The Yoga Tab Series is getting a new addition with the arrival of the Yoga Tab 3 Plus at IFA. Last year, Lenovo had introduced two models: a mid-range Yoga Tab 3, and a specialized Yoga Tab 3 Pro ($499). This year, the Yoga Tab 3 plus closes the gap and proposes a strong configuration, but without the projector.
This makes a lot of sense because although the projector can be very cool if you have a need for it, it does impose costs and design solutions that not everyone needs. The Yoga Tab 3 Plus can satisfy a demand for a good performance tablet, at the cost of about ~$300.
Design
This new table uses the same design language as last year’s Yoga Tab devices. It has a cylindrical area that serves as a handle, stand/swivel, and battery compartment. Thanks to this design, Lenovo can use high-volume production battery designs to provide 9300 mAh of battery capacity (2A fast charge), without breaking the bank. Lenovo estimates that it can play video for ~18 hours.
The metal design gives the Yoga Tab 3 Plus a very solid feel. This material a nice change from other tablets priced in a similar price range. Upon closer inspection, you can see a hole in the stand: it’s used to hand the tablet on a wall. Typically, this would go in a kitchen or other common room. The tablet weighs 1.4 lbs.
Hardware platform
The Yoga Tab 3 Plus runs on Android 6.0 and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 SoC which has eight cores (4xA72 1.8GHz + 4xA53 1.4GHz) and very decent Adreno 510 graphics unit integrated. The system has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is expandable with a micro SD card (128GB max).
There is an optional wireless LTE broadband option, but its availability will depend on regional variants and business deals. The official specifications show two different models (SKUs) which are design to support 1/ Asia 2/ the rest of the World.
Typically, the all the digital communications elements could work everywhere, but there are specific front-end modem analog configurations that require physical space for each band/country supported. That is the reason why we don’t yet have a single modem that works worldwide. Still, things got *a lot* better in the past five years.
Learn more: What is LTE?
Obviously, WiFi is included, and we’ve been told that the following modes will be supported: a/b/g/n/ac in 2.4 and 5 GHz (Dual band), along with MU-MIMO, which increases simultaneous network transactions speed.
Unlike many tablets, the Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Plus has two cameras. The back camera is a 13 Megapixel module with autofocus (AF). The one in the front has a fixed focus and a resolution of 5 Megapixel.
The 10.1” WQXGA (2560×1600, 299 PPI) display has an IPS LCD panel that looks very good. It is a 10-point multi-touch screen that has some splash-proof IP52 certification, which would make it suitable for light water exposure (again, we’re back to the Kitchen idea).
Learn more: What’s an IP protection rating?