Lenovo recently held its Tech World conference in China, which it used to show off several new products like its IdeaPad 100 laptop and ThinkPad 10 Windows 10 tablet. There were some mobile goodies at the show, too, and that’s what I’m here to tell you about.
First up, Lenovo showed off two concept devices. The first is a Magic View smartwatch concept that, at first glance, looks a bit like a Moto 360. What makes the Magic View smartwatch different from the 360 is that the Magic View actually has a second screen that Lenovo calls a “virtual interactive display.” The display looks small, but you can hold it up to your eye and view a full-size image that Lenovo says will appear 20 times bigger than a regular watch face. This will help users to become more immersed in a map or in photos.
The Magic View smartwatch appears to be running Android Wear, but Lenovo told Android Central that it’s actually running some custom software based on Android. It looks like an interesting device, tackling the problem of having a small smartwatch screen that’s necessary for a wearable device, but is tough to use for beyond notifications and music controls. Obviously you’re probably not going to want to watch movies or any long video content by holding your watch up to your eye, but the second screen could be good for viewing photos sent to you or getting a better look at maps.
The second concept device shown by Lenovo today is the Smart Cast. This product is a smartphone with a laser projector, infrared motion detector, and some “high-performance algorithms” that allow the handset to project a virtual touchscreen onto a table. This’ll give you a large virtual keyboard to type or to do things like draw and take notes. The projector can also be used to show video content on a wall.
Turning our attention to products that you’ll actually be able to buy at some point soon, Lenovo also announced the Lenovo Cast. The device can hook up to a display using HDMI and then be linked to your phone or tablet using DLNA or Miracast. Once connected, you can use the Lenovo Cast’s dual frequency Wi-Fi to beam videos to a display or mirror any content that you’ve got on your device. The Lenovo Cast will launch in August for $49.