Lenovo’s Double Shocker: A Pair Of Yoga Tablets And Ashton Kutcher As New Product Engineer

Lenovo (HKG:0992), on Tuesday, announced a pair of new Android-powered tablets -- the Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10 -- while also bringing Hollywood celebrity Ashton Kutcher on board as the company’s new product engineer.

Both the Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10 will be available in the U.S. from Wednesday and will cost $249 and $299, respectively. The new tablets feature a kickstand at the back, which helps the device stand with the screen facing forward. The kickstand can also be used in two other ways: a tilt mode that raises the back for more comfortable typing; and, a hold mode, with the kickstand folded, which uses a cylindrical handle on the side to make it easier for the user to hold the tablet with one hand.

Both the 8-inch and 10-inch models of the Yoga tablet feature a quad-core 1.2GHz MT8389 processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and a microSD card slot that supports cards of up to 64GB of storage capacity. The devices also sport 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, optional 3G and enhanced batteries that keep the tablets running for up to 18 hours.

While the two models have the same screen resolution of 1280x800 pixels, the 10-inch version will have a lower pixel density compared to its 8-inch counterpart. The new Yoga tablets also differ in terms of weight -- the 10-inch model weighs 1.35 pounds (612.35 grams) while the 8-inch model weighs 0.88 pounds (399.16 grams).

During Tuesday’s event in Los Angeles, Lenovo also announced that it had reached an agreement with Ashton Kutcher for the big-screen actor to serve as a product engineer at the Chinese manufacturer.

“In his new role as a Lenovo product engineer, Kutcher will work with the company’s engineering teams around the world to develop and market the Yoga line of tablets by providing input and decision-making into design, specifications, software and usage scenarios,” Lenovo said in a statement.

Kutcher, who played the role of late Apple co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, in the 2013 movie “Jobs,” is known for his technology investments over the past several years. He is also a co-founder of A-Grade Investments, which has provided venture capital and collaboration for many technology companies including Airbnb, Fab, Foursquare, Spotify, Path and Uber.

“This partnership with Lenovo brings together my love of technology and design that makes your life better. I can’t wait to dig in and help Lenovo develop future mobile computing products, starting with the Yoga Tablet,” Kutcher said, in the statement.