Tech Trend 247

VR backpacks are officially a thing. 

HP, MSI and Zotac all announced VR backpacks, which are basically just battery-powered gaming laptops, with shoulder straps this year. And at IFA 2016, I finally got to try one for myself from XMG.

The difference with the German computer maker's "Walker VR Backpack" is that it's the first one that's actually shipping this year. Everyone else's VR backpacks are still concepts with no concrete pricing or launch dates.

The first thing I noticed before putting the Walker on was how dorky it looked. As if wearing the HTC Vive and holding two wand-like controllers in my hands wasn't silly looking, wearing a VR backpack, which at best is still a mess of dangling wires, makes you look like a "geeky version of RoboCop" according to my colleague, Stan Schroeder.

Once worn, though, I was shocked at how light the entire thing felt. At around seven pounds, I was still able to comfortably walk around in my little booth box as I played Space Pirate Trainer, a VR game for the HTC Vive where you're shooting robotic orbs and dodging laser fire.

The VR backpack is powered by an Intel Core i7-6700 HQ process, NVIDIA GTX 1070 graphics, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and has room for two solid-state drives. It can beam what's happening to a monitor wirelessly and has several ports including an HDMI, DisplayPort, 6 USB ports and an ethernet port.

The biggest hurdle XMG needed to overcome was power management. The Walker uses two huge block batteries, which are good for up to 60 minutes of continuous VR time. It's not very long, but at least you can swap them out for freshly charged ones.

I still think VR backpacks are too over-the-top, but I like being able to have room-scale VR experiences with the Vive without needing to worry about tripping over a huge cable coming out of the headset.

The XMG Walker's not the most elegant VR backpack (HTC's Omen X looks much cleaner), but it's a decent start for VR enthusiasts who want a high-end VR experience on the go. (Not that anyone should be playing games like Space Pirate Trainers in public, anyway.)

The big kicker is its price: 4,799 Euro, which comes out to around $5,353. That's the price without any VR headsets. Yikes.

VR backpacks are officially a thing. 

HP, MSI and Zotac all announced VR backpacks, which are basically just battery-powered gaming laptops, with shoulder straps this year. And at IFA 2016, I finally got to try one for myself from XMG.

The difference with the German computer maker's "Walker VR Backpack" is that it's the first one that's actually shipping this year. Everyone else's VR backpacks are still concepts with no concrete pricing or launch dates.

The first thing I noticed before putting the Walker on was how dorky it looked. As if wearing the HTC Vive and holding two wand-like controllers in my hands wasn't silly looking, wearing a VR backpack, which at best is still a mess of dangling wires, makes you look like a "geeky version of RoboCop" according to my colleague, Stan Schroeder.

Once worn, though, I was shocked at how light the entire thing felt. At around seven pounds, I was still able to comfortably walk around in my little booth box as I played Space Pirate Trainer, a VR game for the HTC Vive where you're shooting robotic orbs and dodging laser fire.

The VR backpack is powered by an Intel Core i7-6700 HQ process, NVIDIA GTX 1070 graphics, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and has room for two solid-state drives. It can beam what's happening to a monitor wirelessly and has several ports including an HDMI, DisplayPort, 6 USB ports and an ethernet port.

The biggest hurdle XMG needed to overcome was power management. The Walker uses two huge block batteries, which are good for up to 60 minutes of continuous VR time. It's not very long, but at least you can swap them out for freshly charged ones.

I still think VR backpacks are too over-the-top, but I like being able to have room-scale VR experiences with the Vive without needing to worry about tripping over a huge cable coming out of the headset.

The XMG Walker's not the most elegant VR backpack (HTC's Omen X looks much cleaner), but it's a decent start for VR enthusiasts who want a high-end VR experience on the go. (Not that anyone should be playing games like Space Pirate Trainers in public, anyway.)

The big kicker is its price: 4,799 Euro, which comes out to around $5,353. That's the price without any VR headsets. Yikes.

VR backpacks are officially a thing. 

HP, MSI and Zotac all announced VR backpacks, which are basically just battery-powered gaming laptops, with shoulder straps this year. And at IFA 2016, I finally got to try one for myself from XMG.

