Lenovo Yoga Duet 7i and IdeaPad Duet 3i take on Surface with clever pens

Lenovo has revealed two new Windows 10 tablets with detachable keyboards, taking on Microsoft's Surface and other slates and offering optional onboard LTE. The Lenovo Yoga Duet 7i and the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3i each come with a digital pen – one for art, note taking, and annotation, and the other with an innovative color-scanning sensor. Meanwhile, there's an update to the second-generation Lenovo Smart Tab M10 FHD Plus.

Lenovo Yoga Duet 7i

The Yoga Duet 7i is a 13-inch Windows 10 tablet, with an IPS 2K touchscreen display. That promises 100-percent sRGB color coverage and up to 450 nits of brightness. While it'll work with your fingertip, of course, it'll also work with the new, optional Lenovo E-Color Pen.

That's a rechargeable digital stylus, which has a smart sensor that acts as a real-world version of the color picker tool in apps like Photoshop. Tap something you want to scan the color of, and it will automatically be digitized and replicated in apps like Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.

Inside the Yoga Duet 7i is up to a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, up to 16GB of DDR4 memory, and up to 1TB of PCIe SSD storage. Battery life is up to 10.8 hours, Lenovo says.

There's WiFi 6 (Gig+) for connectivity, and a 4G LTE modem is offered as an option for getting online outside of WiFi networks. The detachable keyboard pairs via Bluetooth 5.0, and has backlit keys and a large touchpad. You can either use it connected to the Yoga Duet 7i – with the tablet's kickstand propping it up – or separate the two and still keep typing thanks to the wireless connection.

Together, they weigh 2.55 pounds. There's Windows Hello support with an IR camera, and Lenovo has belt in a presence-sensing feature that automatically tracks if you're not in front of the tablet and turns the display off to prevent eavesdropping. It can also pause video if you look away, and even shift video to an external display just by looking to it.

The Lenovo Yoga Duet 7i will be available in Slate Grey and Orchid. In a bundle with the folio case with keyboard and the E-Color Pen it'll be priced at 1,199 euro ($1,300) when it goes on sale in Europe this June.

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3i

Smaller and much more affordable, the IdeaPad Duet 3i has a 10.3-inch Full HD IPS panel that Lenovo says ramps up to 330 nits of brightness. Like the Yoga Duet 7i it has a metal casing and a flip-out kickstand. There's also a detachable keyboard cover folio.

With that, it tips the scales at under 2 pounds, Lenovo says. The keyboard is Bluetooth 5.0 connected, and the tablet offers support for the Lenovo Digital Pen for digital note taking and annotation. Inside, there are Intel Pentium processors, up to 8GB of memory, and up to 128GB of eMMC storage.

Ports include two USB-C, and there's the option of onboard LTE. Lenovo has also fitted dual 360-degree microphones and a privacy shutter for the webcam. Battery life is up to seven hours.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3i will be offered in Graphite Grey. It'll be priced at 429 euro ($466) including the folio case with keyboard when it goes on sale this July in Europe.

Lenovo Smart Tab M10 FHD Plus (2nd Gen)

Lenovo's last new tablet today is Android-based, not Windows 10. The second-generation Smart Tab M10 FHD Plus has a 10.3-inch Full HD IPS display and a Platinum Grey metal back cover, and tips the scales at 1 pound. It uses the 2.3Ghz Octa-core MediaTek Helio P22 chipset, and delivers up to 9 hours of battery life.

Drop it into the bundled Smart Dock, and It flips into Alexa Show Mode. The Lenovo Smart Tab M10 FHD Plus (2nd Gen) will go on sale in Europe this June. It'll be priced at 229 euro ($249) including the Smart Dock.