Lenovo introduces Magic View, the first smartwatch with a second screen

A 20 times larger second virtual image

One of the biggest conundrums of smartwatches has been screen size. Make it too large and it looks unseemly on your wrist, meanwhile, small wearables are plagued by an unreadable display.

Today at its TechWorld Conference in Beijing, Lenovo unveiled a Magic View smartwatch concept that features two screens. At first glance the watch resembles the LG Watch Urbane and Moto 360 with a round display, but right underneath it is a second screen, which acts as an virtual interactive image.

Lenovo CTO Peter Hortensius highlighted that the problems with smartwatches is their screens aren't designed to present a large enough picture that is also neither immersive enough picture isn't large, immersive enough or private.

To solve this problems users can peer into the second screen like a periscope for more personal messages and immersive experiences.

Lenovo explained that the second screen removes the physical limitations of the main screen by using optical reflections to produce a virtual image 20 times larger than the watch face. Showing off a few use cases Lenovo, demonstrated using the second display to project a bigger map, photo slideshow and even play a video.

A second screen experience for smartphones

Beyond wearables, Lenovo also introduced its plans to make smartphones more PC-like with its Smart cast concept. Rather than limiting user's experiences on their smartphones to just the screen, the Smart Cast can project a large virtual touch screen onto a table or any surface.

It's a novel idea and we covered the concept in full here.

Thinking shoes

Lastly, Lenovo introduced a pair of smart shoes, which offer up all the activity monitoring of an activity tracker in the form of wearable foot ware. For example Smart Shoes will keep track of the wearer's heartbeat, caloric consumption and even provide maps and directions.

Aside from the built-in sensors, the Smart Shoes are also outfitted with a strip of LEDs that light up to show off graphics and, more practically, turn signals to drivers as you run.

Smart Shoes might sound like an one-off product from Lenovo, but the Chinese computer manufacturer explained it's just the first part of a new Internet of Things platform. In the future Lenovo plans on building a IoT ecosystem powered by the Lenovo Cloud.

As part of the mission Lenovo will offer up an open SDK platform, innovation incubator with professionals from different areas, smart devices, supply chains and powerful backend cloud infrastructure.