The difference with the German computer maker's "Walker VR Backpack" is that it's the first one that's actually shipping this year. Everyone else's VR backpacks are still concepts with no concrete pricing or launch dates.

The first thing I noticed before putting the Walker on was how dorky it looked. As if wearing the HTC Vive and holding two wand-like controllers in my hands wasn't silly looking, wearing a VR backpack, which at best is still a mess of dangling wires, makes you look like a "geeky version of RoboCop" according to my colleague, Stan Schroeder.

Once worn, though, I was shocked at how light the entire thing felt. At around seven pounds, I was still able to comfortably walk around in my little booth box as I played Space Pirate Trainer, a VR game for the HTC Vive where you're shooting robotic orbs and dodging laser fire.

The VR backpack is powered by an Intel Core i7-6700 HQ process, NVIDIA GTX 1070 graphics, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and has room for two solid-state drives. It can beam what's happening to a monitor wirelessly and has several ports including an HDMI, DisplayPort, 6 USB ports and an ethernet port.

The biggest hurdle XMG needed to overcome was power management. The Walker uses two huge block batteries, which are good for up to 60 minutes of continuous VR time. It's not very long, but at least you can swap them out for freshly charged ones.

I still think VR backpacks are too over-the-top, but I like being able to have room-scale VR experiences with the Vive without needing to worry about tripping over a huge cable coming out of the headset.

The XMG Walker's not the most elegant VR backpack (HTC's Omen X looks much cleaner), but it's a decent start for VR enthusiasts who want a high-end VR experience on the go. (Not that anyone should be playing games like Space Pirate Trainers in public, anyway.)

The big kicker is its price: 4,799 Euro, which comes out to around $5,353. That's the price without any VR headsets. Yikes.

VR backpacks are officially a thing. 

HP, MSI and Zotac all announced VR backpacks, which are basically just battery-powered gaming laptops, with shoulder straps this year. And at IFA 2016, I finally got to try one for myself from XMG.

The difference with the German computer maker's "Walker VR Backpack" is that it's the first one that's actually shipping this year. Everyone else's VR backpacks are still concepts with no concrete pricing or launch dates.

The first thing I noticed before putting the Walker on was how dorky it looked. As if wearing the HTC Vive and holding two wand-like controllers in my hands wasn't silly looking, wearing a VR backpack, which at best is still a mess of dangling wires, makes you look like a "geeky version of RoboCop" according to my colleague, Stan Schroeder.

Once worn, though, I was shocked at how light the entire thing felt. At around seven pounds, I was still able to comfortably walk around in my little booth box as I played Space Pirate Trainer, a VR game for the HTC Vive where you're shooting robotic orbs and dodging laser fire.

The VR backpack is powered by an Intel Core i7-6700 HQ process, NVIDIA GTX 1070 graphics, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and has room for two solid-state drives. It can beam what's happening to a monitor wirelessly and has several ports including an HDMI, DisplayPort, 6 USB ports and an ethernet port.

The biggest hurdle XMG needed to overcome was power management. The Walker uses two huge block batteries, which are good for up to 60 minutes of continuous VR time. It's not very long, but at least you can swap them out for freshly charged ones.

I still think VR backpacks are too over-the-top, but I like being able to have room-scale VR experiences with the Vive without needing to worry about tripping over a huge cable coming out of the headset.

The XMG Walker's not the most elegant VR backpack (HTC's Omen X looks much cleaner), but it's a decent start for VR enthusiasts who want a high-end VR experience on the go. (Not that anyone should be playing games like Space Pirate Trainers in public, anyway.)

The big kicker is its price: 4,799 Euro, which comes out to around $5,353. That's the price without any VR headsets. Yikes.

VR backpacks are officially a thing. 

HP, MSI and Zotac all announced VR backpacks, which are basically just battery-powered gaming laptops, with shoulder straps this year. And at IFA 2016, I finally got to try one for myself from XMG.

The difference with the German computer maker's "Walker VR Backpack" is that it's the first one that's actually shipping this year. Everyone else's VR backpacks are still concepts with no concrete pricing or launch dates.

The first thing I noticed before putting the Walker on was how dorky it looked. As if wearing the HTC Vive and holding two wand-like controllers in my hands wasn't silly looking, wearing a VR backpack, which at best is still a mess of dangling wires, makes you look like a "geeky version of RoboCop" according to my colleague, Stan Schroeder.

