Lenovo’s cloud service part of “four screen strategy”
Use your devices to control each other while sharing content between them
Lenovo plans to bring its cloud service to the UK later this year, but it’s more than just a place to store files online; the Chinese laptop, PC and tablet maker plans to make the cloud integral to what it calls its “four screen strategy”.
The four screens are the PC or laptop, tablet, smartphone and smart TV, and Lenovo aims to make it simple not only to share content between them, but also to use different devices to control each other. For example, you could play content on a smart TV from a laptop while controlling playback with a smartphone or tablet.
Traditionally this kind of sharing and controlling is done over a local network, but Lenovo’s cloud system means the devices don’t have to be on the same network, as long as they are all connected to the internet, which is a more versatile setup.
Smart TV aside, which will have to be a Lenovo model, you won’t even have to use Lenovo devices to take advantage of the service; apps will be available for Android and Windows Phone tablets and smartphones and Windows 7, so you could control a media centre PC plugged into your TV from either a Windows Phone smartphone or an Android tablet.
You’ll get 5GB storage for free. It’s an ambitious service, but we’ll have to wait until at least the autumn to see how well it works.