Lenovo has promised that its new Lenovo Yoga Tablet will offer a better way: a better way of using your tablet practically in all the different situations you might find yourself.

A unique design enables this, providing some differentiation from other, flat, conventional, tablets. But with plenty of capable tablets out there already, does the Yoga Tablet bring you anything that an existing tablet doesn't?

We've crunched through the stats to determine whether Lenovo's Yoga Tablet does offer a better way, or if it will be lost in a sea of superior specs.

There are two Yoga tablets in 8 and 10-inch sizes, so we've pitched them against the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 to see just how they compete.

Designed to be different

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet has a rounded bump one edge that acts as a hinge for the integrated stand. It provides a nice point to grip the tablet in portrait, and the stand is useful: it means you can flip it out for watching movies, or recline the tablet for typing.

Both the Nexus 10 and the Nexus 7 have a traditional flat design. The advantage this brings is that they are easier to slip in to a bag as you're not trying to accommodate the bulbous end as well. We've also never really had a problem holding a tablet, but needing a separate case or stand to prop them up is admittedly a faff, so the Yoga Tablet is useful in that sense.

A weighty issue, balanced by battery

The grip-style edge of the Lenovo Yoga Tablet means that the 10-inch model weighs 605g compared to the 603g of the Nexus 10. The 8-inch model weighs 401g compared to 290g of the Nexus 7. Although the Nexus 7 is an inch smaller on the display, it's much lighter.

However, much of that weight is down to the battery the Yoga Tablet contains. The 10-inch model has a 9000mAh battery promising 18-hours of use; the 8-inch model has a 6000mAh battery, again, at 18-hours of life. The Nexus 10 also has 9000mAh, but the Nexus 7's 3950mAh and 9 hours of use is substantially less.

Display: A class apart

Everything else aside, a tablet is all about the display. The 10-inch Yoga Tablet has a 1280 x 800 resolution display (149ppi), compared to the Nexus 10's 2560 x 1600 resolution (300ppi), which is beautifully sharp and detailed.

The 8-inch Yoga Tablet again has a 1280 x 800 resolution (188ppi), but the smaller Nexus 7 comes in at 1920 x 1080, a pixel density of 323ppi). Which ever way you look at it, the Nexus tablets both have far superior displays and will be capable of providing better visuals than either of the Yoga Tablets.

The power of yoga

Driving the Yoga Tablets is a 1.2GHz quad-core chipset with 1GB of RAM. The aging Nexus 10 sits on a dual-core Exynos 5 processor with 2GB of RAM and the Nexus 7 offers a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset also with 2GB of RAM. The Nexus 7 is perhaps the slickest of the pack, but all will have plenty of power for your daily needs.

All the tablets are also available with 16GB of storage (and 32GB options), but the Yoga Tablets are flexible in offering microSD expansion as well, a useful addition.

Aggressively priced

The Yoga Tablets are reasonably priced, however. The 8-inch model comes in at £199, but the Nexus 7, also at at £199, is just too good to ignore. The 10-inch model at £249 comes in much cheaper than the Nexus 10's £319. However, we suspect the current Nexus 10 is about to be replaced by Google, so this may cause some alteration in the price and specifications.

Lenovo has introduced a £30 premium for the 3G models of its tablets (therefore £229 and £279 respectively). Google's LTE 4G version of its 32GB Nexus 7 is £299, £60 more expensive than the equivalent Wi-Fi-only model.

Conclusions

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet's distinguishing feature is the design. The integration of the stand and having somewhere to hold it is a benefit, especially if your main aim is to stand it up for watching catch-up TV while cooking, reading recipes on websites, or just for sharing.

But the sacrifice is that of display resolution. You pay a little more for the Nexus 10, but you get something that's the same weight, the same battery capacity but far superior when it comes to looking at content.

The 8-inch Yoga Tablet, on the other hand, faces a fierce challenge from the Nexus 7, which is the same price, offers superior hardware and display and is lighter. Again, if you want your small tablet to stand up, then the Yoga might be for you. If not, the Nexus 7 leads the way.

If you've been confounded in the past by getting your tablet to stand up, then the Lenovo Yoga Tablet may be the answer to your prayers. If you've never encountered that problem, then you can get more for your money elsewhere.