Lenovo shows off a bendable phone for your wrist
At Lenovo’s big keynote in San Francisco today, CTO Peter Hortensius introduced a new bendable screen that snaps around the wrist like an old-school slap bracelet. It’s the company’s way of moving into a hingeless device era.
Screenwriter and producer Meghan McCarthy of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fame, planted in the audience, got up to demonstrate the new technology. She wrapped a seemingly active phone screen onto her wrist. There was an audible cracking sound, but the screen snapped on like a bulky wristband. Next she moved on to a folding tablet with cat faces. She bent it in half and put the flexible screen next to her ear, pretending to make a call.
Hortensius then did a quick walk-through of the bendable-screen technology. “What else has to bend as the screen bends?” he said. A flexible screen needs equally flexible parts, including the battery and the motherboard, which need to fold and unfold along with it. It’s an innovative idea, but that’s all it is for now. The flexible phone isn’t a fully functional product yet.
Lenovo promised that the concept device will be on display after the keynote. Watch this space for more details on the folding screens.
Get all the news from today’s Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
$500 Lenovo Phab2 Pro is the first Google Tango phone
The second generation of Lenovo’s Phab phones are here already, headlined by the first-ever Project Tango-equipped smartphone with sensors and cameras that can map its surroundings. The Phab2 Pro (check out our hands-on impressions right here) is special because it fulfills the promise of demos that Google’s Advanced Technologies and Products (ATAP) division has been showing us for a few years. The phone’s dual cameras create an “eye” that sees its surroundings in 3D with depth perception, while additional sensors monitor location and nearby objects 250,000 times per second.
Google and Lenovo have shown off experiences that use the Tango technology to provide augmented reality-guided tours in museums and odd experiences like Woorld, but there are more-practical applications. For example, Lowe’s has an app that it says will allow homeowners to remodel by virtually envisioning how appliances or furniture will look in their space. Lenovo VP Jeff Meredith envisions the technology becoming “pervasive, just like GPS.”
Despite shrinking from 7 inches to a 6.4-inch size usable by human hands and coming with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, each Phab2 packs a large 4,050mAh battery, along with Dolby Atmos audio features, including the ability to record in 5.1 surround sound. But the similarities end there. The Pro elevates things to the stratosphere with premium specs and sensing abilities that trump any phone we’ve seen before — all with a price of $500, unlocked.
The Pro also adds on a specially designed eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, 64GB of built-in storage (expandable via microSD), 4GB of RAM and a 2,560 x 1,440 pixel “assertive” display. All of these phones are scheduled to arrive globally in September, while the Tango-enabled Phab2 Pro will be sold at Lowe’s and Best Buy stores and online by the end of the year.
Get all the news from today’s Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
Source: Lenovo
Android can launch apps based on where you are
Google really wants the apps you use to take the context of where you are into account. Thus Nearby, a feature that uses Bluetooth and your device’s GPS to deliver you apps based on where you are. The post on Google’s official Android blog gives a few examples of how this might work: printing photos directly from your phone when you’re in a CVS Pharmacy or using the Mobile Passport app to duck the customs line at certain airports.
The feature is baked into an update to Google Play Services that’s rolling out now and works on devices running KitKat and up; all you really need to do here to use Nearby is have Bluetooth and GPS activated. Much like physical web beacons, you’ll receive a notification when you’re in proximity to one of the Nearby apps and if you’d rather not check it out, you don’t have to.
Source: Official Android Blog
Lowe’s has a Tango AR app for home improvement projects
We’ve explored the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya using Google’s Tango technology, and we’ve also used it for a little gaming. Now that Lenovo is bringing the first Tango device for the masses, we’re also going to see new augmented reality software that make use of Google’s 3D mapping software tech. Lowe’s, the hardware and home improvement store chain, has an app of its own that allows you to place appliances, add accessories and make other virtual tweaks to your house before you begin a project.
What’s more, the company will sell Lenovo’s $500 Phab2 Pro starting around the holidays this year. The Tango software will give you an idea of what a certain shade of hardwood flooring will look like in your living room or confirm your suspicion that the refrigerator you’ve been eyeing won’t actually fit in your kitchen. In addition to gaming and educational uses, this Lowe’s Vision app provides a real-world solution not only for interior designers, but also DIYers who are looking to spice up their houses on their own.
