Lenovo to launch Yoga Book laptop

Lenovo is set to launch its new sleek folding laptop, Yoga Book with some amazing features.

The device opens to reveal that Lenovo has completely eliminated the keyboard.

The keyboard area now houses a multi-functional touch panel that turns into a smartphone-like virtual keyboard, a draw pad, or a digital notepad.

The new touch input panel, comes with a back-lit virtual keyboard.

According to commentators, it was Lenovo's ambitious attempt to break a decades-old habit of using one-dimensional hard keyboards.

The Yoga Book would be the company's first offering with a touch panel instead of a hard keyboard to type, draw, or take notes. The device would retail at a starting price of  $499, and would be offered with Windows or Android OS. Lenovo is yet to provide a shipment date for the device.

Jeff Meredith, Lenovo's vice president and general manager of the Android and Chrome Computing Business Group, said in an interview that more devices under the Yoga Book brand would follow and the touch input panel too would go into an upcoming Chromebook.

"You'll probably see products in both the Android and Windows systems. Most likely you'll see a product in the Chrome ecosystem," Meredith said,  PC World reported.

Lenovo unveiled the device yesterday, in Berlin, just before the start of the IFA conference.

The keyboard can be made to disappear and the panel can also be used as a digitiser. One can also use a supplied stylus with real ink to write or draw on a regular piece of paper placed on the top, and at the same time have the software digitise the doodles and jottings.

The pen does not need a battery to charge and comes with 2,048 pressure levels and 100-degree angle detection and also standard replaceable ink tips for use as a traditional pen. Lenovo claims the battery life of the tablet to be around 15 hours.