Transparent Smartphone Prototype by Polytron Hands On Video

Transparent display’s are coming and we are hardly able to control our excitement that Taiwanese company, Polytron Technologies, is working to produce a completely transparent Smartphone. We went down to Taoyuan about 35 min from Taipei by the airport to check out a prototype of their transparent Smartphone.

Polytron is working on getting the hardware components of the Smarpthone up and running, there is no software running on the prototype as its main goal is showcase the early stages of hardware integration and to get OEMs excited about the potential of Polytrons technology. This is an interesting beginning for something that most consider a piece of tech that we would only see in Sci-Fi flicks. As you can see from the photos below it is totally transparent. Well, as transparent as current technologies will allow, there are some prototypes for transparent batteries out there, but SIM cards, SD cards and microphones aren’t quite there yet.

Taking a closer look at the Smartphone hardware that isn’t transparent, the most glaring is the SD card, to minimize the visual impact the SIM card will be placed directly above it as you can see in the close up below they’ve left a gap. Powering this technology demo is 2 small batteries to demonstrate that they will be able to transfer power to various components, in the video below you can see Sascha switch the LED on. At the top we’ve got a camera, speaker and a microphone.

Since this is smart glass technology they will be able to cover up the bottom portion of the handset with an opaque filter where all of the non-transparent technology will be crammed in.

Polytron has a huge history of Smart or Switchable Glass and they are looking to apply this know how in new and innovative ways. If you’re curious about some of the technology behind this Jetson-esque handset Ploytrons Polyvision’s Smart Glass technology becomes transparent from a cloudy white state when turned on. When the Power is off, the liquid crystal molecules are randomly oriented which scatters incident light and the glass then becomes opaque. When electricity is added into the mix the liquid crystals line up and the incident light is able to pass through making the glass look clear.

Polytron has some big dreams as they are looking to have fully working prototypes up and running and possibly in limited production by the end of the year.

For all of you naysayers out there who complain about not being able to find your phone let alone being able to find a transparent phone, I ask would you ever let such a beauty leave your hand?