Lenovo ThinkSmart View revolutionizes business communications
For the past few years, Lenovo has bee showing up at CES with new smart display products for the home. Since the company added new products to that category at IFA just a few months back, it decided to tweak some of the hardware it already had for the corporate space with the introduction of the Lenovo ThinkSmart View.
Featuring most of the same hardware found on the Lenovo Smart Display 8, the ThinkSmart View is an Android-powered device meant to compete with Polycom and Sysco phones with touchscreen and video conferencing capabilities within the workspace. While the device technically runs on Android, it’s uses Microsoft Teams’ voice and video calling platform. The functionality offered by the hardware is only really limited by what Microsoft delivers on the software side. Users can connect Bluetooth headphones to the display for private calls or use the built-in mics and speak for a traditional conference call experience.
The display offer picture in picture functionality during calls which allows users to share a presentation or file on the screen while also showing the video feed. Having presentation slides on a separate screen can often be extremely useful for multi-taskers who are trying to get other things done on their main computer while following alone on a mandatory meeting.
Like the original smart display, the Thinksmart view also has a physical switch that covers up the webcam and disconnects the mics. The matte black finish ties in quite nicely with Lenovo’s ThinkPad laptops and tablets which are nearly ubiquitous in offices across the globe.
While a device like this which is limited to corporate customers using Microsoft Teams may not sound that interesting, it the most exciting product within that corporate space that we’ve seen in a very long time. Probably the most appealing aspect of the ThinkSmart View is its $350 which actually undercuts some of its closest competitors by a few hundred dollars. starting later this January with a $450 bundle option which also includes Lenovo’s new ThinkPad X1 ANC Bluetooth Headset.