- It's thin, mostly.
It's light, kinda.
And it's always connected to the internet.
What sets the Lenovo Flex 5G apart
from the last always-connected PC I reviewed
is right in the name.
But the real question is
is one extra wireless G worth an extra half a G in dollars?
(warm electronic music)
By now, the always-connected PC formula
is pretty well established.
You see, instead of a chip from Intel or AMD
powering the Lenovo Flex 5G,
it's instead an ARM-based Snapdragon 8cx
that has much more in common with smartphone silicon.
That means that instead of being optimized for raw power,
it's optimized for lower battery consumption,
for faster wake-ups, for operating without a fan,
and yes, for staying always connected to the internet.
Now, all that was also true of the Samsung Galaxy Book S
I reviewed a couple months ago.
I called that laptop the first always-connected PC
I'd actually buy because I felt it hit
the sweet spot between functionality,
portability, and price.
In Samsung's case, a cool $999.
Lenovo wants an extra $400 to $500 for the Flex 5G,
depending on whether you buy it directly
or from carrier partner Verizon.
In exchange, it brings more features.
True to its name, the Flex can fold back on itself
to become a tablet on demand.
Its display is slightly larger than Samsung's at 14 inches,
and its battery is much bigger at 60 watt hours
to Samsung's 42.
Those improvements make it easier
to forgive the added weight
and the deleted microSD slot.
Of course, the principal reason for the premium price is 5G,
which is included in both Sub-6 and Millimeter Wave flavors,
so you can indulge your need for speed
regardless of carrier.
My review unit came with a Verizon SIM preinstalled
to matched the on-device branding.
So I took it across town
to one of the 5G Millimeter Wave nodes in Brooklyn
and fired up my speed test for the expected results.
Yup, Verizon's speed promises
with its 5G network are no joke.
Ultrawideband really does deliver insane downloads.
And in my view, Millimeter Wave 5G
makes a lot more sense on a laptop than a phone.
See, with a phone, you're typically walkin' around
or at least shifting it from hand to hand,
and as I've now demonstrated in several videos,
even those tiny movements can break
the fragile and finicky Millimeter Wave connection.
Well, with a laptop, I mean, think about it,
you're typically more stationary.
You pop it open on a table
and you're gonna be there for a bit,
which makes it easier for the machine
to hold onto the signal.
To further help with that,
Lenovo built a seven-element antenna array
with modules all around the perimeter of the base.
So you should expect the same or similar reception
in laptop and tablet modes.
Of course, that's assuming you're willing to work outside.
As you'll know if you watched
any of my previous 5G videos,
Millimeter Wave has a difficult time
penetrating even dense foliage, let alone shop windows.
And in this phase three of reopening NYC,
the only cafes I could find
were well-covered by 4G LTE,
with no Millimeter Wave in sight.
For now, the only place I could find
a reliable Ultrawideband signal in my area of Brooklyn
was by setting up camp on top of a mailbox
next to a gas station.
And while Verizon says it's enabled 5G uplink,
I'm still not seeing nearly the upstream speeds I should be.
4Chan reported the same up in Boston, for what that's worth.
Now yes, you can pop in a T-Mobile SIM
and get some low-band 5G instead,
and Verizon will be launching
its own low-band 5G later this year,
but that particular flavor of fifth generation wireless
is only gonna give consumers about a 20% increase
over 4G speeds at best.
Okay, let's put connectivity aside for a sec,
talk about the laptop.
It's almost perfectly average.
I love that the keyboard deck
is covered in comfy SoftTouch,
which is nice and forgiving on the palms.
And if you don't wanna use
the Windows Hello Camera to login,
there's a fingerprint scanner right where you expect it.
As for the keyboard itself,
I had issues with dropped keystrokes
on my first review sample.
Lenovo was kind enough to overnight me a second device,
but I still ran into similar issues on that deck.
That said, I'm still the only reviewer I've talked to
who reports this issue, so I don't know, maybe it's me.
Even when functioning properly,
key travel is just as shallow
and unsatisfying as on the Galaxy Book S.
Speakin' of shallow, the speakers are both underpowered
and tinny, despite their Dolby Atmos tuning.
And on the display front,
the panel is bright enough for outdoor use,
but only when adaptive contrast isn't screwing it up.
This is a Windows 10 feature meant to save battery
and reduce eye strain,
but it effectively reduces the brightness of the display
if you're looking at anything
but a blindingly white background.
That makes it both harder to use outdoors
and more frustrating if you're doing things
like editing photos.
While other machines allow you to toggle this feature,
this one doesn't, and that's a bummer.
Back on the bright side,
there's a handy hardware switch
to disable the laptop's radios
in case you need to save a little bit of battery.
But to be honest, you probably won't need it.
On my first run through, I got nine hours of use
on a mix of WiFi and cellular networks,
with both indoor and outdoor browsing
at an average of 90% screen brightness.
My second and third runs trended even better.
Now, there's no hibernate option here
and the battery drains at about one percent
per hour in standby, so you will have
to charge it every night if you're a heavy user.
But there's no question that the Flex 5G
should be able to see most folks
through even a packed workday.
Keep in mind, though, that that killer combo
of connectivity and endurance comes at a cost.
Even though for a web-heavy workflow like mine,
the combination of Microsoft Edge and web apps
gets me through 90% of the work I need to do,
the fact remains that you still can't run
as many legacy Windows programs on ARM.
Including old standbys like Photoshop.
And that makes it a more complicated pitch
to the business users this iron gray conformist
is really aimed at.
Rich guys.
And of course, the most important cost is the literal one.
I recently asked my very tech savvy Twitter audience
what they would spend $1,500 on in the laptop world.
Sifting through the replies,
most striking to me was even after over a thousand replies,
almost no one answered that they would buy
an always-connected PC, until I prompted them.
Why?
Well, because that same savvy and discerning audience
knows that they could just pull out their phone,
turn on the hotspot, and tether
for between zero and $10 a month.
By contrast, connecting this laptop directly to Verizon 5G
with its own SIM card will range from $30
to an eye-watering $90 per month,
depending on whether on whether you already
have an existing line of service.
Well, is it better?
Is it more convenient to just have a laptop
that's always connected to the internet,
so it's already connected when you open it up
rather than toggling hotspot on and off,
remembering to keep your phone charged,
et cetera, et cetera?
Of course, it is.
And Daniel Rubino does a great job of explaining
how those little moments and those little conveniences
add up and matter in a recent episode
of the Windows Central podcast.
But for an extra $300 or $1,000 a year,
on top of already steep $1,400 for the equipment,
all that convenience is only gonna be worth it
for a business user with an expense account.
And that user better make sure that Windows on ARM
can run whatever they're gonna need it to run.
So yeah, the Lenovo Flex 5G is a great implementation
of the always-connected PC concept.
In particular with respect to battery life.
And it's great to see 5G finally make the jump to laptops,
where it can be truly useful.
But at this stage of mid-2020,
with Verizon's Millimeter Wave
just at the beginning of its rollout,
well, you're gonna spend an awful lot of time
using this 5G laptop on a 4G network.
And that makes its higher price very difficult to swallow.
This review was made possible by two Flex 5G review samples
provided by Lenovo.
As you know, though, Mr. Mobile works for you,
not the manufacturer.
Neither Lenovo nor Verizon provided compensation,
they were not given copy approval rights,
and they received no preview of this content.
That means they're seeing it for the first time
right alongside you.
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Until next time, thanks for watching
and if you can't stay home,
then at least stay safe and mask up
while you stay mobile, my friends.
(warm electronic music)