Lenovo NBD new glass C100, the latest project of Lenovo’s New Business Development Platform, is arguably one of the most anticipated device yet in the fast-growing wearable computing market in China. Lenovo NBD has sent out the test hardware to only a limited number of testers, and the one unit for me just arrived.
If you haven’t heard of Lenovo NBD before, well, it stands for New Bench in Chinese, and specified as New Business Development(NBD) in English. It is a new internet-centric business platform in China aimed at startups, providing a vehicle where partner startups can leverage Lenovo’s resources such as software, hardware, sales channels and services utilizing their own innovative technologies and leading-edge concepts in product development. This collaboration is an example of a win-win outcome from sharing resources and can drive the development of more powerful smart devices for customers. The first wave of three innovative smart devices under NBD has already been launched last October, namely the new glass smart glasses, the new air smart air cleaner and the newifi smart router.
Unboxing
The unit we have received has very fascinating packaging. It ships in an expensive wooden box which, according to Lenovo, costs more than RMB100 ($16) to make. The reason that Lenovo invested so much in the packaging is that our unit is a collector’s edition, the retail version’s packaging will certainly differ.
You could easily find the Lenovo NBD logo on the wooden box. There is no sign of the all familiar Lenovo logo on anywhere of the packaging, so it’s clear that the products from the NBD Platform are marketed separately from Lenovo’s well-known PC and smartphone lines.
Opening the new glass packaging feels like opening a drawer, as there are two slide guides on the two side of the box, we simply need to push the cap away.
Everything inside the packaging has been well arranged and carefully fixed into the openings in a black foam.
Here are everything contained in the beautiful packaging, including a charger (5V-1A), a data/charging cable (Micro USB plug), a headphone with a single earbud, three clamps which help you fix the new glass onto your own glasses or sunglasses, a plastic frame, and the main body of the new glass itself.
The 5V-1A charger included by Lenovo NBD can easily be replaced by most of the smartphone chargers, which is good considering that you don’t always have to carry a separate charger for the glass and that any mobile charger can come in handy when the device runs short of juice.
Instead of a cylindrical cord, the USB cord ships with the new glass is wide and flat, making it really easy to wind up and less likely to get tangled. I’d really like to see more of these with other products such as smartphones and tablets.
A red headphone with a single earbud is also included. The good news is that it looks fashionable and aligned with the design language of the new glass, the bad news is that you might never want to use it because of its lack of quality and stereo effects. Fortunately it can easily be replaced by any pair of headphones, both my Monster Inspiration on-ear headphone and my Astrotec IEMs work like a charm with the new glass.
The plastic frame is designed mainly for non-shortsighted users, with two rubber nosepads affixed to attach to the bridge of your nose. Here I do feel the need to lament Lenovo’s choice of material, a more durable titanium frame would have made much more sense for a cutting-edge product like the new glass.
However, if you are short-sighted and don’t like using contact lenses, you can easily fix the main body of the new glass onto the frame of your own pair of glasses with one or two of these clamps.
Now let’s take a look at the main body of new glass. It consists of two major parts: a large battery pack that is designed to sit around the back of the wearer’s neck, and a main unit which is supposed to sit on the right-hand arm of the users’ glasses. With a small acrylic prism on the front, the main unit houses 1GB RAM, a 1.2GHz OMAP4460 dual-core processor, WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth, GPS, 16GB of total flash, and more. The two major parts are connected with a red fixed cable.
On the front of the unit is an angled reflector which receives the projected light, and bends it towards the users’ right eye, allowing them to view the new glass display in all its glory. Lenovo NBD likened the display to viewing a 25-inch HD television from 2 meters away and it’s a claim I wouldn’t refute. The new glass display has a resolution of 800*480, and with all things considered, it looks phenomenal.
An 8 megapixel camera also sits on the front of the unit, next to a small light sensor. The camera could take pictures up to the resolution of 2592*1944, and record 1080P videos. Although it might not match the snappers on those high-end smartphones in terms of the quality of the photos, it is decent enough and certainly gives the 5MP camera on the Google Glass a run for its money.
Taking a photo is accomplished by single pressing the camera button on the top side of the unit. Pressing and holding that button, the new glass will start recording videos. The side facing the human face plays host to an earpiece for phone calls and voice assistant, and a proximity sensor.
On the back of the unit is a very well-designed touch panel, which makes it easy for you to use all the features of the new glass. Swiping sideways you can switch to the left or right page, swiping down then you will go back to the last screen. You can use voice commands as well, but they won’t be as easy or as accurate as the touch operations.