissions to allow or not. The app also promises to speed up the Yoga Tablet 2 by closing unused apps.
My biggest problem with Android tablets continues to be that many apps (like Facebook, Pandora and Yelp) are still merely stretched-out versions of their phone counterparts. Developers need to optimize their wares for larger displays.
Performance
The Yoga Tablet 2 swaps the Snapdragon 400 processor inside the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ for Intel's 1.86-GHz Intel Atom Z3745 CPU with 2GB of memory. The tablet provided smooth performance in the frenetic Bruce Lee game; even with multiple bad guys on the screen at once, the Yoga Tablet 2 kept pace with my quick finger-swipes. I also appreciated that I could quickly switch apps and scroll in Chrome without lag. However, switching screen orientations took longer than I'd like (nearly 1.5 seconds).
On Geekbench 3, which measures overall performance, the Yoga Tablet 2 scored 2,396, similar to the Asus Transformer Pad TF103C (2,376) and the category average (2,375). The cheaper LG G Pad 10.1 (1.2-GHz ARM A7) mustered only 1,150. Similarly, the Yoga took about the same amount of time as the Transformer Pad to transcode a 1080p video, 5:28 versus 5:22. The tablet average is about 9 minutes.
The Yoga Tablet 2 finished slightly ahead of the Transformer Pad on the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited graphics test, notching 15,055 to the Asus' 14,569. The Lenovo even beat the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (13,481).
Cameras
Don't expect any masterpieces from the Yoga Tablet 2's back 8-megapixel camera.
A shot of a couple tchotchkes looked grainy, and a red character came across as more pink. A selfie shot with the front 1.6-MP camera captured the sheen in my striped tie, but the overall photo looked blurry.
I tested the 1080p camcorder by shooting some footage of traffic, and the Yoga Tablet 2 struggled a bit with focusing on moving cars. When the camera did lock on, I could easily make out the many cracks in the road.
On the plus side, the Yoga Tablet 2 includes a surprising amount of camera settings and effects for a tablet. You'll find a handful of scene modes (from Portrait to Sports); a few color effects, including Mono, Sepia and Negative; and myriad other settings for tweaking exposure, brightness, contrast and more.
Battery Life
If you're looking for a tablet with serious staying power, the Yoga Tablet 2 is it. The 9,600-mAh battery allowed this slate to last an epic 12 hours and 37 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which involves continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi on 150 nits of screen brightness.
This runtime is a whopping 5 hours longer than the category average and smokes the Asus Transformer Pad TF103C (7:18). The LG G Pad 10.1 lasted an even longer 13:55.
Bottom Line
The Yoga Tablet 2 is the kind of Android tablet that grows on you over time. The kickstand comes in so handy, I found myself using this device more than competing slates, whether I was watching videos or checking sports scores in Stand mode or typing a quick email reply in Tilt mode. The Yoga Tablet 2's more than 12 hours of battery life is another big selling point, especially since it costs just $269. And while the sound quality could be better, the twin front speakers pump out a lot of noise for your money.
On the other hand, the bulbous cylindrical design makes this slate noticeably heavier than other tablets, making it better suited for home use than on the go. In this price range, the Asus Transformer Pad TF103C gives you a bundled keyboard dock for an even cheaper $245, and the similarly priced LG G Pad 10.1 lasts even longer on a charge. But if you want a value-priced tablet that oozes versatility, the Tablet 2 should be on your short list.