Every day a new technology emerges. The vistas of human exploration in the field of technology has expanded manifold. This has indeed provided us with great invention, no doubt, but at the same time the world has witnessed the invention of some extremely bizarre devices. Though it is considered a normal characteristic since all tastes are not the same. But time to time we come to think of it at one point, what is the actual need of it? Or is it merely a question of providing uniqueness to already existing monotonous devices. One such gadget forces us to rack our brains as to why would someone wish to invent it.
It’s been the dream for years and years: transparent computer displays, and transparent phones. We’ve seen them over and over in sci-fi, and we’ve seen plenty of device render concepts, but this is the first real prototype that we’ve seen in real life. The key to it is the transparent display that has been developed by Taiwan-based Polytron Technologies. Some existing phones, like the LG GD900, have transparent parts, but so far no one’s created one with a completely see-through body. Part of the problem is that the electrodes in the typical lithium-ion batteries found in today’s gadgets aren’t transparent. All they have so far is a very very early prototype, almost just a proof-of-concept, but the team expects to have a more fully functioning prototype with working software by the end of the year. You’ll also notice that the device isn’t 100% transparent, because some components – the battery, SD card, and microphones – simply can’t be made transparent right now. Still, it’s a pretty cool start.
Polytron Technologies has named this concept Switchable Glass’ technology. In Switchable Glass technology a conductive OLED screen uses liquid crystal molecules to display text and images. The screen uses electric current to align these molecules into images on screen. The result is a screen which is completely transparent, but is still able to show clear, color pictures. Polytron told Mobile Geeks that a completed device would have touchscreens on the front and back, and hidden microphones and speakers, and in future maybe even transparent batteries. A similar project is also being pursued by Mobiado, the luxury phone maker, and Aston Martin, the luxury car maker, in collaboration are trying to co-create phones. The first prototype they’ve shown is a stunning transparent Android phone. The Mobiado concept phone is called CTP002 is basically one big, transparent sapphire glass with two titanium edges on the left and right. The glass is a color capacitive touchscreen. We know it’s only a concept and from a technical standpoint it seems all but impossible, but the Mobiado CTP002 is a joy to behold.
1 thought on “Transparent Like a Glass But Still a Phone”
Wasn’t there a scene in 2012’s Total Recall where a likeness of this phone technology was involved, when Douglas Colin Farrell Quaid was on the run yet trying to contact someone. Just who I forget.
Wasn’t there a scene in 2012’s Total Recall where a likeness of this phone technology was involved, when Douglas Colin Farrell Quaid was on the run yet trying to contact someone. Just who I forget.