Lenovo first announced the Yoga Tablet back in October 2013 and the line sure has come a long way. Lenovo even went to Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher for “engineering” the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro. Continuing on with the next generation, Lenovo unveiled the Yoga Tablet 3 8 inch at IFA last month along with a 10 inch model and more. Today, I am going to share with you my review of the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 3 8″.
Specifications
- 8.0″ (1280 x 800) LCD IPS Multi-touch display
- Quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor @ 1.3GHz
- 16GB internal storage
- Expandable storage up to 128GB
- 1GB RAM
- 8MP camera rotatable auto-focus
- 2 lithium ion cell battery: 6,200mAh, standby time: 95 days usage time: 20 hours
- Broadcom 802.11b/g/n WiFi
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Dolby Atmos 3D sound
What’s In The Box
- Yoga Tab 3 8″
- USB cable
- Power block
- Cloth
- Manual
Design
I’ve seen Lenovo’s Yoga line, but never really put much thought on the design, so seeing it up close and personal it’s a little strange. Of course that’s due to using tablets with just flat backs.
The Yoga Tab 3’s design is one of a kind and a bit odd. Though it’s design is odd, it’s not a bad design. The front looks like a normal, but the left side is where it starts to look different. The left side is home to the rotating camera (more on that later), both front facing speaker grills, and the metal kickstand that allows the tablet to be used 4 different ways. The right side of the tablet is clean of any buttons. The top has the volume rocker, charging port, and the power button. On the bottom is just a small hole for the microphone and a 3.5mm jack.
Moving on to the back side, you’ll see”Yoga” in big lettering and a button for popping out the kickstand. Once you open the kickstand, you’ll see a cover that can be removed. That’s where the micro SD card goes. Here’s where the kickstand comes in. It can be used in four different ways that’ll work best for you. Lenovo has four names for each way the kickstand can be used. Each way has it’s on “click” to let you know that you’ve hit a certain spot to where the kickstand will sit at. The first one is called Hold. Hold is pretty simple. Just have the kickstand closed. That’s it. Nothing more. Next up is Hang. Fold out the stand as far as it’ll go, to which you’ll hear a “click” like I was speaking about before and look for a place that the tablet can hang. A place could be a hanger (if small enough) that’s on the back of a door or maybe a sturdy nail in the wall. This way is used for if you plan on listening to music while you’re cleaning the house or whatnot.
The third way is called Stand which puts the tablet in a landscape spot that is good for watching videos or laying down reading a book. I used this option more when I was at the dinner table looking stuff up or watching a video clip. To get to this position, start unfolding the metal piece as if you’re going to hang the tablet, but once you hear the first “click,” stop there and you’re good. Lastly is Tilt. Tilt is more used for if you’re creating some kind of document. I tried it on the table to see how well it works when watching a video or reading, but I had to keep it close to me as I kept getting a glare from the overhead light.
Display
This 8 inch display has a resolution of 1280×800 and isn’t too bad. It has much better quality than my Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet which also has the same resolution. The brightness on the device is decent. Sometimes it’ll bring out colors too much depending on where you set the brightness level, but I found about 50 to 60% was the best for optimal view. When watching movies, they didn’t seem too dark or too light, so that’s always a good thing. When checking different viewing angles, I didn’t notice any fading of black wording or other colors. They stayed true up until I went too far past the edge of the tablet.
Performance
The Yoga Tab 3 comes with 1GB of RAM, but doesn’t seem shy on letting me know that it’s running like it has 2GB of RAM on board. When executing different applications or even games, the tablet was able to keep up unlike some other tablets that also have 1GB of RAM.
Speakers
Lenovo has once again added in Dolby Sound to make sure you’re getting the best sound quality a tablet can provide. Sound on tablets aren’t the greatest, but Lenovo and Dolby have done one hell of a job with the quality. Sound quality was crisp on every movie or video clip I watched. It was even loud too. If you have headphones you’ll get the same experience which is awesome.
Camera
We’ve probably all seen the Oppo N3 and it’s rotating camera at some point this year. For those who don’t know what the Oppo N3 is, go look it up because I’m not reviewing that device. Many of you know that taking pictures of tablets is no no, but some do it anyway. This tablet may be ok to use for taking pictures because of the build being smaller than most tablets people buy today. Plus, the camera rotates 180 degrees which is pretty cool. The camera is 8 megapixel so if you’re taking selfies or pictures of food or the sky, you’re getting pretty good quality pictures. When I used the camera, it was a hit or miss for quality. Some times there was some noise and other times the pictures turned out great.
Battery Life
Tablets are known for having high battery life and the Yoga Tab 3 8″ comes with a 6,200mAh battery that’ll get you through the day. To be honest, I forgot I left the tablet on one day with 99% battery life and checked it days later to find out it’s at 85%. After watching two and a half hours worth of Dragon Tales (for the child, I promise), the battery life was at 63%. Looks like Lenovo stayed true to the battery life being 20 hours. This tablet has yet to still get to 15%.
Price/Value
For an 8 inch tablet you may be thinking the price is over $200 or close to it. You’re not wrong on the price being close to $200 as it comes in at $169.99. For the specs you’re getting on this device, $169 sounds about right. Honestly, it’s a great pricing point even if you’re looking for something new.
Wrap Up
It’s awesome that Lenovo is continuing the Yoga tablet line because they’re different from the competition while keeping the price low enough for just about anyone to purchase.
[rwp-review id=”0″]*We were sent a demo unit of the Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 8″ for the purpose of this review.
Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
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