Bend It, Tilt It, Hang It

<p>I have to say straight off that the Yoga 2 Pro tablet would look great on any table. It’s really not a tablet in the traditional sense, meaning it’s not a book-sized handy portable little thing that you can slip into a handbag or whip out in the car. It’s a whole 13 inches of hardware and more like half a laptop, the keyboard missing in action. But there is a nice use-case for it, and it’s on the CEO’s table, or the CMO’s briefcase. That’s because you can make a presentation in minutes. Here’s how:<br><br>The cylindrical base of this tablet has a whole lot of stuff inside. There’s a battery, there’s a hinge to move the screen into different positions, there’s a power button and indication light, and there’s a pico projector. A few moments to take it out of a bag, a second to switch it on, ten seconds to tap your presentation in its app, a second to press the projector on — and you’re good to go. If the room can be darkened, you’re in luck and will just need to make sure the tablet is in the right tilt position and height to hit the wall. If there’s too much light, I’d switch to the tablet’s screen itself, a gorgeous QHD display with nice enough colours, brightness and viewing angles.<br><br>You do get a non-pro version of this tablet without the projector, but come on, a projector is fun. You can just switch to the wall and a 50-inch image to watch a movie or catch up on YouTube. This isn’t home theatre. The picture on the wall will never be as beautiful as the one on the screen — but there are all sorts of situations when you could find the flexibility of projecting the screen on the wall helpful. There’s 30 to 50 lumens of brightness to this pico projector but yes, it will take up battery and resources if you use it for long.<br><br>The kickstand on this tablet is released with a little switch and the panel located there lifts to let you put in an SD card. But this is a Wi-Fi-only tablet. That’s another reason why it’s really best on a desk or table.<br><br>The positions you can get this tablet to perform include standing straight up or with a varying amount of lean-back. Lie it flat on the table and then lift the back by 20 degrees or so — that’s the position for projecting as well as for typing. You can also hang the tablet on the wall, but you probably won’t find yourself doing that too often.<br><br>Sadly, this tablet doesn’t have a stylus else it would be even more enjoyable to work with. You can get one optionally, but it isn’t optimised for a stylus. The keyboard is big and full and if you’re a one-finger typist you’ll find yourself making too many big side to side movements looking for keys. You have KingSoft software pre-installed and it’s just like Microsoft’s Office suite. However, you can as well get the original since it’s now on Google Play. Yes, this device runs on Android KitKat, a version behind the current Lollipop. It performs well and smooth for the most part, but there are sometimes unexpected falters and even a crash or two. Somehow, the interface isn’t optimised through and through for the sheer size of this display.<br><br>Battery life is a little wanting, but since it’s a more desk-bound tablet, you should have the charger handy. Rs 43,990 isn’t bad for the Yoga 2 Pro, but add the cost of an optional keyboard to that and it should be closer to Rs 45,000. The thing is, it’s very pretty. &nbsp;<br>&nbsp;</p><hr><p><br><strong><img alt="" src="http://bw-image.s3.amazonaws.com/LG_G_Flex_2-300.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 337px; float: right;">LG G FLEX 2</strong><br>The first time the LG G Flex came around, it cost around Rs 70,000 and no one understood why it should be curved in the first place. Its banana shape not only seemed like a gimmick, it had scaled down specs — such as a not-good-enough 720p screen. Not forgivable for such an expensive phone. It was also really large and wouldn’t fit in pockets.<br><br>But LG has been listening to more sensible people and has improved upon the original. The G Flex 2 is much smaller at 5.5 inches. It’s comfortable to hold and fits the face by curving into it. The phone comes with a matching case in the box. It is probably best to use it as the gadget can be quite slippery. The glossy plastic back is removable, but the battery is sealed in.<br><br>The curved shape of this phone actually does aid the viewing which becomes just a shade more immersive. But it’s not enough to make a difference over the host of other expensive phones around. It’s a whole Rs 54,990 worth of phone.<br><br>This phone should probably have been called Curve, but it’s Flex because it can be pressed down on and will bounce back into its original shape. It’s also supposed to self-heal scratches. Nice, but not a reason to buy. &nbsp;<br><br>The G Flex 2 flexes some muscle in the processor department. It has a Qualcomm 810, a 64-bit octa-core CPU running at 2.0GHz. There’s 2GB of DDR4 RAM and the internal storage is just 16GB, though the microSD slot lets you expand to 2TB. Except that the cards you get are only 128GB. A shocker is that 4G in India won’t work on this device. The cameras are 13MP and 2.1MP and they’re full of features such as optical image stabilisation. Photos and video are good on this device. The 3,000mAh battery doesn’t perform that well. The phone also heats up a little on heavy tasks. &nbsp;<br><br>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 13-07-2015)</p>