Lenovo Ditches Keyboard, Goes Touch Keys With New ‘Yoga Book’ And Chromebook

Actual keyboards, with the clickety-clackety keys, are still popular among PC users. However, as is the trend with cell phones ditching the physical buttons in favor of touchscreens, Lenovo is also getting rid of keyboards on their next lineup of Chromebooks and 2-in-1 devices. They will be replaced with digital interfaces like the QWERTY pads found on smart devices.

The new models that Lenovo is showing off look similar to the “Courier” device by Microsoft, which featured two screens on each page, Ars Technica notes. The “Courier” would open like a book, where users can then use touch or stylus interactions to read, write, and use apps. To give it a symmetrical shape when folded, both pages are also practically similar in size.

When looking at the new “Yoga Book” by Lenovo while folded, the similarities are obvious. Once opened, the differences become apparent. The “Yoga Book” has only one screen, with the other half being what the company calls the “Creative Pad.”

The “Creative Pad” is where users can write or draw with a stylus or with their fingertips, creating works of art or logging their thoughts for the day. If they don’t want to do this, they can simply touch a button to turn the pad into a backlit keyboard interface, which uses haptic feedback in order to allow for typing like on a regular keyboard.

This feature will be part of a new lineup of laptops and 2-in-1 devices for Lenovo, PC World reports, as they attempt to reshape how computers are used. The new “Yoga Book” will cost $499 to get and will sport either Android or Windows OS.

There is no release date announced, but Lenovo is determined to enter the market with their new product. The technology for the digital keyboard interface took two years to develop and is considered a risky move on the part of the company.