Lenovo YOGA Tablet 2 Pro Review

Up front you've got a 13.3-inch 2560 x 1440 IPS LCD display. That's bringing on 221 pixels per inch – not the sharpest device on the block, but certainly well within the bounds of "beyond sharp enough". The iPad Air 2, for example, has 264 PPI.

Below you'll see a few views of this tablet's display – it's bright, sharp, and color-correct at all angles. You'll also see the non-Pro YOGA Tablet 2 which we'll be reviewing separately.

The hinge at the back of this device is a fine piece of hardware. You'll be able to move and stop it at any angle within its nearly 180-degrees of adjustment, and it's not loosened any perceivable bit while we've had the tablet in our review lab.

Near the JBL subwoofer at the back of this tablet you'll find a button – this button kicks out the kickstand so you'll be able to access it easier than previous models of the YOGA tablet. Also next to the subwoofer and the button is a camera lens.

There's also a camera up front of the YOGA Tablet 2 Pro. While this isn't an award-winning-class camera setup by any means, it certainly out-performs the first couple of generations of tablet on the market by a long shot.

Above you'll see a set of photos taken with the YOGA Tablet 2 Pro's back-facing camera in a variety of environments.

The rear shooter is an 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with blue calcium oxide glass to protect it. There's an f2.2 wide aperture lens, and a BSI-2 sensor to boot. Up front you've got a standard 1.6-megapixel camera.

For performance inside you've got an Intel Atom processor. Below you'll see a number of benchmarks which show how this device does in synthetic testing.

Remember that the above tests are dependent on the display size and have little to no baring on our overall view of the device.

In fact speed in opening apps, running games, playing movies, and processing tasks has been nothing but top-notch with this device. We're looking forward to Intel bringing more heat to the Android smart device world in the near future.

Also inside is 32GB of EMMC-based storage space and a microSD card slot for 64GB more. You've also got 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM.

Lenovo has pulled out all the stops on this tablet when it comes to audio. They've got two forward-facing 1.5W JBL speakers and a 5-watt Subwoofer around the back. Inside you've got Dolby Audio Digital Enhancement software to adjust your sound to your liking.

Inside you've also got a Wolfson Master Hi-Fi CODEC audio processing chip – that's separate from your Intel chip – made for stuio-quality noise reduction.

You also get a pair of high-quality JBL earbuds in the box that are NOT your average sound-blasters. Instead you get full sound – as high-quality as we've ever heard in a pair of earbuds, in or out of a smart device box as an accessory.

In the hinge of the Lenovo YOGA Tablet 2 Pro is a pico projector. While this isn't the first projector ever embedded on an Android smart device, it's certainly the best. That doesn't mean it's going to stand up against stand-alone projectors being released on the market now, but it's certainly good enough for basic home theater adventures.

On the side of your tablet you'll have a single button which can activate or de-activate the projector with a push.

Under the hinge there's a sliding button which allows you to manually adjust the focus on your projector.

This projector has a number of built-in software adjustment features, each of which are able to be accessed in your settings menu or through the icon shortcut on your home screen.

Above you'll see what you're able to do. You'll be able to project a 50-inch picture up to approximately 2-5 meters in a dark room, and slightly less (or slightly less visible) in a light environment. As with all light projectors, the darker the environment, the better.

With this projector you're working with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 854 x 480 – quite a bit smaller than the resolution of your tablet's display. Brightness sits between 30-40 lumens, and you've got around 20,000 hours on your bulb – at this time we've not been able to investigate replacement bulb options, but once you're done with 2.28 YEARS of projection straight (20,000 hours), we'll see about your options for a fix.

While you do get some automatic adjustments of the picture with "automatic keystone correction" as it projects from the device, you will still need to keep the device in its "tilt" mode (with the kickstand out, display upward), to work accurately. Automatic keystone correction works with your tablet's built-in G-sensor which detects the device's angle.

Your display will remain on while you're projecting for 10 seconds, after which it'll switch off while the projection continues. Handy how that works.

If you're in the market for a massive tablet, the Lenovo YOGA Tablet 2 Pro Review is pretty awesome. The only real competition this device has at the moment is the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 which, if you're buying straight from Samsung, will cost you about $150 more than this Lenovo product. There's also no projector there, but there is an S Pen – so that's the... very strange tradeoff.

If you're in the market for a home entertainment machine that acts independent of an HDTV, this is the one you want. If you live in a small apartment or a dorm, for example, just skip the TV and run with this 13.3-inch beast. At $499 it's not the cheapest tablet on the block, but once you blast your ears off with these speakers while you're projecting a 50-inch movie on to your bedroom wall, you'll know where the money went.