For virtually placing furniture, there’s a Tango app from retailer Wayfair. The software gives you an AR version of the piece you’re thinking about buying, allowing you to place it in your house to see if it will really work. You’ll get the dimensions and other info about the furniture or accessory alongside pricing and, of course, a button for adding it to your shopping cart.
Get all the news from today’s Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
The Moto Z and Z Force are Motorola’s new modular flagships
So long Moto X, hello Moto Z. For its next round of Android flagships, Motorola is going for a new brand, an ultra-thin design and support for “Mods” that expand their capabilities. And yes, the Moto Z is seriously thin at just 5.19 millimeters millimeters thick. How Motorola achieved will probably be controversial, though: the Moto Z and its slightly beefier sibling, the Moto Z Force, don’t have headphone jacks. Instead, you’ll have to plug in the included USB-C to 3.5mm jack adapter to use headphones. But is any of this enough for Lenovo to finally have a hit phone? (Take a look at our hands-on impressions of both phones here.)
At the very least, you can’t say Motorola is being lazy. It’s embracing the idea of modular add-ons, Moto Mods, wholeheartedly. Both new phones have magnetic connectors on their rears, which a variety of accessories can connect to. So far, that includes a homegrown pico projector, a speaker upgrade from JBL and a variety of battery packs from Incipio, Tumi and Kate Spade. Moto says the Mods will work on next year’s phones, which should give potential buyers a bit of piece of mind. Yes, the whole concept is similar to what LG attempted with the G5, and it’s still unclear if mainstream consumers care about modular upgrades.
Lenovo is the first major manufacturer to dump headphone jacks in exchange for a thinner design, and it’ll likely end up taking the majority of consumer flack for doing so. But it’s not alone: Intel is also pushing USB-C over headphone jacks, and Chinese phone maker LeEco has already dumped them with its latest devices. We’ve even heard from the rumor mill that Apple might be considering the same thing for upcoming iPhones. But as someone who usually has expensive earbuds plugged into my smartphone, I’m not looking forward to relying on a dongle. (And I’m definitely not going to be upgrading to USB-C headphones anytime soon.)
While it took a few revisions for the Moto X to become truly great, the Moto Z seems like a leap ahead in many ways. It’s got the usual speed improvements, with a new quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor running at up to 2.2GHz and 4GB of RAM. Its screen is a tad smaller than last year’s, at just 5.5-inches instead of 5.7-inches, and it sports the same quad HD resolution of 2560 by 1440 pixels (535 pixels per inch). Naturally, its thinness means it’s significantly lighter than before, weighing in at just 4.6 ounces (136 grams), compared to last year’s Moto X Pure (Style outside of the US) at 6.3 ounces (179 grams).
On the camera front, the Moto Z packs in a 12 megapixel rear shooter with an f/1.8 aperture lens, optical image stabilization and laser autofocus. Its front camera is a typical 5 megapixel entry. Motorola seems to have crammed in as much whiz-bang technology it could to deliver a better photo-taking than its past phones: the rear camera also features color-corrected flash with dual LEDs and a 1.12um pixel size.
Just like last year, there’s also a more powerful model with a few additional features, the US-only Moto Z Force. It’s a bit thicker (6.9mm) and heavier, but it also packs in a significantly larger battery (3,500mAh compared to the Z’s 2,600mAh) and a more capable 21 megapixel camera with phase detection autofocus and Deep Trench Isolation (a technique Apple used for the iPhone 6S camera). The Moto Z Force’s screen also uses Motorola’s Shattershield technology, which it claims is more resistant to cracks and scratches than Corning’s Gorilla Glass. While it’s not as mind-blowingly thin as the Z proper, the Z Force sounds like the ideal Android phone for power users.
Unfortunately, you’ll have to be on Verizon to nab the Moto Z phones this summer, where they’ll be available as “Droid Editions.” Motorola says it’ll also sell the Moto Z unlocked on its website this fall. The Moto Z will be available internationally in September, but Motorola says the Z Force is a US-only affair for now.
