Yoga Tab 3 Starter Thread

[silentheero]

Update-
Holding Vol up + Vol Down + Power when off and then releasing power when you see the Lenovo logo will bring up a diagnostic checklist where you can test the hardware functionality.
Holding Vol Down + Power when off and then releasing power when you see the Lenovo logo I think goes to the bootloader, like below, but nothing indicates that this is what is happening.
Holding Vol up + Power when off and then releasing power when you see the Lenovo logo will bring up recovery. Recovery has the following options-
*Reboot system now
*Apply update from ADB
*Wipe data/factory reset
*Wipe Cache partition
*Reboot to Bootloader
*Power down
*View Recovery Logs
*Apply update from sdcard

Rebooting to bootloader caused the Lenovo logo screen to stay on. I assume that either this screen allows fastboot or that the bootloader is locked or hidden in some way? The driver that's installed when you plug it in here is the Alcatel ADB Interface driver. However, "adb devices" does not list the YT. Using the "Apply update from ADB option in recovery allows for it to be seen on the computer, but in "sideload" mode. Not sure where to go from there.

Original post-
While there are several posts for the Yoga Tab 3 Pro version, there has been no mention of this one yet. I picked up this 8" version in Best Buy this week and have been very impressed by the build quality of such an inexpensive tablet.

While it does look and function very similarly to the pro version, these are two completely different machines spec-wise. The complete specs for the YT3 can be found on GSM Arena's page, but it has a Snapdragon 210 quad with a Adreno 304 graphics chip and 1gb of RAM. Haven't checked the battery life, but Lenovo claims close to 20 hours of use! We'll see about that...

The skinning of the YT3 is very minimal (they are using Tribuchet as the default launcher!) but the settings are tweaked a bit and fill two columns on the screen.

One of my main reasons for creating this thread is to see if any others have this tablet yet. The other is to start the process of rooting it. While I don't see this being actively developed for, it would be nice to have root for things like Titanium Backup and the ability to remove the bloatware on it.

When you plug it into the computer, there are two devices that pop up in Windows. One is the MTP storage like usual, but the other is a virtual CDROM drive with Lenovo Helper software, which includes drivers for the tab.

 

[Glen L]

Kingroot doesn't work I've tried.
Anyways its a great tablet.
I replaced my Samsung note 10.1 2014 with lenovo yoga tab 3 8"
I know its not an upgrade but I feel that this tablet suits my need more
I basically use this for watching movies and playing casual games like clash of clans.
Speed is okay doesn't really lag unlike my note 10.1 2014
Anypen works but theres no palm rejection
I found one problem so far. Can't seem to replace the trebuchet launcher.
After you restart the tab it sets trebuchet as the default launcher

 

[silentheero]

Anypen works but theres no palm rejection
I found one problem so far. Can't seem to replace the trebuchet launcher.
After you restart the tab it sets trebuchet as the default launcher

Huh, just noticed the launcher thing too. I thought it might because of system updates (mine has updated twice since I got it this week). Not cool. And since there is no root yet, you can't remove Trebuchet.
I figured there would be no palm rejection. That is a feature that they would tout loudly if it had it.

Are you able to get fastboot commands to give you anything besides errors?

 

[redegan82]

lenovo tab 3 pro

Hi Does anybody know when the lenovo tab 3 pro is getting released in the UK I just sold my iPad air 2 so can get it and cant bloody wait for itlol

 

[Glen L]

Huh, just noticed the launcher thing too. I thought it might because of system updates (mine has updated twice since I got it this week). Not cool. And since there is no root yet, you can't remove Trebuchet.
I figured there would be no palm rejection. That is a feature that they would tout loudly if it had it.

Are you able to get fastboot commands to give you anything besides errors?

I solved my launcher problem....
I read that you have to wipe cache and dalvik, but since we're not rooted. I did a reset factory.
That way it cleared everything and now I can change the launchers...

Palm rejection im hoping that there's a software for it... for note taking
I dont know how to do fastboot commands

 

[Bluemgt06]

I have the Tab 3 10 inch version and I get days in battery life. I have not charged the tablet in over three days with moderate usage and I still have 51% battery and it estimates another 3 days of usage. I would like to see rooting and custom kernels eventually to solve some of the lag that the tablet does have. The memory management is a little over working, for example if I switch from Facebook to Skype it closes Facebook, I guess that's assuming that it does not have enough memory to keep it running in the background even though I open task manager and it's not using over half of its memory. I don't believe that this tablet will ever get palm rejection because the any pen feature that it has is just a souped-up digitizer that is more sensitive two inputs. There is no actual stylus detection on this as there is in the Samsung Galaxy Note series devices. It does not know the difference between your finger and using an ink pen or another stylus. My main complaint in which I will be exchanging the device for a new one is my hinge is loose on the camera side and wobbles.

