Lenovo's New Smart Cast Phone Projects Touchscreen on Any Surface (VIDEO)
Lenovo just unveiled its latest smartphone, Smart Cast, equipped with a laser projector that beams a touchscreen onto any surface.
Chinese electronics manufacturer, Lenovo has recently launched its new handheld device, the Smart Cast, the world's first smartphone that features a laser projector that can turn any surface close to it into a touchscreen.
Lenovo announced Smart Cast at the Lenovo World Tech conference Thursday with a demonstration showing the combination of beaming a virtual keyboard or touchscreen onto a horizontal surface.
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The focus-free technology means users can project images at any angle, depth or plane and get the same sharp image. This gives Smart Cast users the capability to use the phone for presentations, for typing, as a piano, a gaming screen, and even to watch movies from on projected surfaces.
Smart Cast also has a "surface mode," that involves propping the phone on its own kickstand, and twisting the projector cap atop the handheld to better enable reflection.
While known more for its computers, laptops and tablets, Lenovo's Smart Cast launch is geared at putting them in the same smartphone arena as Samsung and Apple, with a goal to make handsets more PC-like and more useful for owners.
This isn't the first time the Chinese company has incorporated projectors in its consumer tech products. Its Yoga 2 Tablet Pro, which was created based on input from Lenovo product engineer and actor, Ashton Kutcher, came equipped with its own built-in pico projector.
However, unlike the older, bulkier, and battery-draining pico projectors, which beamed clear images only in total darkness, Lenovo's Smart Cast projector is contained within a slim and sleek smartphone, and beams images even in bright surroundings.
Lenovo CEO, Yang Yuanquing was quoted in a Wall Street Journal interview saying that with Smart Cast, he intends the company to be "viewed as a technology and innovation leader," and "a well-accepted consumer brand worldwide."