Once worn, though, I was shocked at how light the entire thing felt. At around seven pounds, I was still able to comfortably walk around in my little booth box as I played Space Pirate Trainer, a VR game for the HTC Vive where you're shooting robotic orbs and dodging laser fire.

The VR backpack is powered by an Intel Core i7-6700 HQ process, NVIDIA GTX 1070 graphics, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and has room for two solid-state drives. It can beam what's happening to a monitor wirelessly and has several ports including an HDMI, DisplayPort, 6 USB ports and an ethernet port.

The biggest hurdle XMG needed to overcome was power management. The Walker uses two huge block batteries, which are good for up to 60 minutes of continuous VR time. It's not very long, but at least you can swap them out for freshly charged ones.

I still think VR backpacks are too over-the-top, but I like being able to have room-scale VR experiences with the Vive without needing to worry about tripping over a huge cable coming out of the headset.

The XMG Walker's not the most elegant VR backpack (HTC's Omen X looks much cleaner), but it's a decent start for VR enthusiasts who want a high-end VR experience on the go. (Not that anyone should be playing games like Space Pirate Trainers in public, anyway.)

The big kicker is its price: 4,799 Euro, which comes out to around $5,353. That's the price without any VR headsets. Yikes.

VR backpacks are officially a thing. 

HP, MSI and Zotac all announced VR backpacks, which are basically just battery-powered gaming laptops, with shoulder straps this year. And at IFA 2016, I finally got to try one for myself from XMG.

The difference with the German computer maker's "Walker VR Backpack" is that it's the first one that's actually shipping this year. Everyone else's VR backpacks are still concepts with no concrete pricing or launch dates.

The first thing I noticed before putting the Walker on was how dorky it looked. As if wearing the HTC Vive and holding two wand-like controllers in my hands wasn't silly looking, wearing a VR backpack, which at best is still a mess of dangling wires, makes you look like a "geeky version of RoboCop" according to my colleague, Stan Schroeder.

Once worn, though, I was shocked at how light the entire thing felt. At around seven pounds, I was still able to comfortably walk around in my little booth box as I played Space Pirate Trainer, a VR game for the HTC Vive where you're shooting robotic orbs and dodging laser fire.

The VR backpack is powered by an Intel Core i7-6700 HQ process, NVIDIA GTX 1070 graphics, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and has room for two solid-state drives. It can beam what's happening to a monitor wirelessly and has several ports including an HDMI, DisplayPort, 6 USB ports and an ethernet port.

The biggest hurdle XMG needed to overcome was power management. The Walker uses two huge block batteries, which are good for up to 60 minutes of continuous VR time. It's not very long, but at least you can swap them out for freshly charged ones.

I still think VR backpacks are too over-the-top, but I like being able to have room-scale VR experiences with the Vive without needing to worry about tripping over a huge cable coming out of the headset.

The XMG Walker's not the most elegant VR backpack (HTC's Omen X looks much cleaner), but it's a decent start for VR enthusiasts who want a high-end VR experience on the go. (Not that anyone should be playing games like Space Pirate Trainers in public, anyway.)

The big kicker is its price: 4,799 Euro, which comes out to around $5,353. That's the price without any VR headsets. Yikes.

VR backpacks are officially a thing. 

HP, MSI and Zotac all announced VR backpacks, which are basically just battery-powered gaming laptops, with shoulder straps this year. And at IFA 2016, I finally got to try one for myself from XMG.

The difference with the German computer maker's "Walker VR Backpack" is that it's the first one that's actually shipping this year. Everyone else's VR backpacks are still concepts with no concrete pricing or launch dates.

The first thing I noticed before putting the Walker on was how dorky it looked. As if wearing the HTC Vive and holding two wand-like controllers in my hands wasn't silly looking, wearing a VR backpack, which at best is still a mess of dangling wires, makes you look like a "geeky version of RoboCop" according to my colleague, Stan Schroeder.

Once worn, though, I was shocked at how light the entire thing felt. At around seven pounds, I was still able to comfortably walk around in my little booth box as I played Space Pirate Trainer, a VR game for the HTC Vive where you're shooting robotic orbs and dodging laser fire.

