Lenovo launches Yoga Book hybrid and Phab 2 Pro smartphone

The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is the first Google Tango smartphone, with special sensors that lets the phone perceive the world around it. PHOTO: LENOVO
Write with pen and paper on the Yoga Book and see your notes get digitised in real time. PHOTO: LENOVO

SINGAPORE - Lenovo has launched a slew of PC and mobile devices for the holiday season. They include the Yoga Book laptop-tablet hybrid and the Phab 2 Pro, the world's first smartphone to support Google Tango technology.

LENOVO YOGA BOOK

Introduced at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin two months ago, the Lenovo Yoga Book is a 10.1-inch hybrid that switches between laptop and tablet modes by flipping its 360-hinge.

The Yoga Book has a capacitive touch keyboard, dubbed the Halo Keyboard. This sci-fi-looking keyboard is flat with no moving parts, even though it does provide haptic feedback.

The Halo Keyboard's key feature? You can magnetically attach a special writing pad on top of the keyboard and use the bundled Real Pen stylus to take notes on the pad.

This Real Pen stylus is a pen with actual ink, so it is exactly like writing with pen and paper. At the same time, your handwritten notes are automatically digitised on the screen as you write with the stylus.

The Yoga Book is available in two versions - an Android 6.0 model and a Windows 10 version. Both are priced at $849, though the Android model goes on sale this month and the Windows version will be available next month.

LENOVO PHAB 2 PRO

The 6.4-inch quad high-definition (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) Phab 2 Pro is the world's first Tango-enabled smartphone. Developed by Google, Tango lets the phone, and by extension, the user, sense the world around them by equipping the device with 3-D motion tracking and depth perception.

This technology makes it possible to run augmented reality apps on the Phab 2 Pro. For instance, the Measure It app from Google uses the phone to estimate the lengths and distances of objects when viewed through the phone camera.

Other apps let you place virtual objects over the real world, similar to the augmented reality feature in the Pokemon Go game.

The Phab 2 Pro will be available exclusively from StarHub next month. Pricing will be announced later.

If you are not keen on augmented reality, Lenovo has two other 6.4-inch phablets, the Phab 2 (1,280 x 720 pixels display) and the Phab 2 Plus (1,920 x 1,080 pixels display). Both mid-range models come with a quad-core processor, a large 4,050mAh battery and a 13-megapixel rear camera. They are available this month at $329 (Phab 2) and $429 (Phab 2 Plus).

In addition to these phablets, Lenovo has also refreshed a number of its PC products with the latest hardware. They include the Miix 510 hybrid (from $999), the IdeaPad 710S Plus ultrabook (from $1,699) and the IdeaPad Y910 gaming laptop (from $3,999).

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