Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Duet - Hitting The Sweet Spot

This is a review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Duet.  I hereby announce I am just going to call this thing "Duet" for the remainder of this review.  I will briefly describe the product for those that might have missed the large number of announcements and reviews - and I urge you to check those out, as this has been a highly anticipated and sought-after device.

The Duet is an early example of what might become a popular device category - the Chrome tablet.   The Chrome OS is a slimmed down Linux operating system tuned to run the full desktop version of the Chrome browser (with plugin extensions and apps), which generally will require a keyboard and either a trackpad or mouse to operate comfortably.  It therefore may seem like an odd thing to want to run this on a tablet, but a couple years ago Google began altering Chrome OS to enable it to also run Android apps, to add capabilities beyond what could be done in the browser.  Android apps are tuned to run on a mobile device with a touchscreen.  

This melding of Android apps with Chrome OS led to nearly all modern Chromebooks having touchscreens and some form of convertability, usually with a keyboard that rotates into a position behind the screen.  This does not necessarily make a standard Chromebook into a good tablet.  For example, I have a Samsung Chromebook Pro with a 12 inch screen - the keyboard rotates all the way around flat behind the screen, but the device is too big and too heavy for comfortable use as a tablet.  

Enter the Duet, not the first device in this category but certainly newest and most interesting.  This device is designed to be used as a tablet, with the capability of "going into laptop mode", rather than being a laptop that goes into tablet mode.  This means it works really well as a tablet - but it leads to design decisions that some may not care for.  The body of the device itself is thin, light, with a bright 10 inch screen.  It is easily held in one hand leaving the other hand free for touchscreen operation.  The Duet will make an excellent couch surfer, airplane companion, etc.  As with any modern tablet you have front and rear cameras and built-in microphones, power and volume buttons, and a single USB-C port.  That last is going to be a struggle for some folks when we talk about using this as a laptop, but remember - this is a tablet first, laptop second.

The Duet comes with 4 gigs of RAM.  Some in the Chromebook crowd are complaining about this, but for average people in real-world Chromebook use it's generally enough and can run multiple Android apps handily.  On the other hand the device has 128 gigs of storage, which is important if you plan to install a bunch of Android apps.  Notably, in one of those "tablet first" compromises there is no card reader for an SD card.  I'll address that a little later on, but combined with the single USB port, the design choices here seem to push one towards needing a USB-C hub.  Honestly it's not an absolute necessity and it will depend on how you intend to use the device.  

One great thing about the Duet is the promise of eight years of software updates.  Unlike your average Android device or even most Chromebooks, there is a serious commitment to making this device useful for the long haul.

So how do we turn this tablet into a laptop?  It's done with the connection of two addon devices which I should point out are supplied with the tablet, rather than being extra purchases.  First there is a magnetic back "cover" that snaps to the back of the tablet and which has a fold-out stand.  The fold-out stand has a very wide range of positions so you can get the angle just right, and it can be useful to hold the tablet up even as a tablet.  On the down side it adds considerable weight.  This won't matter when the Duet is sitting on a desk but when toting it around with you, it will be noticeable.  Second there is a keyboard which is also magnetically attached.  There are a number of connection points on the edge of the tablet and the keyboard that have to line up, but they pop together so easily it almost feels like magic.

The keyboard itself is...nice?  Not nice?  This is such a subjective measure.  First it's not real big and it can't be, given that it "fits" the 10-inch screen.  You can certainly pair up a full size keyboard over Bluetooth or with a USB connection but we're talking portability here, something that is designed specifically for this tablet.  In order to keep most of the keys decent size and maintain some spacing, some of the keys (mainly for punctuation) have been reduced to about half-width.  So you will read some reviews where people complain that the combination of the small keyboard size and the tiny punctuation keys makes it hard to type.  For the record I'm typing this blog post on the Duet keyboard.  My hands aren't huge but they're by no means small either and my fingers are long.  It's a tad cramped, and I do make some mistakes here.  I am adjusting.  I think it's fair to say that I would not want to use this keyboard as my primary / only keyboard for the rest of my life - but I would also say it is WAY better than typing with an onscreen keyboard.  I am going on a trip in a couple months out of the country for 3 weeks, I'll be using this device to remotely connect to work on occasion, and for basic use it's going to be just fine.  Note:  my 3 week trip was cancelled due to COVID considerations but I did a 9 day road trip and used the Duet with its tiny keyboard daily.  It worked and I didn't die.  I didn't mention the trackpad yet - it works.  It's not spectacular.  Personally I usually carry a small Logitech mouse and plug in a USB wireless thingy.  I'll probably keep doing that.  But just to be clear, I have used the trackpad and it does work.  It's fine.

So where are we?   We got ourselves a nice tablet - 10-inch, bright screen, light weight.  I didn't mention the performance before but it's smooth - I've run big Android games and apps, not a single hiccup or stutter.  I don't open 100 tabs or anything but every site I use displays flawlessly and I don't notice any issues.  We got a nice back-cover / stand that holds the screen up at any angle, and a detachable keyboard which, if not spectacular, is perfectly usable.  What's left to talk about?

