Yoga Tablet Overview

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ is physically almost identical to the non-HD version we reviewed previously. In fact, unless you examine the model number on the back of the unit, there’s almost no way to tell them apart.

If you haven’t previously seen a Yoga tablet, you’ll notice the difference right away: while other tablets are symmetrical slabs, the Lenovo Yogas have a very thin screen with a thick, rounded edge. This is where the battery lives. And it’s a big battery, too: Levovo says the 9000mAh battery good for up to 18 hours. The battery hump also serves to prop the edge of the tablet up a little bit, making it more convenient to use laying flat on a table or other surface.

If you want more “angle”, you can fold down the aluminum foot built into the case. Now the rear is propped up about 1.5″.

The same foot also lets you use the tablet this way, handy for watching movies on your desk.

The stiffer hinge on the HD+ model will support the tablet even at a fairly extreme lean angle.

Under the stowage area of the aluminum foot is a slot for a MicroSD card; Lenovo says the Yoga 10 HD+ tablet will accommodate cards up the 64MB.

There’s one very minor design change that is nonetheless annoying: as you can see in the image above, the previous Yoga 10 tablet had a small cutout in the case, above the center of the aluminum foot, that let you use a fingernail to start extending the foot from the back of the tablet. The HD 10+ omits this cutout as you can see below.

The label on the foot suggests grabbing the rounded base and opening it with a twisting motion. The problem with this is that the new hinge is quite stiff, and it takes a fair amount of effort to get the foot out from the case. My wife was almost unable to to do it and I found it difficult and clumsy. Some texturing on the smooth aluminum surface would help; perhaps something similar to the very fine diamond pattern used on the polycarbonate back plastic part of the case.

I’ll continue my overview of the Yoga 10 HD+ tablet in the next section.