Lenovo Just Announced… VR/ AR & New Yoga Laptops

As some of you know I am a Lenovo INsider. I get the latest news about what is coming up before it is announced in the press and before it is available to buy. Usually I pop over to IFA and take a look round the latest technologies but not this year. Little people need looking after so instead I am remotely covering the event this year.

What has Lenovo just announced? Well quite simply a whole host of awesome tech including some much appreciated and anticipated feature upgrades to the Lenovo Yoga series. So here goes…

Yoga 920

This is the replacement for the Yoga 910 that I reviewed earlier in the year. As you may remember I pulled the 910 up on a few things… The camera positioning and the lack of pen capability for a start. Well Lenovo listened. They have now included pen capability with 4096 touch point sensitivity in the Yoga 920. Perfect for even detailed artwork on the laptop. The camera has moved back up to the top of the screen whereas before it was at the bottom which made no sense unless you used the 910 in tent mode but then you couldn’t write notes so this to me combined is a big yes from me. It is 13.95mm thick and comes in three colours copper, bronze and silver. It has the usual watchband hinge that all Yoga tablets are known for. They have added always on USB charging and Dolby Atmos support has also been added. It has biometric login with FIDO security and can also react to incoming Skype calls whilst on standby due to the always on capability.

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In the US they will launch a Star Wars edition and for those who would prefer to stick with their 910, they can get a glass Star Wars cover.

The release date for these is August 28th with products arriving on the shelf around the 28th September. I did ask about price but so far no details there.

Yoga 720 12″

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I didn’t get quite so much detail on this one but it’s their lightest 12″ laptop to date, has the same hinge as the previous edition and weighs in at 1.15kg and is 15.7mm thick. It will work with the Lenovo Active Pen 2 and has full pen capability. Again, this too has fingerprint login and will be available on the 28th September.

Miix 520

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This one I probably should have paid a bit more attention to as it’s ideal for the student market. At $649 it’s pretty competitively priced and functions with the Lenovo Active Pen 2.  It has a world view camera meaning that you can do image overlays on pictures. It is LTE enabled so you can put it on your phone network and always be connected wherever you are. It also has 3D capabilities including 3D paint.

AR/VR Announcements

And last but not least, there were a range of different AR and VR based announcements. Firstly, they spoke about the Home Assistant packs that are to be made available for the Lenovo Tab 4. There are three flavours: Productivity, Kids & Home Assistant. The Home Assistant pack comes with a docking station that charges your device and also acts like many of the other virtual assistant apps such as Alexa.

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Lenovo are offereing a mixed reality system which means their device is both Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality compatible. They have introduced a $400 USD headset which is compatible with their mainstream laptops. The headset weighs just 380 grams which makes it the lightest headset on the market. The resolution is 1440 x 1440 and provides VR titles and 2D apps. It is compatible with Intel i5 7th Gen processor laptops which means it will definitely work on the Yoga 910 and 920! So if you already have a Yoga 910 you may want to give VR a go and get ahead of the game. After all, it’s the way the world of work is going.

Bonus Announcement – Star Wars!

Lenovo have teamed up with Disney Lucas Films to bring you Star Wars Jedi Challenges. This is a VR app and VR kit aimed at the 13 – 54 age group. It is Android and iPhone compatible and enables you to try your hand at being a Jedi Knight. It also has other VR games within the pack including holochess and much more.

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These exclusive devices will be available in the US, UK and Germany for $300 USD on pre order from 1st September. The images shared looked pretty awesome!