I don’t know if you noticed this, but during the last few months we haven’t seen a great deal of tablet announcements. Sure, there was Sony’s Xperia Z4 Tablet that got launched back at MWC 2015, but apart from that, we haven’t seen anything too disruptive in this department.

The thing is, tablet makers are finding it harder and harder to innovate in this ecosystem, and most slates being released today just follow the traditional schematics.

However, we do expect this to change later this year when Apple puts out its huge iPad Pro tablet with 12.9-inch display, which might drive the implementation of the new USB Type-C standard.

Speaking of huge tablets, device makers seem to believe customers just want their slates to get bigger. Samsung is offering a bunch of 12.2-inch models like the Galaxy NotePRO, which we reviewed in the past, and Lenovo also has one which tops everything we've seen before by bringing to the table a huge 13.3-inch display.

I'm talking about Lenovo’s new Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, which got released last year under the patronage of beloved actor Ashton Kutcher.

Lenovo’s Yoga tablet line has been one of my favorites since the company decided to try its hand at building slates. What’s special about them is that you can spot a Yoga tablet in the crowd thanks to their characteristic hinge design. And with the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, Lenovo has decided to make things even more interesting.
Design, display and modes of usage

Lenovo’s Yoga family distinguishes itself by virtue of a rounded spine with a built-in kickstand that allows the tablets to sit themselves up, thus letting users watch movies without having to prop the device against the wall.

The Yoga Tablet 2 Pro continues to take advantage of the same design language, but adds a twist to the story which I'll be talking about in a few.

When you first lay eyes on the tablet, you can’t help but think, “My God, this thing is ginormous.” Just mentally remove the keyboard off your average laptop and you’ll understand what I'm talking about here.

Speaking of which, Lenovo does not offer a dedicated keyboard companion for the tablet, although it would have been a neat addition to the bundle. However, this slip might be explained by the fact that the company is marketing the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro as a “media consumption” device.

So unlike the huge Samsung Galaxy TabPRO, we’re not dealing with a professional device in this case, although Sammy’s slate didn't come with a keyboard or a stand/case either, and it really needed one.

Luckily, though, the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro can stand itself up by virtue of a kickstand that pops out when pushing a button located on the back. Another cool thing about the Yoga tablets is that you can use them in more than one way.

For instance, there’s the Hold mode, which means you’ll be using the tablet as you would use and browse a magazine. Lenovo even bundled a few apps on the slate to be used in portrait mode, probably in an attempt to gently nudge us into using the tablet in this manner.

We also have Stand and Tilt modes to choose from. Tilt comes in handy when you want to type away an email or compose a message to one of your Facebook friends. The virtual keyboard has pretty large buttons, so you might find that you don’t need to bring a physical keyboard into the equation after all.

The last mode of use is one I don’t think we've ever seen in other tablet models. It’s called Hang, and as the name suggests, you have the possibility to hang the tablet via a dime-sized hole drilled into the kickstand. So imagine a scenario where you can hang the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro in a kitchen and watch the latest “Bates Motel” episode while preparing dinner. Quite cool, isn't it?

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Not a functionality you’ll be using all day, every day, but nevertheless, it’s pretty nice to have it as an option.

The tablet feels quite sturdy, although it’s a pretty thin piece of aluminum. But I have to warn you, the slob is quite heavy, so handling it with your bare hands won’t be too comfortable (unless you’re holding from the rounded spine).

That’s why it would be best to position it in the adaptive modes I've described for you above. And that’s the beauty of this Lenovo Yoga tablet: albeit having an “uncomfortable” form factor, you won’t have to strain yourself, like in the case of the Samsung Galaxy NotePRO 12.2.

But there's a small caveat to this peculiar tablet form factor - the power button lives in the cylinder on the left side, but in the eventuality of placing the slate in your lap, you’ll probably end up accidentally pushing the button with the back of your palm, which in turn will plunge the tablet into standby mode. This can become quite annoying, so it would be better to place the tablet somewhere on the desk.

