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We’ve been tracking a device with the codename of ‘Pbody’ for a few months now, making pretty bold assumptions that this device is The Lenovo Yoga Book with Chrome OS.
Looks like we’ve been right on point!
For those of you who have been following closely, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
For those who are seeing all this for the first time, let me get you up to speed.
The Lenovo Yoga Book is an innovative 2-in-1, sporting a full touch panel instead of a keyboard. It broke cover back in February and has been intriguing from the day it showed up.
You can read more about it anywhere, honestly. Here’s a good wrap up of it.
Interestingly, most reviews have said that Windows is slow and unfitting on it and Android isn’t really ready for the laptop experience.
One article actually said The Yoga Book was a great device in need of a proper OS.
Since the debut, we’ve seen more and more commits that made a clear and concise case for ‘Pbody’ being the Chrome OS version of the Yoga Book. We wrote that it was all but confirmed last month and we’ve continually seen ‘Pbody’ being worked on in the commits.
Official Confirmation
When the Yoga Book was unveiled, there was at least a nod that a Chrome OS version would come, but an actual confirmation this was not.
Today, thanks to Tom’s Guide and Laptop Mag, we have a firm confirmation and release window for the Chrome OS version of the Yoga Book.
It looks like we’re going to see this one show up mid-year, so don’t think that it is going to show up next month. With an experimental keyboard, this one will take a bit more time than other Chromebooks to finish up development. A brand new interface device in the keyboard isn’t a small undertaking in any way, shape or form.
But, this one could be worth waiting for. Officially from Jeff Meredith, VP and GM of Lenovo’s Android and Chrome Computing Business Group:
We’ve had a lot of interest, said Meredith of a Chrome OS-powered Yoga Book. It’s an interesting idea for education, especially with the form factor. Over time, we probably see the Android and Chrome versions melding together, especially based on the fact that we’ve now seen Chrome roll out the Google Play store capability into Chrome.
Interestingly, everything we’ve tracked on ‘Pbody’ shows it to be a 12-inch devices, so it will be interesting to continue finding clues on this one. Back at IFA where it was unveiled, Jeff Meredith was clear that there would eventually be many variations of this device, so a differing screen size wouldn’t really be a surprise.
So, there you have it folks. ‘Pbody’ is definitely the Lenovo Yoga Book Chrome OS Edition and it is coming in the next six months or so. We’ll continue to keep up with this one as the months progress.
