Phone with a transparent screen: is that even possible?،
Some of you may remember a great science fiction series called “The Expanse”, based on a series of novels. I bring this up because in the movie one of the coolest gadgets were the transparent communicators used by almost everyone (see image above).
We've had transparent screens for a long time now, since the Xperia Pureness, but it was at this year's MWC Barcelona that I felt the technology was already there to make it happen. Lenovo showed off a working laptop with a transparent LED display, and it looked like the glass communicators from “The Expanse.”
Lenovo transparent laptop is impressive
This immediately raised a question for me: “Are we going to have transparent smartphones soon and do we really need them?” But first, let's quickly explain transparent LED technology.
What is a transparent LED?
Just a bunch of diodes
Transparent LED technology has evolved enormously
We won't get too much into the technical part, what you need to know is that transparent LED technology uses a transparent substrate to hold these diodes together, and when not in use, they allow light to shine through. cross them (to a certain extent). , 70 to 80%).
To do this, you need transparent anodes and ultra-thin or transparent connections between the diodes. In the past, this technology could only produce monochrome images and was quite expensive, but advances in manufacturing processes have made it possible to create the aforementioned transparent laptop.
Where is my transparent iPhone?
How cool is this?!
Not so fast! As cool as it sounds, a transparent phone just isn't practical. First of all, you will be distracted by whatever is happening behind the screen. Second, everyone will be able to see what you see (even if it's a mirror image when you look at it from behind). This raises huge privacy concerns. You can remedy this problem by adding an electrochromatic polarizing layer to make the screen opaque with the press of a button, but what's the point of having a transparent screen in the first place?
The Xperia Pureness in all its strangeness and splendor
Then there are all the other electronic devices you have in a smartphone that need to be transparent. You need a transparent battery, chipset, printed board, etc. You could technically pack these parts into a small, non-transparent part of the phone (just like Sony did with the Xperia Pureness), but aside from the cool factor, I don't see a practical application for this transparent technology, from less in smartphones. So what is its place?
Application of transparent LED screens
A transparent screen on a subway train in Shenzhen, China
The first thing that comes to mind is advertising. Imagine this: you are in the submarine and, between stations, all the windows start showing you ads. I know it sounds horrible, but it's a viable concept. It doesn't have to be advertisements, it could be a map of the subway line or useful information (and this has been done on a small scale in Japan and China).
Another interesting application would be to install transparent screens in your home in the form of windows. You can display the weather forecast and other useful information at will, and when the sun goes down, these huge windows could become a home theater system (for the joy and entertainment of your neighbors).
Obviously, this technology could also turn car windshields into interactive displays, showing you speed, navigation instructions, lane lines in low visibility or at night, and more. In fact, this has already been done to some extent (C6 Corvette HUD display shown above).
Last words
That said, I would personally buy a transparent (or semi-transparent) smartphone. And maybe, just maybe, we could get a small batch of “feature” phones, much like the Xperia Pureness, for people who like this type of “cutting edge” technology.
What do you think about it? Would you buy a transparent phone and what applications do you think this technology has? Let us know in the comments below.