Next to the power button, one finds the headphone jack, microUSB port and volume rocker. On the opposite end lives the little surprise Lenovo has bundled with this tablet - a built-in pico projector and its separate power button. But I’ll tell you more about it in the upcoming sections.

Now, if you’re curious about the display of this huge tablet, I have to tell you it is mighty gorgeous. The 13.3-inch slob boasts an IPS panel with QHD resolution (2560 x 1440), meaning details on it appear very crisp and clear. Which is a pretty important aspect for a media tablet such as this.
Performance

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro is powered by a 1.8Hz quad-core Intel Atom Z3745 CPU with Intel HD Graphics for Bay Trail GPU, fitted with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (microSD card slot present, offering memory expansion up to 64GB).

Albeit entitled “Pro,” this tablet does not target business users but mainstream consumers who love to stream video, watch movies and browse pictures. So the chip inside the tablet isn't the most powerful you’ll find on the market today (it’s no Snapdragon 810 or Exynos 7420), but it will take you through most of the things you need to do without breaking much sweat.

Things like browsing, checking email or streaming video flow quite seamlessly, but as is often the case with many tablets, when it comes to downloading large files or running multiple apps in the background, including demanding games, you will witness some lag. Which is pretty normal, but still with no app crashes and major freezes involved.

In synthetic benchmarks (AnTuTu to be more specific), the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro scored 34,458 points, which placed it below products like Samsung Galaxy S5, Xiaomi Mi 4 and Google Nexus 5, but above the HTC One, Xiaomi Redmi Note and ASUS ZenFone 5.
Software

Lenovo is notorious for being pretty sluggish with updates, so even if Android 5.0 Lollipop has been out and about for more than half a year, the device maker has yet to start offering it on any handsets or tablets.

Hence the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro is currently stuck at Android 4.4.2 KitKat, but that’s a good thing for those who don’t really hold Android Lollipop to heart.

Lenovo pre-loads the tablet with its own skin, which very much resembles Apple’s iOS interface, complete with a non-existent app tray. Something that Android fans are bound to scoff at.

After being downloaded, apps are placed into pre-set categories like games, shopping and social. If you don’t like these categories, then tough luck, as you won’t be able to delete or edit them to match your expectations. But you are allowed to place app shortcuts in one of the home screens if you think that might be of help for you

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Even so, that’s certainly not going to help with the frustration automatic category app-placement gives you. Once an app is done downloading in the background, the system will interrupt whatever you’re doing so it can place the application in the right category. But in order to do so, it exits you from the app you were using. Not very nice, Lenovo, not very nice.

On the bright side of things, the tablet allows you to multi-task by letting you open different applications (up to four) in different windows between which you can switch with ease by virtue of the Multi Window feature.

Lenovo has also bundled in some of its customization options, which should help you reach settings more easily. Swiping up from the bottom will pull up the so-called “Bottom Switch” menu, which allows you to access the Camera, go to Lock Screen, take a Screenshot or access the full Settings.

Furthermore, from there you also have the option to toggle brightness, connectivity options such as Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and Aiplane mode, as well as the projector and camera.

Lenovo has equipped the tablet with a few pre-loaded apps, including The Hunt or Fashion Style apps, which are pretty gruesome. Fashion Style, for instance, is a fashion-centric app which allows you to scroll through news from the industry. But be warned, the app is quite buggy and most often than not it will frustrate you by failing to load content.

There’s also Lenovo’s ShareIt (share files across devices), CloneIt (a way to transfer content like contacts, music and so on) and SyncIt HD app (backup and restore contacts), which are also available for iOS and Windows.

Moreover, Lenovo’s eFrame app, which lets you turn your tablet into a digital photo frame, and the company’s Sketchpad for drawing with you finger on the screen (which I had a lot of fun with) are also included.

Some of this bloatware might prove to be of some use to you, by in my opinion, Lenovo should have abstained from over-cluttering the interface with buggy applications.
Projector

Now for the secret feature we've been telling you about. Lenovo has bundled a pico projector inside the tablet, which resides on the right side of the device’s base.

