Google doesn't have the best track record when it comes to tablets. Android, its mobile operating system, is not reputed to provide the best experience on big screens and out of a handful of failed experiments and some models that survive thanks more to the will of their partners, Android tablets have ceased to exist.
Instead, Google has begun to focus on improving the touch experience on Chromebook devices. With the launch of the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, Google has updated ChromeOS, in fact, to include a dedicated tablet mode.
The end result is a hybrid experience: part Chromebook, part Android tablet. And you know what? It's pretty good. Let's take a closer look at the $ 279 Lenovo Chromebook Duet, a 2-in-1 Chromebook that's out now.
Design
Judging the Duet by its design alone, we would never have guessed its price. In fact, we would have expected this tablet to start around $ 399 or more.
Our favorite feature of the Duet's design is its size. It is very small and very portable. In total, with the cover and keyboard installed, the Duet weighs 2.03 pounds (920 grams) and is only 0.71 inches (1.8 cm) thick. If we only attend to the tablet it is even lighter and thinner.
The aluminum casing gives a premium feel. Most of the back shell is iron gray, but changes to ice blue for a small section of the shell, where you'll also find the 8-megapixel rear camera.
The break in color makes it easy to identify which side the Duet should be on when holding it in landscape mode. Okay, you can hold the Duet however you want, because the screen will rotate on its own, but there's a bit of peace of mind knowing that if the blue section of the tablet is on top, then the volume controls and the On are on the right side of the case, and the pins that connect it to the included keyboard are on the bottom, ready to dock the tablet at any time.
There is a single USB-C port on the right side of the Duet, near the bottom, along with a small indicator light that allows you to check the charging status of the Duet at a glance.
The front is almost entirely occupied by the 10.1-inch 1080p screen. The bezels surrounding the display aren't the thinnest we've seen on a tablet, but they don't get in the way or add any kind of distraction. At the top is a 2-megapixel front camera and an indicator light that lets you know when it's active.
At the top of the Duet's case are two speakers that deliver impressive audio. We spent a lot of time watching cooking videos with the Duet and discovered that the volume was abundant and the sound quality excellent.
Included in the box with the Duet are the keyboard and cover. The cover uses magnets to attach to the back of the Duet, and it even has a foldable stand that closely resembles the Surface Go 2 stand. The keyboard is small, but that's what you'd expect with a device of this size. However, that also means that it took us a while to get used to the size and spacing of the keys. Writing is an acceptable experience, but not an excellent one. If your kids are using Duet for remote learning, they will surely have a better writing experience by having smaller hands.
One small objection we have to the deck is how it rests on the Duet. The magnets are not strong enough to keep it still, which means that when you use the Duet as a tablet, the back constantly slides and moves. It's annoying enough that we remove the cover every time we use the Duet without the keyboard.
software
The Duet runs Google's Chrome operating system and is the first Chrome-based device to take advantage of the new tablet mode. ChromeOS has always had touch controls, but starting with ChromeOS 81, there is now a dedicated tablet mode that changes the way you interact and navigate on a ChromeOS tablet.
There are now gestures for common tasks, like switching between apps, going to the home screen, or using apps in split screen mode. If you've used Android 10 gesture navigation, the new ChromeOS gestures will be very familiar to you.
BTW, Lenovo promises software updates for the Duet for the next eight years, which is an eternity in the tech industry.
Google's ChromeOS is much more than a steroid browser. You have access to the Play Store, full of Android applications that you can install and run, most of the time without problems. If you are familiar with Linux, you can enable it and use the Terminal app to run commands and install packages or applications.
ChromeOS is a robust platform that you can adjust to suit your needs. For us, that means common browsing tasks, like catching up on news and social media. However, there were a few tasks where the Duet's screen size hampered the Chrome experience.
For example, when browsing our Feedly account, stories and photos were not arranged on a grid. Instead, everything spread, leaving a lot of blank space between images and story summaries.
Instead of getting frustrated, we quickly installed the Android Feedly app and now we can stay on top of the news with a more logical layout.
While formatting issues were limited to Feedly in our tests, the fact that we know we have the option to do things like leave the Gmail website and use the Android Gmail app adds to the appeal of the Duet as a tablet.
That's something we wouldn't normally say about a Chromebook, but the Duet's size and design call for it to be used first as a tablet, and then as a laptop.
Performance and battery life
Inside the Chromebook Duet is a MediaTek Helio P60T, eight-core processor, 4GB of memory, and 64GB or 128GB of storage.
Part of our testing for any device involves running applications and benchmarks. When testing a Chromebook, that means running a series of browser-based benchmarks that measure how fast the device can process various workloads and commands. Our tests for the Duet consisted of JetStream2, Octane 2.0, and Kraken JavaScript Benchmark.
The Duet scored 32.77 for JetStream2, 9,665 for Octane 2.0, and 3,964.1 for the Kraken JavaScript Benchmark. This test protocol is new, so we don't have a device to compare it yet. What we can tell you is that these results are not too impressive, as one might expect, but that does not mean that Duet is slow.
There are times when we would experience a task that takes longer than it should, like setting up Linux on ChromeOS, but overall, the Duet did its job well. Just don't expect it to stay nimble with numerous tabs open or multitasking - you'll notice a slowdown, no doubt.
It's more than fast enough for common browsing tasks, accessing the Google Classroom, or streaming videos and music. We even took a few laps in the Asphalt 9 game with no noticeable issues.
Lenovo estimates a 10-hour battery life for the Duet, and we're surprisingly close to that. Our battery life test is to play a video with the screen brightness set to 50% and all unnecessary connections turned off. The Duet lasted 8 hours and 45 minutes. Most of the time, the device manufacturer's battery life estimate is the best case scenario, and the real-world results don't even come close. That was not the case with the Duet. Both in reference tests and in our use in the real world.
In summary
Google has abandoned Android tablets, leaving its partners the job of adapting the operating system to large screens. Instead, the company is focusing on improving ChromeOS as a whole. With the arrival of a dedicated tablet mode in ChromeOS, Google's vision for tablets is finally beginning to take shape, and Lenovo's Chromebook Duet is the perfect device to show it off.
Whether you're looking for a tablet or a Chromebook, the Duet fits both roles very well. Priced at $ 279 with 64GB of storage, or $ 299 with 128GB, and considering that it includes a keyboard, you really can't go wrong.
Note: The above prices reflect the price at the time of article posting.