The VR backpack is powered by an Intel Core i7-6700 HQ process, NVIDIA GTX 1070 graphics, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and has room for two solid-state drives. It can beam what's happening to a monitor wirelessly and has several ports including an HDMI, DisplayPort, 6 USB ports and an ethernet port.

The biggest hurdle XMG needed to overcome was power management. The Walker uses two huge block batteries, which are good for up to 60 minutes of continuous VR time. It's not very long, but at least you can swap them out for freshly charged ones.

I still think VR backpacks are too over-the-top, but I like being able to have room-scale VR experiences with the Vive without needing to worry about tripping over a huge cable coming out of the headset.

The XMG Walker's not the most elegant VR backpack (HTC's Omen X looks much cleaner), but it's a decent start for VR enthusiasts who want a high-end VR experience on the go. (Not that anyone should be playing games like Space Pirate Trainers in public, anyway.)

The big kicker is its price: 4,799 Euro, which comes out to around $5,353. That's the price without any VR headsets. Yikes.

VR backpacks are officially a thing. 

HP, MSI and Zotac all announced VR backpacks, which are basically just battery-powered gaming laptops, with shoulder straps this year. And at IFA 2016, I finally got to try one for myself from XMG.

The difference with the German computer maker's "Walker VR Backpack" is that it's the first one that's actually shipping this year. Everyone else's VR backpacks are still concepts with no concrete pricing or launch dates.

The first thing I noticed before putting the Walker on was how dorky it looked. As if wearing the HTC Vive and holding two wand-like controllers in my hands wasn't silly looking, wearing a VR backpack, which at best is still a mess of dangling wires, makes you look like a "geeky version of RoboCop" according to my colleague, Stan Schroeder.

Once worn, though, I was shocked at how light the entire thing felt. At around seven pounds, I was still able to comfortably walk around in my little booth box as I played Space Pirate Trainer, a VR game for the HTC Vive where you're shooting robotic orbs and dodging laser fire.

The VR backpack is powered by an Intel Core i7-6700 HQ process, NVIDIA GTX 1070 graphics, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and has room for two solid-state drives. It can beam what's happening to a monitor wirelessly and has several ports including an HDMI, DisplayPort, 6 USB ports and an ethernet port.

The biggest hurdle XMG needed to overcome was power management. The Walker uses two huge block batteries, which are good for up to 60 minutes of continuous VR time. It's not very long, but at least you can swap them out for freshly charged ones.

I still think VR backpacks are too over-the-top, but I like being able to have room-scale VR experiences with the Vive without needing to worry about tripping over a huge cable coming out of the headset.

The XMG Walker's not the most elegant VR backpack (HTC's Omen X looks much cleaner), but it's a decent start for VR enthusiasts who want a high-end VR experience on the go. (Not that anyone should be playing games like Space Pirate Trainers in public, anyway.)

The big kicker is its price: 4,799 Euro, which comes out to around $5,353. That's the price without any VR headsets. Yikes.

Razer's 12.5-inch Blade Stealth set out to reimagine thin and light Ultrabooks earlier this year, and it did. 

The company's now refreshing the Windows 10 machine with a seventh-generation Intel Core i7 processor and longer battery life.

The Blade Stealth still starts at $999 in the U.S. and is available immediately from Razer's online store, and on Amazon and Microsoft stores from later this month. 

Performance upgrades 

As the smallest and lightest Blade laptop in Razer's lineup, the Blade Stealth is not designed specifically for performance gaming and comes without the $399 Razer Core external graphics accelerator (and graphics cards sold separately), but the new internal upgrades should make it a little more powerful if you want to game at lower settings. 

The screen's still the same 12.5-inch touchscreen available in QHD resolution (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) and UHD 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixels), with 100 percent Adobe RGB color saturation on the latter. 

And, of course, the Chroma keyboard still glows in an insane 16.8 million configurable colors.

Here's all the new stuff you get:  Seventh-generation Intel Core i7-7500U Dual-Core Processor (2.7GHz/3.5GHz), Intel HD Graphics 620 graphics, 128GB/256GB/512GB PCIe SSD (QHD screen model) or 512GB/1TB PCIe SSD (UHD 4K screen model), up to 16GB of LPDDR3-1866MHz RAM and a larger 53.6 Wh battery that will provide up to 9 hours of battery life (about 15 percent longer than the original Blade Stealth). 

