Let me paint you picture, a nerve-wracking scenario if you will. You board a flight with your toddler in the Covid era. Face masks are compulsory, double masking is recommended and Covid anxiety is peaking. A cough or sneeze gets sighs and noises of disapproval from one and all. Your toddler, who is excited at the prospect of taking off, refuses to calm down, keeps touching surfaces and his nose while you sanitise everything.
You’re close to losing your cool. What can you do?
Well, in my case, the only reasonable option was to whip out the Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 with its useful kickstand and play Cocomelon or Blippi on loop. If you’re a parent of a toddler in the pandemic era, you know exactly what I am talking about.
And alas, my otherwise excitable son put on his seatbelt, tightened his mask, sat tight while engrossed to “B-L-I-P-P-I!”
If this isn’t the perfect case study for the need for a sturdy, portable tab in the pandemic era, I don’t know what is. The Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 has become a great travel accessory for children and adults and through this review, I’ll show you how and why. While Lenovo has priced its new tablet at Rs 40,000, it is currently available online for Rs 27,999 which is quite a competitive price for the features it offers.
Lenovo’s Yoga series is famous for its multiple uses, entertainment prowess as well as portability.
CRISP DISPLAY WITH A USEFUL KICKSTAND
(Image courtesy: Lenovo)
The cylindrical form factor of the Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 makes it look more like a notebook than a tablet and can be used both in portrait and landscape mode. The storm grey finish is elegant and will be a great investment for young professionals who are looking for a tablet which is more affordable than the ever-popular iPad.
The kickstand at the back is one of my favourite hardware features. It is sturdy enough to multi-task during a bumpy journey and handy enough to entertain children during a long road trip. Set it up on a table, on your car backseat tray, inside a long-haul flight and at all times, the kickstand is stable enough.
Watching content on this tab is a true delight. The massive 11-inch display comes with a crisp and clear resolution of 2000×1200 pixels and comes with Dolby Vision support. All this translates into a great display which performs well even under bright sunlight.
There are four speakers housed in the tab which offer booming sound so much so that I learnt all Cocomelon songs in a span of two days.
The tablet weighs around 650 grams and is a bit heavier than I would like. The good news is you don’t have to worry about carrying a spaghetti of cables since the USB Type-C port makes charging easy with existing cables.
BIG USP: ENTERTAINMENT
(Image courtesy: Lenovo)
The Yoga Tab 11 is powered by a MediaTek Helio G90T processor and comes with 4GB of RAM. This is sufficient to manage your daily workload, store content and data and multi-task. In my time with the gadget, there was no lag and the tablet breezed through most tasks without any hiccups.
Despite being an Apple user, it took me only a few minutes to get accustomed to Android 11 to make most of the interface. You get a few pre-installed apps like Amazon Prime and YouTube. Everything else, such as Netflix, can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. My only gripe was the Face ID which works through the selfie camera that didn’t recognise my face as quickly as I’d hoped despite configuring the same multiple times.
I am not sure who uses a tablet for photography but if you are expecting rich camera features then let it be said that the 8MP primary camera is only good for long video calls especially during the pandemic.
Be it browsing through social media, catching up on trending videos, indulging in a Netflix binge, or playing Cocomelon on loop, all can be done on the Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 without worrying about battery.
And that brings me to a big deal clincher — the battery life.
A LONG-LASTING WORKHORSE
(Image courtesy: Lenovo)
Despite using the tab for checking mails, consuming content for hours at a time and browsing through social media, the Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 easily lasted me for 3 days on a full charge. Mind you, there was no gaming involved so you may have to factor that in. The 20W charger which comes in the box works well and it takes around two hours to charge the tab to the fullest. In the competitive tab market, great battery life is no longer a value addition but a necessity. Lenovo’s Yoga Tab 11 scores big on this front.
A TAB WORTH BUYING?
The Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 positions itself well in a competitive market which is brimming with options from Samsung and Apple. And yet, it is carving a space for itself. If you’re looking to move out of the Apple ecosystem and want a more affordable option, this tab is ideal for you. The kickstand, crisp display, long-lasting battery and portability make it a great tablet for content consumption whether you’re isolating or travelling.
In the pandemic era, sturdy tablets have gone from being a luxury to a necessity and the Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 is ideal for new parents, young professionals and those working from home.