So far tablets had been fighting for differentiation on the basis of screen resolution. As a result high-definition screens on tablet devices has become the norm, so much so that premium tablets do not ship with a resolution of anything less than 1080p full-HD. However, the larger screen and higher resolution results in much strain on the battery which causes the battery life on tablets to plummet. The only exception to that rule has so far been the ASUS made Google Nexus 7 – which is an amazing combination of resolution, computing power and battery life.
It would take only a single device to upset this status quo on battery life and it seems that the contender intending to upset this balance and start a war on battery life has already arrived. Consumer Reports has recently pushed the limits on what Lenovo’s Yoga 8 tablet is capable of in terms of battery life, with some astonishing results. They tested two Lenovo offerings – the Lenovo Yoga 8 tablet and the Lenovo Yoga 10 tablet and the results were a whopping 18.5 hours and 15.1 hours of battery life respectively. In comparison, so far, the best battery life on the Google Nexus 7 was 13.5 hours.
Lenovo has managed to efficiently use the design ergonomics on their Yoga tablet series to also improve upon battery life. The Yoga tablets can be swiveled into three distinct positions – Hold, Tilt and Stand (hence the name), which is accomplished by a specially designed kickstand which wraps around the cylindrical base. This cylindrical base in the key which holds a cylindrical Lithium-ion battery which performs better than Lithium-polymer batteries those are found in most tablets nowadays.
The tablets are powered by a quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex A-7 processor, the PowerVR SGX544 graphics processing unit (GPU) as well as 16/32 GB of internal storage and 1 GB of RAM. The devices also support 2G and 3G networks whereas storage can be enhanced through the MicroSD slot. The devices also support USB on the go (USB OTG) using which USB devices such as portable keyboards and mice can be attached to the tablet for use.
We are pretty excited that the battle for battery life has been initiated and we hope the next year brings this war to smartphones as well. We dream of a world where we could go up to a month without having to recharge our devices. Is this just wishful thinking or a real possibility? You decide and let us know in the comments below.