Over the years, the process of buying a personal computing device has become simpler and more complicated at the same time. Simpler, because you have sources where you can check if the product is worth or at least at the click of a button compare all the possible options you might have. On the flipside, the entire process can become very confusing considering the sheer variety of devices available in the market.

Just choosing a form factor itself can be quite a pain. Should you buy an Ultrabook because it’s so sleek? Should you consider a hybrid so you technically have a tablet and a notebook? While consumers are still trying to find out the answer for their specific requirements, companies are going to town with the variety of devices they can now launch in the market.

Take Lenovo, for example. After having stuck to laptops and some Ultrabooks in recent times, they’ve started experimenting with hybrids as well. We picked up the Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx K3011 to see how it fares as a new-age hybrid.

The IdeaTab Lynx K3011 is a pretty comfortable device to carry around. It’s definitely as sleek and lightweight as an Ultrabook but nor is it uncomfortably heavy. The tablet part spans about 11.6-inches across, which is why having a keyboard dock is important. It’s practically impossible to slide your fingers across the massive keyboard in an attempt to type an email or a message quickly, or even at ease! Personally I’m not a big fan of ‘tall’ tablets, 9-inches or up, because it becomes awkward to use it as a standalone device at times.

This is, however, helped by the fact that the tablet is pretty sensitive to touch-based gestures. It’s not only quick to open apps or hyperlinks, but also responds pretty well to multi-touch gestures that Windows 8 OS supports. So, you can easily swipe in from the right of the screen to bring up the Windows Charms bar or from the left to access your recently used apps.

During most part of the review, I kept the IdeaTab docked. Unlike most other hybrids, the docking station has a complete enclosure from all sides and not just barriers protecting the docking port.

While the keyboard dock looks elegant, you can’t say the same about the tablet.

The tablet has a physical Windows 8 Start button, bang in the middle of the bottom panel, which conveniently gets tucked behind the plastic panel when you dock it.

There’s a dedicated button for screen rotation, a volume rocker and a speaker grille on the body. Also the top of the device sports the power button and a microSD card slot, a headphone / mic jack, a micro-HDMI port and another small speaker, while the bottom edge has the micro-USB port.

The keyboard dock is endowed with extra connectivity options such as two USB 2.0 ports. As is the case with most hybrids, there’s an additional battery pack in the dock which you can source power from if your tablet’s running out of juice.

The chiclet keys on the dock are well-spaced and have decent travel, but are definitely not the best Lenovo keys we’ve typed with – that distinction belongs to the ThinkPads. The touchpad is relatively small but what’s worse is that at times it confuses the right for the left or vice versa. This is a problem that we encounter a lot with smaller notebooks or hybrids.

The IdeaTab Lynx K3011 runs on an Intel Atom processor, so you don’t have a HD display on the device. The image quality however is pretty satisfying. We streamed some videos from YouTube and checked out some brand new HD movie trailers and the videos are reproduced quite vividly. The same goes for still images. The display on the IdeaTab is an IPS one which makes for pretty good viewing angles. And considering this widescreen aspect is ideal for watching movies and videos, your multimedia needs should be well taken care of by the Lynx 3011.

The only downside, and a pretty common one at that, is the lack of great audio. While you can actually hear just about well enough if it’s just you and a friend in the room, I found myself switching to speakers ever so often so as to not miss out on dialogues.

As far as the camera is concerned, the Lynx doesn’t have a rear camera. Its primary camera is a 2-meg one for video calls or grainy self-portraits. We couldn’t figure out why they wouldn’t have the usual 5-megger at the back considering most tablets in the market now have it.

While the Lynx is not a product that delivers outstandingly with everything that is required of it, it is a decently priced one which does a lot of quotidian things with relative ease. It’s display and touch interface are a big plus, while its processing power is just about enough to execute your basic tasks like browsing, watching videos, creating documents and the usual app usage well. If you’re looking for a fiercer animal, Lynx 3011 is not the one to adopt.

Rs 39,990

Love – IPS display, decent connectivity options

Hate – Average build and battery life

mahananda.bohidar@thehindu.co.in

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