Lenovo's 'Smart Cast' phone with laser projector projects virtual touchscreen keyboard anywhere; Magic View smartwatch with dual screen concept unveiled
At its recent Lenovo Tech World conference, the Chinese smartphone maker unveiled a concept phone named Smart Cast with a built-in laser projector, which can project a full-scale keyboard onto any surface below. The company also introduced its concept smartwatch named Magic View that comes with a second, tiny, supposedly "private" screen built into the strap.
Lenovo demonstrated its Smart Cast concept phone at the Tech World conference held in Beijing on May 28 by showing renowned concert pianist Lang Lang playing around on a virtual keyboard projected by the phone. The smartphone uses a built-in "focus-free" laser projector and infrared motion detectors to project a full-scale keyboard. Users can twist the phone's lens to toggle it between standard projector mode, which beams the display onto a wall, to surface mode, which projects the screen onto a flat surface, such as a desk or table. "Users can transform their wall into a movie theatre to watch videos, give a presentation, or even play games like Fruit Ninja using hang gestures on the table or cast onto the wall," according to Lenovo.
Lenovo's Magic View smartwatch features a second rectangular screen between the watch strap and watch face. The second display, which the company calls a virtual interactive display, is smaller than the actual smartwatch display, but uses optical reflection to create the illusion of a screen that is 20 times larger. As a result, when users lift up the watch and peer into the screen, they can see an image 20 times larger than the watch itself. Users can also "look around" images and see private messages that they do not want other people to see, as the magnification effect is visible only to the wearer and not to people trying to get a view from the peripheries.
Lenovo did not provide any details about the availability, launch date or pricing of these devices. Since they are just concept devices and not actual products, there is no guarantee that they could one day go into mass production and become available in the market.