Lenovo 'Magic View' Smartwatch Boasts A Small, Second Screen In the Strap Which Makes Image Appear Much Bigger; Is This The First Dual-Screen Smartwatch?

Tags: Lenovo; Motorola; Moto 360; Lenovo Smartwatch; Lenovo Magic View

BY Vinay Patel May 28, 2015 07:41 PM EDT

Lenovo exhibited a prototype of its Magic View smartwatch on Thursday, May 28, at its Tech World gadget fest in Beijing, where the Chinese tech giant is headquartered.

The Magic View smartwatch features a tiny projector on the band that makes images appear a lot bigger when someone looks in it. Lenovo claims the smartwatch boasts 120 patents, which are capable of working independently of the main screen, thus making the Magic View world's first dual-screen smartwatch - or rather it will be the world's first when and if it launches, Financial Review noted.

Lenovo executives reportedly showed the smartwatch working. However, since only the person wearing the watch can see the projection, it is hard to tell how progressive the concept was.

Physically, the Magic View is nearly the size of LG's webOS-based Watch Urbane LTE. Moreover, the watch's face appears to be a distant cousin of Moto 360, which is made by Lenovo-owned Motorola.

The flat tire cut-off portion of the screen remains in place, but besides that the bezels are about as thin as the 360's. It's not at all bad looking considering it's a prototype, the only drawback, is its bulk.

The demo device, according to Android Central was running an Android-based OS that was different to both Wear and Google's main mobile operating system. The little goofy-looking second display is pitched as a security feature by Lenovo. Considering that only you can see what's on the second screen, it's excellent for private viewing or showing notifications that a user doesn't want anyone else to see.

But that's not all, the smartwatch seem to have taken care of one of Moto 360's big problems. The Moto 360 missed a silver of screen from its round face, in order to accommodate an ambient light sensor, but the Magic View watch seemed to have a full face. There was no mention of battery life, though, which is yet another big problem with the 360.