Well first there is that single USB-C port.  This may be a tablet-first-laptop-second, but it is a Chromebook, and being able to connect peripherals is part of the game.  You're going to likely want a USB-C hub.   There are a ton out there and I'm not going to describe them all but I just got a new one I like a lot - I bought this VAVA 9-1 USB-C Hub at Amazon.  It passes the USB-C power through to the latop / tablet while giving me 2 USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, a Ethernet network port, an audio jack, a full-size SD card reader and a TF (microSD) card reader.   This was a bit pricey, and honestly I will not use it often, but I will not want to be without it.  In particular when I go on a longer trip like the one I have planned, I'm going to want the USB 2.0 port for my mouse dongle.  

Second, the Duet does not come with a stylus but supposedly it is designed to work with any stylus that meets the new USI standards - Universal Stylus Initiative, that is.  USI styli are powered devices with electronics inside that let them communicate to the device on which they're being used - stuff like angle and pressure, etc.  Lenovo will have one coming out eventually but right now options are few.  It will be a little while before we know how this will shake out.  

The final thing to note is the price, and this is the part that has so many in the Chromebook community so excited - the full package as described above, with the back stand and keyboard, and with 128 gigs of storage, costs $300 (ok, it's $299). In the U.S. this is only available through Best Buy but there will be other resellers eventually, as well as a 64-gig version for $279 (honestly, $20 to double the storage on a device that will be running Android apps is not much).  $300 for a nice tablet with the stand and keyboard seems like a steal.  Now ... I already said I spent more money on a USB-C hub, and I am thinking I'll buy the Lenovo USI pen when it comes out so my total spend will probably push me over $400, but those are choices I'm making.

I think the Duet works really well, feels great as a tablet, works well enough as a Chrombook to use for extended periods (but probably not full time forever), and with the included accessories makes for a fantastic value.  It's a keeper.

Google Pixel XL - Just A (Really Nice) Phone

Caveats:  I am not a professional reviewer.

Solving A Common Problem With Chromebook Smart Lock

I have a Toshiba Chromebook 2, and when I saw the new Smart Lock feature I really wanted to try it out.  Basically Smart Lock allows the Chromebook to be automatically unlocked when it is within Bluetooth range of an Android phone.  Android phones themselves have a similar feature that can be activated by proximity to a Bluetooth device, within a particular geographic location, etc.  I was therefore a little bummed to find that I couldn't use Smart Lock because my phone, a Samsung Galxy Note 3 on Verizon, was still on Android version 4.x - Chromebook's Smart Lock only works with phones running Android 5.x (code named Lollipop).

A couple of weeks ago Verizon finally pushed out the Lollipop update for the Note 3, so naturally I immediately tried setting up Smart Lock...and it didn't work.  The procedure goes like this:

You need an Android phone running Lollipop (duh).  The phone and the Chromebook both have to be registered to the same Google account.  They have to be within Bluetooth range of one another.  And they both have to be connected to the Internet.

When you activate the feature (by going into the Chromebook's settings - advanced section and clicking the setup button for Smart Lock) the first thing that happens is the Chromebook locks itself, requiring you to supply your password.  Then a dialog box comes up with some notes about what you're doing and a button to "Find your phone."  And this is where the problem showed up - each time I clicked it, the setup tool reported that it could not find my phone.

Browsing around online I found people suggesting that you need to pair your Chromebook and phone prior to setting up Smart Lock (the Google instructions do not say this).  It didn't work.  Some folks suggested you have to turn on Smart Lock on the phone itself (also not according to Google).  That didn't help either.

I opened a support ticket with Google, and the first thing they suggested was that because I was running on the Chromebook beta channel, they couldn't help, and that I would have to switch to stable (necessitating a powerwash).  When that didn't help, they suggested a "hard reset" on the Chromebook (pressing the refresh and power keys at the same time) and a reboot of the phone - still no joy.  After that the support person didn't have anything new to offer.

As I continued searching for a solution I found a number of people who claimed to have had the problem and to have solved it by wiping their phones - doing a factory reset.  This seemed a little extreme but it began to suggest a solution.  Finally I found some information that it might have something to do with how the phone is registered with Google, specifically with "Google Play."

Basically, when you first set up an Android phone with Google, it reports itself to Google, and the information is used with Google Play services to show you only those apps which will work with your device.  But somehow the process of getting a phone upgraded to Android 5.x doesn't update the information they have stored about it.

The reason this matters is that when you click "Find your phone" during the Chromebook Smart Lock procedure, it isn't looking for your phone via Bluetooth - it is checking with Google Play to see if you have a phone registered running Lollipop.  Those folks wiping and reloading their phones were basically forcing the phones to re-register themselves with Google Play services.

It turns out there is an easier way to do this.  What you need to do is to force Google Play Services on your phone to update itself.  The way to do this is to essentially uninstall Google Play Services on the phone, and reinstall it.  On most phones, the way to do this is to go into the settings for the phone, then the Applications area where you can see all applications running on the phone.  Tapping on Google Play Services will bring you to a screen where you can uninstall it.  Note that on most phones you are not completely uninstalling Google Play Services, but rather uninstalling all the updates it has received.  You can also do a "force stop" on it.  After doing this, Google Play Services should update itself on the phone.  And when it does, it will register with Google Play the fact that you are running Lollipop.

Once this is done the Chromebook should be able to find the phone.  It worked for me, it has worked for others, and I hope it will work for you.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that when I went to "uninstall" Google Play Services, at first I couldn't because the buttons were greyed out.  This was because I had tried to set up Smart Lock on the phone itself, and the phone was now using the services.  To turn it off, I had to go into Settings - Security - Trust Agents and disable Smart Lock on the phone there.  Once I did that I was able to proceed with uninstalling.