Get all the news from today’s Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
Lenovo’s low-cost Phab2 phones are big on augmented reality
The centerpiece of Lenovo’s self-branded US phones may be the higher-end, Tango-packing Phab2 Pro, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something available for the budget crowd. Lenovo is unveiling two lower-cost models, the Phab2 and Phab2 Plus, that deliver some of the experience for a much lower price. Both pack gigantic 6.4-inch screens (the same size as the Pro) and 13-megapixel rear cameras that deliver augmented reality “special effects” such as virtual backgrounds — while they won’t make you forget that Tango exists, you won’t have to give up AR entirely. They also share immersive Dolby Atmos audio and a whopping 4,050mAh battery that can last for over two weeks on standby.
After that, though, they couldn’t be more different. The base Phab2 carries a low-res 720p display, a modest quad-core MediaTek processor and 16GB of expandable storage. Jump to the Plus and you not only get a 1080p curved glass screen, an eight-core MediaTek chip, 32GB of space and a fingerprint reader, but also a dual rear camera array that promises better low-light shots, more detail in the shadows and after-the-shot refocusing.
The big deal for both phones may simply be the price. Both will be available worldwide in September, with prices starting at $199 for the Phab2 and $299 for the Phab2 Plus. These could be solid bargains if you want a huge display without spending an equally huge amount of cash.
Get all the news from today’s Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
Source: Lenovo
The Moto Z and Z Force are as controversial as they are ambitious
Oh, you thought Lenovo and its Project Tango device were going to hog the spotlight today? Not quite. Motorola just revealed its new flagship phones, the Moto Z and Moto Z Force, and we’ve already had a chance to spend a little time with them. Spoiler: There’s a lot to love here, tinged with a few things that might drive you up a wall.
The Moto Z is both incredibly fast and insanely thin. Under the hood, the Z uses a Snapdragon 820 chipset, 4GB of RAM and an Adreno 530 GPU, all of which helped to make the performance feel smooth as I leapt in and out of apps and generally tried to throw the phone for a loop. No dice. Motorola’s hands-off approach to Android usually helps its phones feel fast too, but the version of Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow we’ve got here isn’t as clean as what you’ll find on, say, the Moto X Pure. The build I played with was the Verizon-exclusive version (the so-called “Droid Edition”), which comes loaded with the same tweaked interface and Big Red bloatware we saw on the Droid Turbo 2. Ick. Hopefully, the unlocked Moto Z shipping later this year runs stock Marshmallow.
When the first leaked images of the Moto Z made the rounds, I was admittedly concerned. There’s a very real risk that thin phones will actually be uncomfortable to hold since your hand just grips the edges. Thankfully, the Moto Z easily dodges that problem: The stainless steel-and-aluminum body has comfortable sides that fit neatly into my palm without digging in. I spent so much time idly rubbing the phone’s edges, in fact, that I sometimes forgot about the otherwise lovely 5.5-inch Quad HD AMOLED screen.
Still, that trim waistline comes at a cost. The 13-megapixel rear camera (which took solid photos during our brief time with it) sticks out of the back in a circular pod, which might rub some design purists the wrong way. More importantly, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack; you’ll have to use an included USB Type-C adapter to connect your existing headphones to the Z. Since the Moto Z Force is a physically thicker device (and something of a “Pro” version of the Z), Motorola probably wouldn’t have had trouble fitting that headphone jack there, but it just wasn’t meant to be. They’re embracing the future, but I seriously wonder how bad the blowback from this decision will be.
While we’re on the subject of the Moto Z Force, this is probably the version of the phone most people will want. Think of it as a very slightly beefier version of the Z with a better battery (3,500mAh, compared to the normal model’s 2,600), an improved 21-megapixel camera with phase detection and laser autofocusing and Motorola’s ShatterShield display. In case you already forgot, ShatterShield essentially guarantees that your Z Force’s screen won’t crack when you drop it. And unlike the Droid Turbo 2 (which, by the way, survived being run over by my car), the ShatterShield setup here doesn’t seem to require a thick plastic screen protector anymore.
And of course, there are those MotoMods. In case you hadn’t heard, Motorola built a clever system involving magnets and a 16-pin interface for power and data transfer. Some Mods are purely for aesthetics, like the handsome Motorola Style shells that just snap onto the back of the Z and Z Force. Still others are more utilitarian. A battery Mod from Incipio can give the Z phones an extra 2,200mAh of power with the added benefit of feeling way, way better than a traditional battery case. The whole point is to build accessories that blend into a unified whole, and Motorola’s early partners have done a really impressive job. Oh, and it’s nearly impossible to knock those Mods off by accident — those magnets are no joke.