For ports, it's still got a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and headphone jack. 

BERLIN — Sony's announced a slew of new products including a $3,200 Walkman, "the best-sounding" noise-canceling headphones and two new Xperia smartphones. But the coolest product on display is a portable projector concept.

Sony introduced the Xperia Projector at Mobile World Congress in February, but only showed off its proprietary software. At IFA 2016, Sony revealed it could also project Android apps — any Android app.

The projector is capable of beaming touchable projection up to 21-inches in size onto any surface and has a built-in camera for video conferencing. 

Naturally, since the projector is powered by Android, I did the only thing anyone would care to do: played Fruit Ninja and browsed Mashable... on a kitchen table's surface top.

How was it? Really, impressive! The touchable projection was very responsive (at least on the hard kitchen table) and mostly smooth. 

I easily slashed fruits to death and browsing Mashable via Chrome was just like on a giant tablet where I could pinch and zoom with one hand or use multiple fingers to manipulate gestures.

The Xperia Projector is perfect for use cases like viewing maps and apps like Google Earth.

The projector can also be flipped on one side and positioned vertically to project a screen onto a wall, like so:

As always, Sony's projectors are pretty cool concepts, and there's no word on pricing and availability. But I have my fingers crossed since the short-throw projector I saw last year will finally launch in November.

BERLIN — Can you blame Sony for not wanting to just throw in the towel for its ailing smartphone business?

As disappointing as the new Xperia X series is, Sony's pushing forward with the new Xperia XZ and X Compact, which it unveiled at IFA 2016. The XZ will launch in the U.S. on Oct. 23 and the X Compact is coming Oct. 25. (Pricing will be set later by carriers.)

Sony says the XZ merges the company's previous flagship Z-series with the recent X-series into one. 

The XZ, which comes in three attractive colors including a deep metallic blue. As the company's new flagship phone, it at least ticks off the processor box with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor and 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage (expandable via microSD). Sure, it's 1GB less than rival Android phones, but Android Marshmallow seemed to run fine in my brief time with it.

The 5.2-inch screen is a more manageable and pocketable size and the 1080p resolution screen is fine. Of course, it's not as impressive as a Quad HD screen everyone — even the Chinese phones from Xiaomi, Huawei and ZTE — is rocking these days.

There's a 23-megapixel camera on the back with what Sony calls "triple image sensing" technology, which is supposed to autofocus quickly, predict where you want to autofocus, improve low-light photography and reduce blurry photos with its 5-axis SteadyShot stabilization system. The front comes with a 13-megapixel camera.

When pressed about any extra-long battery ratings — like the three-day battery life on previous Xperia phones — Sony wouldn't commit to any final figures for the XZ's 2,900 milliamp-hour (mAh) battery, saying they were still finalizing ratings. At least there's a USB-C port now.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the XZ is that it doesn't have a fingerprint sensor. It was  inexcusable on the Xperia X series and it's even more unforgivable when $200 phones like the Moto G4 have a fingerprint sensor. 

The little brother

The other new Sony phone is the X Compact. As its name suggests, it's a smaller device. There's no metal on this phone, just plastic designed with a ceramic-like finish to give it a touch of class.

But unlike previous Compacts, Sony didn't give it flagship specs; it's stuck with a midrange Snapdragon 652 processor. It does, however, come with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage expandable via microSD.

The 4.6-inch 720p HD screen is not groundbreaking. It has the same 23-megapixel camera on the back as the XZ with the new triple image sensing tech. The front is a lower 5-megapixel shooter.

Battery life is a surprisingly capable 2,700 mAh (for a phone of this size).

Of course, the X Compact also disappointingly lacks a fingerprint sensor as well, putting it in a tough spot held up against its competitors.

BERLIN — Huawei is a company that likes to cover all bases. Besides its flagship Huawei Mate and P series of devices, all of which come in several sizes and flavors, it also has a number of low-priced devices, and a separate smartphone sub-brand called Honor in some countries.  

On Thursday, ahead of the official start of the IFA show in Berlin, Huawei launched yet another line of phones — the Huawei nova.  