The projector is capable of casting a WVGA (854 x 480) resolution picture of up to 50-inches in size on any surface of your choice (although a clear wall is recommended). The projector can mimic what’s playing on the slate’s display quite easily through a dedicated app.

To set up a movie projection in your living quarters is quite easy: just press the power button located next to the projector or select the appropriate option from the quick settings menu.

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The projected resolution is pretty low and lacking any HD polishing, but the overall result is quite decent. The darker the room, the better the image quality gets, so you’d better make sure you schedule your movie viewings during the evening.

Projector settings are kept to a minimum, but just enough to give you a sense that you have some control over things. The focus button is a bit off and does not smoothly slide up and down. However, after a few tries, you’ll probably manage to get the hang of it.

The projector does tend to handle video streaming quite well, although watching a full movie streamed via YouTube proved to be quite difficult, because the app crashed more than once.

Fast-forwarding through a video wasn't too smooth either, as some “paranormal” activity ensued, with the previous scene remaining on the screen while the current scene appeared on top of it. Not very cool when you’re trying to concentrate on a movie plot.

Putting aside all these bugs and inconsistencies in performance, the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro was able to stream about 3 hours of video using the projector.
Cameras

The photography department is something the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro does not excel in. But let’s face it, who on earth would go around carrying a massive 13.3-inch device like this one taking pictures with it?

You’d certainly look extremely weird doing this. However, if the necessity arises, the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro’s 8MP frontal shooter can help you snap an image or two.

However, don’t expect stellar quality, as the results are washed out colors and grainy images. The camera performs decently in natural light environment, but the outcome is not that great in an indoor scenario with artificial light being involved.

There’s also a 2MP frontal camera for capturing selfies or video calls, but the result is again quite pixelated, although my red hair got accurately portrayed.
Battery Life

Battery life is one of the perks of owning a Yoga tablet. Like it did with all its models in the Yoga lineup, Lenovo has embedded a massive 9,600 mAh battery under the hood of the slate, which is understandable given that the device has a huge 13.3-inch display that needs a powerful backup.

With normal usage, you can expect to get a full day of browsing, no problems there. However, if you’re on a plane for a long flight and want to kill time by catching up with the latest movies, you will manage to squeeze about 5 hours of on-screen time.

In a lighter scenario, where you’re not using the tablet constantly andyou’re leaving it in standby mode too, the autonomy of the battery can be pushed to up to 3 days.
Other specifications

Lenovo is also offering dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, stereo JBL speakers (which are quite loud) with a subwoofer and optional LTE connectivity (although our model didn't have it).

LTE is a very important feature to be had on a tablet meant for media consumption. After all, you should be able to stream a movie while you’re on the playground watching after your kid, right?

The Good

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro is a unique player. Not only does the device come with a spacious screen with beautiful QHD resolution but it also offers a variety of modes of use, including the all-handy Stand position.

The slate is fast and responsive and is probably the only one on the market that bundles a pico projector that allows you to project content.

On top of that, the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro has been blessed with long battery life and is not extremely expensive either (for a slob), selling for around $500 / €460.

The Bad

The tablet might be a little bit too huge for some tastes, but luckily there are a few workarounds to this problem (different modes of use).

Lenovo’s Android skin looks a bit too much inspired by iOS and bundles some annoying and really unnecessary apps. Moreover, the fact that all operations must be halted when an application has finished downloading in the background is a big turnoff.

The projector doesn't yet function to its full capacity, but maybe with next-gen models Lenovo will perfect that. Camera performance isn't too great either, but luckily tablet photography isn't really a thing, so this aspect shouldn't be such a nuisance.

Also, the Intel processor inside is a bit outdated, but bear in mind that we’re not dealing with a business-centric or gaming-focused tablet. This is just a slate you should be able to have fun with.

Conclusion

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro. Despite its beastly look, the device is a unique model in the bland sea of tablets that usually surface on the market.

Yes, it’s big and not easy to handle, but if you are planning a sleepover party with your friends, having a pico projector at your disposal will certainly provide you with lots and lots of fun.