 

[silentheero]

I solved my launcher problem....
I read that you have to wipe cache and dalvik, but since we're not rooted. I did a reset factory.
That way it cleared everything and now I can change the launchers...

Cool! Great find, thanks for sharing. Of course I have everything set up now...

I have the Tab 3 10 inch version and I get days in battery life. I have not charged the tablet in over three days with moderate usage and I still have 51% battery and it estimates another 3 days of usage. I would like to see rooting and custom kernels eventually to solve some of the lag that the tablet does have.

I agree the battery life is insane. I have been reading comics on it for 4 hours of screen time and it still says I have a day and a half left at the current drain. Very happy to see that as this is replacing an ereader.

I noticed the aggressive task management too. It only has 1gb or RAM, but that shouldn't mean it clears out cache that quickly.

Rooting is priority one. I am not sure how to start that part, but drivers are first, and I don't think the ones that Lenovo includes with it allow for fastboot access.

 

[Bluemgt06]

I don't know that there was a pro model out and I'm thinking of going with that one since it has more power and a built in projector.

 

[mustardPersona]

Rooting is priority one. I am not sure how to start that part, but drivers are first, and I don't think the ones that Lenovo includes with it allow for fastboot access.

Hey there. I posted something in another Tab 3 thread, but I think it was more for the Tab 3 Pro. It's a bit confusing right now cause there seems to be a lot of different SKUs for the same product name. Mine is the Lenovo Tab 3 10 - model YT3-X50F.

Anyway, I was able to get it into fastboot without any issues using the Lenovo drivers. The system I am using is pretty clean, so I don't think it would have come from another package I've used in the past. I think the next step is to build a TWRP recovery for our tab.

Here's what I wrote in the other thread:

My experience has been a little different so far. Just picked up the tablet today.

I toggled Allow OEM unlock and enabled debugging in Developer Options. I installed the Lenovo Suite software (which was really just a driver pack) then ran adb reboot bootloader to reboot. It got me to a Lenovo splash.

fastboot oem unlock didn't work for me. It gave me an error message:

fastboot oem unlock
...
FAILED (remote: Need wipe userdata. Do 'fastboot oem unlock-go')
finished. total time: 0.005s

Running fastboot oem unlock-go worked immediately and the tablet rebooted to the typical Android factory wipe screen. Could be coincidental, but I got an OTA notice after I did the whole first-time Android setup. I denied the update, but copied down the update name: YT3-X50F_S000015_150917_ROW_TO_YT3-X50f_S000016_151002_ROW

 

[silentheero]

I toggled Allow OEM unlock and enabled debugging in Developer Options.

Great job Mustard, I never thought they would put a toggle in the settings for it. No other device I have owned had that.

As for SKUs, I am not sure why they did that either. I think the 8" and 10" versions run on the same hardware, but the pro version uses something completely different. My model number is YT3-850F.

 

[ionioni]

Hey there. I posted something in another Tab 3 thread, but I think it was more for the Tab 3 Pro. It's a bit confusing right now cause there seems to be a lot of different SKUs for the same product name. Mine is the Lenovo Tab 3 10 - model YT3-X50F.

actually it's not that hard:
Yoga Tab 3 - 8" (YT3-850F) -> the cheap model of the 3 series, runs a Qualcomm cpu (ARM), pricetag 170$
Yoga Tab 3 - 10" (YT3-X50F) -> still on a budgetside, also with a Qualcomm cpu
Yoga Tab 3 Pro - 10" (YT3-X90F) -> the (more)expensive one, runs a Atom cpu (x86), pricetag 500$
F is the wifi only variant (L adds 4G but the price goes up too)

 

[mustardPersona]

As for SKUs, I am not sure why they did that either. I think the 8" and 10" versions run on the same hardware, but the pro version uses something completely different. My model number is YT3-850F.

I would have thought they would remove the "Allow OEM unlocking" toggle. It was new with Lollipop - most devices I know don't make it that easy.

I found this link while trying to look up your model number. It suggests that we share the same radios (at least as far as Bluetooth SIG is concerned). And I could be wrong, but I think since the SoC has the radios built in, our boards would then be identical to develop on.

I can't post links yet, but Google "bluetooth sig D026975" and it'll pop right up.

---------- Post added at 11:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 AM ----------

actually it's not that hard:
Yoga Tab 3 - 8" (YT3-850F) -> the cheap model of the 3 series, runs a Qualcomm cpu (ARM), pricetag 170$
Yoga Tab 3 - 10" (YT3-X50F) -> still on a budgetside, also with a Qualcomm cpu
Yoga Tab 3 Pro - 10" (YT3-X90F) -> the (more)expensive one, runs a Atom cpu (x86), pricetag 500$
F is the wifi only variant (L adds 4G but the price goes up too)

True, but any vendor round these parts (US) doesn't list it by the OEM model number - just the marketing monikers. I found out only AFTER buying mine - which made it a bit frustrating when looking up exact specs. For example, the Lenovo site doesn't note the F or L variants - they just talk about the Snapdragon 212 in generalities. But as I now know, the F variant doesn't have LTE - despite it sharing the same SoC as the L.

