Idea No. 5: Transparent Smartphones
If you've seen that scene in the Iron Man movie where Tony Starks held up a transparent smartphone, you may be among the viewers in the theater who gasped and itched to search for that device on the Internet. And like everyone else who actually did, you were disappointed to find out it was all just Hollywood being Hollywood. But then again, what's the chance we can really own something like it? Let's count the ways...
Glass is easily transparent. There have been progress in developing transparent batteries and data storage mediums, so let's say we can get those out of the way. There are also progress in using the glass material itself as the audio speaker. So the real problem really is everything else inside the smartphone. For the most part, all of these are not transparent. Worst, these are the reasons the smartphone work.
If we can't make these innards transparent, one way is to make them smaller. This way, the smartphone can have solid top and bottom to house all the electronics, including the mic, cameras, sensors, etc. The middle section can be a huge transparent area for the transparent screen, battery, storage and speaker.
The top and bottom housings can be made smaller as more of the computing components can be made smaller. Ultimately, the progression should be to print these computing components around the edges of the glass, essentially hiding them, perhaps covered/protected by a special layer of glass or whatever material suitable for the job.
Now the imagination here is that computing components can be made small enough to be printable on the glass's edges. Small is key. It's almost easy to imagine electronic parts reaching this point. But what about moving parts like the camera's motors for focusing the lenses, for example?
Handheld devices dominating digital camera sales is undeniable. Thus, a smartphone must have a camera built-in. These cameras actually have tiny motor parts to help with focus. Putting them in a transparent smartphone is perhaps the deal breaker. Unless, we can live with the iPhone X-style notch as standard. So unless the camera module becomes transparent as well, we can't really have a 100% transparent smartphone, but we can get a notch close.
A transparent smartphone is possible if we can print computing components on the edges of a glass body that contains the transparent batteries and transparent storage medium. The glass body itself can act as a speaker. The device may need a notch to house camera and sensor modules, until these can be made transparent as well. It seems really possible! We just need someone to start making them.
Glass is easily transparent. There have been progress in developing transparent batteries and data storage mediums, so let's say we can get those out of the way. There are also progress in using the glass material itself as the audio speaker. So the real problem really is everything else inside the smartphone. For the most part, all of these are not transparent. Worst, these are the reasons the smartphone work.
If we can't make these innards transparent, one way is to make them smaller. This way, the smartphone can have solid top and bottom to house all the electronics, including the mic, cameras, sensors, etc. The middle section can be a huge transparent area for the transparent screen, battery, storage and speaker.
The top and bottom housings can be made smaller as more of the computing components can be made smaller. Ultimately, the progression should be to print these computing components around the edges of the glass, essentially hiding them, perhaps covered/protected by a special layer of glass or whatever material suitable for the job.
Now the imagination here is that computing components can be made small enough to be printable on the glass's edges. Small is key. It's almost easy to imagine electronic parts reaching this point. But what about moving parts like the camera's motors for focusing the lenses, for example?
Handheld devices dominating digital camera sales is undeniable. Thus, a smartphone must have a camera built-in. These cameras actually have tiny motor parts to help with focus. Putting them in a transparent smartphone is perhaps the deal breaker. Unless, we can live with the iPhone X-style notch as standard. So unless the camera module becomes transparent as well, we can't really have a 100% transparent smartphone, but we can get a notch close.
A transparent smartphone is possible if we can print computing components on the edges of a glass body that contains the transparent batteries and transparent storage medium. The glass body itself can act as a speaker. The device may need a notch to house camera and sensor modules, until these can be made transparent as well. It seems really possible! We just need someone to start making them.
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