The idea behind the nova appears to be this: Offer a phone with solid (though not flagship-level) specs and an affordable price, but with an absolutely premium feel. This is why, during the presentation, Huawei spent more time on the device’s design than anything else.

The Huawei nova is a 5-inch phone with a “new generation” of 2.5D glass (that means it’s slightly curved at the edges) and a metal body that sports a lot of subtle curves. The bezels are crazy-thin at 1.8mm, making the phone smaller than most 5-inchers, and the overall look and feel will never betray that what you’re actually hold is a mid-ranger.  

However, as far as mid-range phones go, the Huawei nova is solid in the specs department. True, it has Snapdragon’s 625 octa-core chipset, which is a couple of notches behind the 8xx series. But with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 12-megapixel camera on the back (couple with an 8-megapixel on on the front), a fingerprint sensor and a 3,020mAh battery, the Huawei nova should be powerful enough for all but the most power-hungry users.  

Huawei also launched a larger, slightly more powerful version called the Huawei nova plus (above). It has the same set of basic specs, but is a bit larger with a 5.5-inch screen. It also has a 16-megapixel camera on the back and a 3,340mAh battery.  

The Huawei nova and the nova plus will come in three colors — gold, silver and grey — when the phones become available in 50 countries (Europe included) in October. The Huawei nova will cost 399 euros (there will only be one, 32GB version), while the Huawei nova plus will be priced at 429 euros.  

BERLIN — Asus is joining the round club.

The Taiwan-based consumer electronics company announced its latest smartwatch at IFA 2016, the ZenWatch 3, featuring a round display .

The ZenWatch 3 joins a vast number of smartwatches with round displays including the Samsung Gear S2, Moto 360, Huawei Watch and Fossil's Q-series.

The smartwatch features a 1.39-inch AMOLED display (400 x 400 resolution) set on a 316L stainless steel watch case, which Asus says is 82 percent stronger than regular steel, for a more jewelry-like look. It'll be available in three finishes: Rose gold, gunmetal and silver. It's also thinner than the Apple Watch at 0.39-inches thick.

Watch strap options include stitched Italian leather for a dressy look or rubber for a sportier aesthetic. 

The ZenWatch 3 has three crown buttons and the top one is customizable for use with Android Wear. The smartwatch works with both Android and iOS phones and tablets. 

It's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, 512MB of RAM and comes with 4GB of internal storage.

Asus says the smartwatch's battery can last up to two days on a single charge. It's also quick to charge up. A 15-minute charge gives the smartwatch up to 60 percent battery.

In addition to over 50 selectable watch faces, the ZenWatch 3 includes automatic activity tracking using its myriad sensors to detection motion. One feature plucked from the Apple Watch — reminders to stand up.

Asus didn't announce availability or pricing for the U.S. The only thing the company announced was pricing for Europe: €229, which is about $254. 

A few years ago, LG figured out that wide-aspect 16:9 monitors just don't cut it for a modern power user's needs. The company then started churning out ultrawide 21:9 monitors that offer a ton of horizontal screen real estate, reducing the need for a second monitor. 

Later this week at the IFA tech trade show in Berlin, the company will show off its new lineup of ultrawide monitors, which includes what it claims is the "world's largest" such device, a 38-inch behemoth with a 3,840 x 1,600-pixel resolution.

The 38UC99, as it's called, is a curved IPS monitor with built-in 10W Bluetooth-compatible speakers. LG says it has a color gamut that covers 99 percent of the sRGB color space. It also has an ultra-thin bezel and a USB Type-C port that you can use to transmit data or charge another device. 

The LG 38UC99 will become available mid-September for the price of $1,499.

The company has also launched two other monitors. The 34-inch 34UC79G is a curved IPS monitor aimed at gamers, with a 144Hz refresh rate and LG's Dynamic Action Sync technology that reduces input lag. One unusual feature is the ability to add a crosshair to the center of the screen, which might help FPS gamers to be more accurate. It will cost $699 when it becomes available mid-October. 

Finally, the LG 34UM79M is a flat-screened, ultrawide IPS monitor with built-in Google Cast streaming capabilities. It will cost $599 when it hits the stores mid-November.