So at least on my SKU (YT3-X50F TAB 16GBL-US-BBY), it is disabled by Lenovo.

 

[silentheero]

I found this link while trying to look up your model number. It suggests that we share the same radios (at least as far as Bluetooth SIG is concerned). And I could be wrong, but I think since the SoC has the radios built in, our boards would then be identical to develop on.

True, but any vendor round these parts (US) doesn't list it by the OEM model number - just the marketing monikers. I found out only AFTER buying mine - which made it a bit frustrating when looking up exact specs. For example, the Lenovo site doesn't note the F or L variants - they just talk about the Snapdragon 212 in generalities. But as I now know, the F variant doesn't have LTE - despite it sharing the same SoC as the L.

So at least on my SKU (YT3-X50F TAB 16GBL-US-BBY), it is disabled by Lenovo.

The Official Bluetooth SIG Member Site- D026975 Yep. That's the one. And there is a slight bump in the processor for the 10" one- from 1.1GHz to 1.3GHz- but that is probably because they clocked the chip in the 10" higher.

According to that too there is a M variant (YT3-850M).

 

[ionioni]

For example, the Lenovo site doesn't note the F or L variants - they just talk about the Snapdragon 212 in generalities. But as I now know, the F variant doesn't have LTE - despite it sharing the same SoC as the L.

So at least on my SKU (YT3-X50F TAB 16GBL-US-BBY), it is disabled by Lenovo.

not disabled... missing
your model (WiFi only) has a different antenna (with a single lobe) and also your mainboard is missing the sim electronics (they have different part numbers for different variants F/L/M)
so it's not like you can send a command and enable LTE or call on a F tab (YT3-X50 hw manual)

 

[mustardPersona]

not disabled... missing
your model (WiFi only) has a different antenna (with a single lobe) and also your mainboard is missing the sim electronics (they have different part numbers for different variants F/L/M)
so it's not like you can send a command and enable LTE or call on a F tab (YT3-X50 hw manual)

I've read that manual before and still reach the same conclusion. I'm not sure why you're arguing a point - not just once, but twice now. My opinion of the different SKUs and the "locking" of the SoC is not related to the task at hand. The focus should be on development.

They definitely do have a different antenna and the lack of a SIM tray can be problematic, but we both already knew that. What we don't know is how the components differ on the board-level. We do know there are different SKUs. Different board part numbers too. We do know that they share the same SoC, which is very helpful from a development standpoint... as well as confirming that there is an LTE radio on-chip. That's really all I said.

 

[ionioni]

I've read that manual before and still reach the same conclusion. I'm not sure why you're arguing a point - not just once, but twice now. My opinion of the different SKUs and the "locking" of the SoC is not related to the task at hand. The focus should be on development.

They definitely do have a different antenna and the lack of a SIM tray can be problematic, but we both already knew that. What we don't know is how the components differ on the board-level. We do know there are different SKUs. Different board part numbers too. We do know that they share the same SoC, which is very helpful from a development standpoint... as well as confirming that there is an LTE radio on-chip. That's really all I said.

disabled functionality is one thing, missing components required for a function is another. if you were to say: "at least on my SKU (YT3-X50F TAB 16GBL-US-BBY), i don't have all the required parts"
YT3 have three base models the two cheap ones and the pro one and they don't all share the same SoC (and the 10" pro is twice the price of the one you have)

fastboot enable LTE

it's not arguing, it's just asserting

 

[nmonty]

might be possible to cwm

ok i've just got this tablet today and am quite pleased with it. I'm currently looking at creating cwm for as I can't find a way of rooting it also but I think it can be rooted using the super su update zip file this might take a while due to work so theres no guarantee I can do it though. can but try

 

[ElrosMinyatur]

ok i've just got this tablet today and am quite pleased with it. I'm currently looking at creating cwm for as I can't find a way of rooting it also but I think it can be rooted using the super su update zip file this might take a while due to work so theres no guarantee I can do it though. can but try

Kingroot just worked for me and I now have root access. Yt3-850f is my model. I need a custom recovery so I can install xposed.

 

[Glen L]

Kingroot just worked for me and I now have root access. Yt3-850f is my model. I need a custom recovery so I can install xposed.

do you still get updates after rooting?

 

[mustardPersona]

Kingroot just worked for me and I now have root access. Yt3-850f is my model. I need a custom recovery so I can install xposed.

Cool, that's good to know that Kingroot worked. I wouldn't use it personally due to some questionable security things, but since it works, that means there should be a way to gain root without the proprietary software.

A few days ago, I tried the recovery from the Tab 2 for kicks. It did not boot. I have been looking into guides on how to build TWRP from source, but I'm stuck for the time being.