It is the latter version with Windows 10 Pro that has been launched in India as of now. The company does promise that the Android version will follow suit later on.
Halo Keyboard
What makes the Yoga Book so fresh and interesting is the fact that it doesn't come with a traditional physical keyboard. Underneath the 10.1-inch HD touchscreen display is another touch surface which displays an onscreen keyboard whenever required. Lenovo calls this a ‘Halo Keyboard’.
‘Real Pen’ Stylus
What makes the device stand out even further is the fact that the entire touch panel is also a digitiser. Lenovo bundles a stylus alongside the Yoga Book which has 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity. Dubbed the 'Real Pen', the stylus can actually be used to write on an actual piece of paper.
In fact, one can just take a piece of paper, put it on top of the 'Halo Keyboard' and start writing. Everything that you write on the piece of paper will be displayed on screen. Basically, the Yoga book digitises what you write on actual paper. Wacom provides the technology behind the ‘Real Ink Pen’.
Lenovo will be bundling the ‘Real Pen’ stylus, ‘Book Pad’ and 3 ‘Real Pen Ink Refills’ with the Yoga Book. The company will also be selling additional Ink Refills at what they said would be a nominal price.
Hardware
The Yoga Book comes with a 10.1-inch fullHD touchscreen display, a quad-core Intel Atom x5-Z8550 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.
On the connectivity front, it supports Wi-Fi, LTE and has a claimed battery life of 15 hours.
Thinnest 2-in-1
As with all Yoga machines, the Yoga Book can also be used in different modes such as Tent, Tablet and as a laptop.
The hinge that allows all the magic to happen is very similar to the hinge found on the flagship Yoga 900. The YogaBook is the thinnest 2-in-1 laptop ever made by Lenovo and is astonishingly thin and light.
First Impressions
In my limited hands-on time with the device, three things became abundantly clear. One, this is not a laptop meant for intensive use and productivity. Two, that the 'Real Ink Pen' is mightily impressive and very intuitive to use. And lastly, that the 'Halo Keyboard' is not for anyone who writes more than a few hundred words a day.
Let’s through all of these one by one
Middling performance
It would be unrealistic to expect stellar performance from a device that runs on Intel Atom’s range of processors and has only 4GB of RAM. The Yoga Book is fine for simple day to day use like web browsing and consuming multimedia content but push it even slightly and it will falter.
This is not meant for intensive productive use, video editing or for people who extensively use the keyboard (like myself). The real selling point of the device is the 'Real Ink Pen' which it a revelation for designers and artists. The Yoga Book handles tasks associated with the 'Real Pen' effortlessly and that’s where it counts.
Real Ink Pen: A revelation
As just a stylus, it works very well and has up-to 2.058 levels of pressure sensitivity. But where the experience becomes truly special is the fact that the Yoga Book can digitise anything that is drawn/written on real paper through the Pen.
This is extremely intuitive as it is much easier to draw on a real piece of paper than a glass screen. It gives you much more feedback and flexibility. This feature alone is enough to recommend the Yoga Book.
Halo Keyboard: Nopes. It doesn’t work.
The concept is fine and it even comes with predictive text and artificial intelligence, but it’s just not intuitive to use. Anyone who uses their laptop for any kind of work that involves extensive use of the keyboard should stay away from the Yoga Book.
I used the keyboard for about 15-20 minutes and just couldn't get used to it at all. I needed to concentrate really hard just to make sure what I wrote was legible and not strewn with errors.
That being said, the Halo Keyboard is fine for those who just use their keyboard for typing URL’s in the browser and the occasional e-mail.
Price/Availability
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