New phone from Lenovo comes equipped with laser projector to display virtual keyboard

Lenovo has introduced a phone that comes with a built-in laser projector for the purpose of providing its user with a fully interactive virtual keyboard / display.

The laser projector can also be used to display images and videos onto walls. 

The Chinese electronics giant unveiled the phone at the company’s Tech World conference in Beijing. In the announcement, it was revealed the laser projector measures just 34mm by 26mm by 5mm, and that it does not need focusing in order to project clear, sharp imagery onto walls or flat surfaces. Instead, a user simply twists the mounting for the device’s lens—doing this turns it from a standard wall projector into “surface” mode that beams the phone’s display onto a table top.

Also worth noting: the phone comes with a kickstand to keep it upright while the virtual keyboard is in use. 

Initial tests by outside parties have the device looking pretty impressive. Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang used the phone’s keyboard display to play a version of “The Entertainer”, and Pocket-Lint’s Mike Lowe reported that there was significantly less delay using the virtual keyboard on Lenovo’s phones when compared to other devices with similar input systems. 

Despite its technological success, Lowe is not entirely sold smartphone users will rush to purchase this device because of this added capability. 

“The history of the projector phone is hardly rosy,” he said. “Samsung launched the Galaxy Beam in 2012 and that bombed. It's not been a booming industry for any other manufacturer since.”

Via BBC