Lenovo Yoga 910 has thin bezels, fancy hinge

Lenovo's line of laptop/tablet hybrids has a new king: the Yoga 910, whose nearly invisible bezels let it fit a 13.9-inch screen into a 13-inch laptop body.

The Yoga 910 comes with a range of Intel processors (up to a Core i7 model), a maximum of 16GB of memory, and up to 1TB of SSD storage. It also comes with Intel's graphics chip and a 720p webcam at the bottom (due to the slim bezels it was likely impossible for Lenovo to place it at the top, leaving the very bottom of the screen as the next best option).

The device has an aluminum body, JBL stereo speakers, a fingerprint sensor, and the screen comes with either full HD or 4K resolution. 

I had a little hands-on time with a mid-range variant of the device (Intel Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM), and my initial impressions are mixed. The device is blazing fast, appears well-built, the screen is gorgeous, and the bezels on the top and sides are indeed barely there. 

IMAGE: MICHAEL RATHMAYR/MASHABLE

However, the bezel on the bottom of the screen is exactly the opposite — it is unusually thick, taking up about a fifth of the screen, which led to me constantly try to push the mouse pointer below the screen's end. It's a design choice which might sit better with some users than the others — after all, Lenovo could've easily put an aluminum stripe below the bottom bezel. I guess it wouldn't be too hard to get used to, but it still felt odd to me.

IMAGE: MICHAEL RATHMAYR/MASHABLE

Another slightly strange design choice is the device's "watchband" hinge, which was just too blingy for my taste (see above). Again, your mileage may vary.

The Lenovo Yoga 910 will hit stores in October, starting at $1,299.

Leaked details reveal Samsung Gear S3 could come in three versions

The next Samsung smartwatch might not be a single model, but three, according to a new report.

SamMobile reports Samsung's Gear S3, which is expected to be announced at IFA next month, might come in three versions: Classic, Frontier and Explorer. 

The names Frontier and Explorer could hint at a more active-focused lifestyle or ruggedized design. A separate report from the Samsung fan blog claims the Gear S3 will have a built-in integrated GPS, an altimeter, barometer and speedometer.

The Gear S3 will likely stick with its round display and rotatable bezel, which is used for navigating around the Tizen operating system.

The Gear S3 might have a built-in integrated GPS.

Furthermore, the report claims the Gear S3 Explorer model will come with three buttons located on the two, four and 10 hour marks. If we were to guess, we'd say these buttons might be used for stopwatch functionality or perhaps as programmable shortcut buttons to launch apps.

Perhaps, the buttons could work like the Galaxy S7 Active's "Active" key, which can be used to launch an programmed app, or send out an emergency message.

All should be revealed soon enough. Mashable will be reporting live from from IFA. 

HTC Vive getting its own customizable app store this fall

The HTC Vive VR headset will get its own app store this fall, as the company moves to broaden the experiences available to its users. 

Viveport will offer virtual reality experiences in areas like education, communcation, entertainment, shopping and more, said Rikard Steiber, SVP of virtual reality at HTC.

"VR is going to change the world for the better. It will democratize access to experience, anyone can travel anywhere, and learn anything," Steiber told Mashable. "The experiences that were only available to a few are now available to everyone."

Viveport's launchthis fall will bring many more pieces to HTC's virtual reality ecosystem. Currently, Vive owners access VR games and software through Steam, Vive launch partner Valve's PC game platform. Viveport adds an additional layer, with a PC and mobile app to purchase and preview apps, as well as its own home space that acts as both storefront and content launcher.

But Steiber promises much more interactivity from your Viveport VR experience, saying the company will allow users to customize their home menu with skins, apps and widgets.

"My Viveport could be a tropical beach, and yours could be the bridge of a spaceship."

Launching and using apps, Steiber said, will be "a bit like Minority report," with gesture controls reliant on the Vive's two wand-like controllers. Steiber and his team are also encouraging developers to add as much controller support into their apps, despite the fact the Vive is the only headset with included controls currently on the market. 

"To get true presence, you need to have interactivity and you need to have room scale," he said. "If you are a developer, I would go for the more immersive experience first, to see how far you can possibly go, then scale for platforms with fewer features."

Developers will get a chance to on the ground floor of Viveport, as Steiber said the beta would be out soon. He also promised that developers who submitted their apps during the beta period would get their apps featured in Viveport when it launches more broadly to consumers this fall.

