With its extremely thin and light design, totally flat keyboard and ability to digitize your scribbles via real pen and paper, the Yoga Book was easily the wildest, most innovative 2-in-1 of 2016. And Lenovo is adding a new option for next year.
Although it’s already available in both Android and Windows 10 flavors, Lenovo confirmed in an interview for Tom's Guide Innovation Award that it will be offering a third variant of the Yoga Book running Chrome OS next year. This word comes from Jeff Meredith, who is the vice president and general manager of Lenovo’s Android and Chrome Computing Business Group.
“We've had a lot of interest, said Meredith of a Chrome OS-powered Yoga Book. “It’s an interesting idea for education, especially with the form factor.”
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Meredith also confirmed that the Real Pen will work in the same way that it does on the Android version of the Yoga Book. That means you’ll be able to take notes or sketch on either a paper pad that magnetically attaches to the system or use the pen directly on the bottom half of the Yoga Book, which is called the Create Pad. The pen offers 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity.
So far, sales for the Yoga Book have been hot in some places and more lukewarm in others. According to Lenovo, China, Germany and Japan have been bright spots, but sales in the U.S. have been “just average,” shared Meredith.
However, the Yoga Book has been exclusively available at Wal-Mart when it comes to brick-and-mortar sales. Lenovo will be expanding to other partners in 2017.
It’s clear that the Yoga Book is not a one-off now that Lenovo is creating a third version.
“Over time, we probably see the Android and Chrome versions melding together, especially based on the fact that we've now seen Chrome roll out the Google Play store capability into Chrome,” Meredith told Laptop Mag. “We'll probably maintain the three distinctive products throughout this year at least.”
Lenovo is also doubling down on improving the Yoga Book’s software. In fact, Meredith shared that he’s built a software team of well over 100 people to improve the user experience on this and other devices.
For more on the Yoga Book, as well as the Phab 2 Pro augmented reality phone and what’s next for Lenovo’s Moto Z, check our in-depth interview with Jeff Meredith on Tom’s Guide.