In case you feel like blasting tunes, JBL’s speaker Mod gives the Z line some added battery and some much louder sound. The most curious of the bunch is Motorola’s tiny projector, which more or less blows the Moto Z screen up to about 70 inches on a wall. It’s surprisingly bright and produces a steadier image than you might expect, but I wonder who really wants to tote one of these things around. (Vacationing families, maybe?) At the very least, I’m told that these Mods are meant to be “intergenerational,” and will work with next year’s Z phones, too.
There’s a lot to like about the Moto Z line, but there’s no denying it adds still more wrinkles to a smartphone lineup that was already getting a little unwieldy. At this point, Motorola is selling the low-end Moto E, three new versions of the Moto G in different markets, three versions of the Moto X, and now the flagship Moto Z slots in at the top with a launch set for this summer. And prepare to scratch your heads even harder: The far-more-fascinating Moto Z Force will be a U.S. exclusive on Verizon for, well, who knows how long. We eventually saw the Droid Turbo 2 trickle into far-flung markets as the Moto X Force so it’s likely the Z Force will eventually do the same, but still — it sucks for Moto fans in other countries that the best version of the Z isn’t coming their way anytime soon.
Get all the news from today’s Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
Up close and personal with the first Tango phone
For years now, we’ve watched Google build gadgets that sense the world around us, and for years we’ve wondered when the non-coding public could actually use them. That time is, well, not now but soon. Lenovo unveiled the Phab2 Pro earlier today, a smartphone whose name completely fails to illustrate its potential importance: the very first phone using Google’s Tango 3D mapping technology that a regular person can actually buy. It doesn’t arrive until later this summer, but after spending a little time with the device, I’m already cautiously optimistic about its potential.
By now, you probably know the broad strokes about Tango: It’s a suite of technologies that combines computer vision, motion tracking and depth perception to help a device figure out exactly where it is and how it’s moving through space. So far, the Tango foundation has been used, among other things, to give us turn-by-turn directions inside a museum and let us play with virtual puppies. In short, it’s a big deal. But what’s the first Tango phone actually like?
For one, it’s enormous. The Pro features a 6.4-inch Quad HD IPS screen that will stretch pockets and hands alike. In fact, the phone is so big that the thought of using it as my daily driver is just absurd. We’ve seen huge phones before — here’s looking at you, Xperia Z Ultra — but the Phab2 Pro is less of a big handset than it is a small tablet. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, either. Google’s Tango developer unit is a 7-inch tablet, so for now there seems to be a limit to how small a Tango device can be. That’s partly thanks to the 16-megapixel camera, depth sensor and motion-tracking sensor Lenovo had to squeeze into the Phab2 Pro to make it as spatially aware as it is.
So yes, it’s big. It’s surprisingly well built too. Its metal body, slim profile and 2.5D curved-glass face make it feel an awful lot like Huawei’s Mate 8. The surprises continue when you peer inside the phone. While most of the Android devices making headlines lately have high-end Snapdragon 820 chips, the Phab2 Pro has a quad-core Snapdragon 652 processor augmented with some special Tango hardware. Also onboard are 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a 4,050mAh battery for good measure. Beyond its sheer size, the Phab2 Pro’s physical package doesn’t leave much to be desired — proof that Lenovo can build a handsome flagship without Motorola’s help.
For all the hardware needed to make augmented reality work, the future of Tango depends almost entirely on software. The Phab2 Pro will ship this year with a mostly clean version of Android 6.0 (a trick it picked up from Motorola), but that’s not what I’m talking about. Developers, from inside Google and elsewhere, will decide Tango’s fate. Unfortunately, most of the Tango app demos I got to play with were ones I’d seen in the past. Blaster, for example, lets you take on oncoming alien hordes while Woorld acts as a sandbox where you can build cutesy, absurd realms. Still others aim for practicality, like an app from Lowe’s that lets you virtually place a full-sized fridge into your kitchen to see if anything clashes. And, of course, apps can turn the Phab2 Pro into a mean museum-navigating machine as I demonstrated earlier this year.