HTC Vive getting its own customizable app store this fall

The HTC Vive VR headset will get its own app store this fall, as the company moves to broaden the experiences available to its users. 

Viveport will offer virtual reality experiences in areas like education, communcation, entertainment, shopping and more, said Rikard Steiber, SVP of virtual reality at HTC.

"VR is going to change the world for the better. It will democratize access to experience, anyone can travel anywhere, and learn anything," Steiber told Mashable. "The experiences that were only available to a few are now available to everyone."

Viveport's launchthis fall will bring many more pieces to HTC's virtual reality ecosystem. Currently, Vive owners access VR games and software through Steam, Vive launch partner Valve's PC game platform. Viveport adds an additional layer, with a PC and mobile app to purchase and preview apps, as well as its own home space that acts as both storefront and content launcher.

But Steiber promises much more interactivity from your Viveport VR experience, saying the company will allow users to customize their home menu with skins, apps and widgets.

"My Viveport could be a tropical beach, and yours could be the bridge of a spaceship."

Launching and using apps, Steiber said, will be "a bit like Minority report," with gesture controls reliant on the Vive's two wand-like controllers. Steiber and his team are also encouraging developers to add as much controller support into their apps, despite the fact the Vive is the only headset with included controls currently on the market. 

"To get true presence, you need to have interactivity and you need to have room scale," he said. "If you are a developer, I would go for the more immersive experience first, to see how far you can possibly go, then scale for platforms with fewer features."

Developers will get a chance to on the ground floor of Viveport, as Steiber said the beta would be out soon. He also promised that developers who submitted their apps during the beta period would get their apps featured in Viveport when it launches more broadly to consumers this fall. 

Samsung made a number of smart moves with the original Gear VR headset, which it unveiled almost two years ago. 

First of all, it partnered with the virtual reality hardware leader, the Facebook-owned Oculus VR. Second, it made the Gear VR just $99. And third, Samsung basically gave you one if you bought a Galaxy S7 phone, which happens to go inside the headset. 

These choices helped Samsung become a leader in the consumer VR space.

The company is likely to maintain that lead with its upgraded headset. The fourth edition of the VR headset gives the device a cool new look, replacing the hokey white body (with black accents) with a midnight blue chassis. 

This serves two purposes: You’ll look like less of a dork wearing them (thank you, Samsung) and the black interior cuts down on any unwanted reflections, which could improve the overall VR experience.

The headset also got a cushion upgrade, so the device feels more comfortable on your face, and comes with longer straps.

Since the new Gear VR has to partner with Samsung’s sharp, new Galaxy Note 7, it now includes a USB Type-C port. Don’t worry, it will also ship with a Micro USB port adapter, which you’ll want to be careful not to lose (during our demo, the tiny dongle slipped right out of the Samsung rep’s hands and went darting across the floor).

The new Samsung Gear VR is better looking and offered redesigned navigational controls.

IMAGE: JON LYNN/MASHABLE

Samsung also upgraded the optics a bit, going from 96-degree field of view to 101 degrees. They also took some feedback on the touch controls and redesigned the buttons, removing the indented cross pad, making the controls larger and adding a separate button that brings you back to the Oculus Home screen. All these changes should make it easier to control the VR headset with touch alone.

The headset also has a new USB Type-C port on the bottom that can both deliver power to the phone and be used for data. The latter feature should help it support VR peripherals, whenever they arrive.

Better in every way

I got a chance to try out the new Samsung Gear VR headset with the new Galaxy Note 7 inside. As promised, the new cushions and straps make it much more comfortable. You still adjust focus with the dial on top. 

Samsung let me try an immersive skateboarding video, which I watched while standing atop a real skateboard attached to a gimbal. Samsung did not give us an opportunity to try the new controls.

The video, though, looked great — naturally, since it was shot with high-quality 360 video rigs — and sound was provided by a standalone headset. 

I immediately lost myself in the video, looking around at the four or five other longboarders racing down the hill with me and doing my best to balance on the real skateboard as it moved about beneath me.

At $99.99, the new, hipper-looking Gear VR will likely keep Samsung ahead of the consumer VR pack for now. Come this fall, Google and its army of phone partners will be releasing their own Daydream-ready devices, VR headsets and controllers, which will almost definitely provide some much-needed competition.