Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
If one takes a narrow view of the tablet market, the largest PC makers have fared especially poorly as a group. At the launch of the iPad, HP, Dell, Acer and Lenovo had little experience with the Android ecosystem, which itself was not optimized for tablets. And Windows, their go-to operating system, was still not available in a version that would show off bold, finger-friendly tiles and yield long battery life in a slim form factor. Even now as these companies have experimented with all kinds of hinges and accessories on Windows, their Android efforts can be hard to differentiate as with HP's Slate 7 and Dell's recent 7- and 8-inch slates.
Into this spiritless landscape, Lenovo has dropped the Yoga Tablet, available in 8- and 10-inch sizes. Unlike its namesake Windows laptop, which reveals no obvious signs of its differentiation at first glance, the Yoga Tablet has a silver, cylindrical side that is reminiscent of extended laptop batteries. Indeed, it contains the battery here as well as making for a grip that is at first unfamiliar, but which allows the rest of the tablet to be very thin.
Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft, Lenovo
Comments
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
The last Switched On introduced the 2013 Switchie Awards for TV, PC and gaming products. This time, we'll take a look at the mobile and wearable devices that made ... 
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
It's that special time of year between holiday sales and the pre-CES hype cycle that presents an opportunity to consider some of the most innovative devices of the ... 
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
The last Switched On discussed the contrast between the $100 laptop concept of 2006 and the $100 tablet reality of 2013. In that case, an idea that didn't bear fruit ... 
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. This week marks the ninth anniversary of the column.
Back in 2006, at the height of interest in the One Laptop Per Child-fueled $100 computer, I embarked on a quest ... 
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
The last installment of Switched On discussed the merits of Microsoft divesting itself of Bing. While Bing is still firmly embroiled in a duel with a company that ... 
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
Much like George Orwell's classic 1984, wars continue in the technology industry without seeming regard for who the enemy is or who it once was. Take, for example, ... 
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
In a Microsoft strategy that embraces contradiction -- licensing software while trying to build its own devices -- it is unsurprising that goals for the Surface support competing priorities. On one hand, it is a ...