Make no mistake: The device I spent time with was far from perfect. Lenovo’s physical design and production processes are on point, but the software I handled was “not final” — PR parlance for “it’s going to crash a lot.” And it did. As such, I couldn’t get a great sense of how fast the phone actually is. It seemed quite snappy — when apps decided not to suddenly force-close, that is. Even so, that pesky technicality couldn’t wipe the grin off my face as I placed a Tyrannosaurus Rex into a small room and toppled two-legged mechs while my colleagues laughed at me. When Lenovo’s hardware and software worked as they should, I got a glimpse of a future for phones, and the future excited me.
Questions about Lenovo’s chances for smartphone success in the U.S. and Tango’s long-term viability can and will persist. (Side note: Lenovo says it has about a six-month head start on any other phone makers who want to build a Tango device.) What’s exciting — intoxicating, even — is the idea that this $500 phone could completely change what we expect from our smartphones, and indeed, change how we use them to perceive the world around us.
Get all the news from today’s Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
Snap-on ‘MotoMods’ make the Moto Z more interesting
Google isn’t the only company working on modular smartphones. Following on the heels of the LG G5 and Google’s “Project Ara” concept, Motorola today unveiled its new Moto Z flagship, which makes use of various modular accessories. These add-ons, collectively dubbed MotoMods, snap onto the handset using a quartet of magnets and draw their power/data through a 6Gbps multi-pin connection. There will be three Mods available at launch: a projector, “party speaker” and an external battery.
Lenovo has already built a projector into a tablet, so it’s not a huge surprise to now see Motorola creating a snap-on pico projector case. The Moto Insta-Share Projector (MISP, for short) combines a built-in kickstand with a teensy 50-lumen lamp that can beam a 70-inch image onto nearby walls. Its onboard battery allows for an hour of showtime, though you if you want you can plug the phone into a wall charger via its USB-C connection. The projector will also output audio to an external stereo using Bluetooth or the USB-C so you aren’t stuck with the phone’s rinkydink native speaker.
The JBL speaker does exactly what you think it does. It offers 6W stereo sound, 80-decibel volume and 10-hour battery life. Like the projector mod, this too has a built-in kickstand, and can charge as it plays using a USB-C connection.
The Incipio Power Pack straps on a massive 2,220mAh backup battery rated to provide an extra 22 hours of runtime. That’s not quite as huge as, say, the Galaxy S7 Active’s 4,000 mAh cell, but it’s certainly a nice complement to the Moto Z’s onboard 2,600mAh pack, which is rated for 30 hours. What’s more, these power packs will be available in more stylish designs from designers Kate Spade and Tumi. There will also be a version that charges wirelessly.
These first few Mods are just the beginning as far as Moto Z accessories go. The Moto Z line will also include a series of snap-on cases in a bunch of exotic materials like wood and cloth. Motorla’s Seang Chau also hinted at upcoming collaborations with battery-case maker, Mophie, and a camera pack as well. In addition to developing its own, Motorola is also launching the Moto Mods Developer Program. Through it, the company will partner with the Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group (LCIG) to provide both seed funding for certified developers as well as $1 million in equity funding for whoever submits a winning MotoMod prototype.
As you can see, Motorola hasn’t yet announced pricing for any of these accessories. Expect more details on that closer to the phone’s launch date.
Get all the news from today’s Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
Google’s Project Tango becomes just ‘Tango’
Onstage at Lenovo Tech World 2016, Google Engineering Director and Project Tango lead Johnny Lee announced some changes coming to Google’s three-year-old augmented reality initiative. First up: now that Google is ready to ship the technology to consumers, the company is dropping the “Project” from the name and ramping up its investment in AR. Essentially, Google is ready to take this thing out of Beta and into the spotlight.
According to Google’s official announcement, Tango’s broad goal is now to help users “see more” of the world around them — whether that’s by creating a virtual box of toys to play with, projecting a scale model of the solar system in your kitchen, visualizing home improvement projects or just helping you find your way through a museum you’ve never been to.
Google’s re-branding effort and increased commitment comes just as the augmented reality space is starting grow up alongside the Wild West of VR. Earlier this month, Microsoft also announced it would be expanding its own AR efforts and opening the Windows Holographic platform to outside developers.
Get all the news from today’s Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
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