Lenovo Pocket Yoga – A Leatherbound Touchscreen Netbook?

Written by Christian Milsom on March 16, 2009 · Filed under Tech 

A couple of months ago Sony showed us their Vaio P-Series which aimed to open up a new avenue within the netbook market; an avenue that incorporated nice looks, portability and good specs in one thin, 8 inch and expensive package. In fact Sony even gave it a new label: a Portable PC.

As of yet it has been alone in its own little niche – no other ‘netbooks’ are as ridiculously portable as the P-series, and neither are they as expensive (it is priced at around £850). But even a cursory glance at the new ‘Pocket Yoga’ from Lenovo will tell you that the Vaio now has a friend.

Unfortunately (with many of these ‘teaser’ releases) we know next to nothing about the Pocket Yoga besides what we can see in the photos they have given us – but we do have enough to see that it will not only be interesting in its own right, but will also serve as a good challenger to the Vaio in the ‘executive Portable PC’ market.

The thing that hits first of all about the Pocket Yoga is that it looks almost exactly like the Vaio: It has a smooth look with a simple design and an ultra wide screen. It is also pretty thin and creates an elongated rectangle shape by the exclusion of a touchpad – opting instead, like the P-series, for a nub to save space.

The most obvious visual difference is the fact that the shell of the Pocket Yoga isn’t a nice shiny plastic, but is in fact leather bound – and although I generally believe that leather and electronics shouldn’t mix outside of a chair the orange-y brown colour does look very professional, and I am sure that it will feel a lot nicer than plastic.

Specification wise we know very little besides that it will possibly have a webcam, but I think that it is fair to say that it will probably be no more than the Vaio. Expect this to be a slightly cheaper version of the P-Series probably offering XP and reduced storage and RAM, but I may well be wrong.

However the most interesting aspect of Lenovo is the screen which, if the concept drawings are to be believed, will be able to flip back and be used as a small tablet through its touchscreen capabilities. Obviously we cannot say for certain whether or not we will actually see this in the final design, but it has to be said that it would be a good idea.

This is undoubtedly a good move from Lenovo’s point of view as it allows them to learn from the Vaio’s failings and build on them. For example I expect the Pocket Yoga to be significantly cheaper (hopefully at least less than £700) which will attract many people attracted to the portability of the P-series but put off by the price.

But whether or not we do see these impressive features, or if it does manage to be cheaper than the Vaio it will be good to see a competitor and hopefully it will open up this market to even more manufacturers.

UPDATE: It now appears that Lenovo Pocket Yoga was just a concept that they were working on around 2 years ago and therefore we won’t seeing this released.

Via – Electronista