We’re sitting here in 2013 with some fantastic smart phone offerings, whichever camp you fall in. For innovation to continue it’s always important to think about what’s next, well thankfully KuanGaa Chen has been thinking way into the future.
He’s created a concept video of the Windows Phone – Surface N. It features a transparent display that has a ‘Air Holographic’ screen that is capable of projecting objects in 3D. The perfect use for this futuristic technology is what Chen dubs, ‘Real world maps’. This means you’d see environments projected including 3D buildings to guide you around cities.
Each concept is supplemented with a brief explanation to help explain the reasons why the concept is a good idea, or provide detail on options available. One of the best ideas is the outside rim of the device being lit by your personalised colour. This could also be used for different type of notifications, sure this would be a drain on battery, but in the future, batteries are clear and last forever.
A couple of criticisms though, it’s fine to have a high res screen, but Chen suggests a 4K screen. While most would have never imagined we would have 1920×1080 screens in today’s phones, the reality of such a high res screen in a small display is highly unlikely. The other niggling issue is the right gutter from Windows Phone 7 is present in the interface, something that was removed in WP8, this does take away from the visionary feel of the idea.
Where the Surface N vide does excel and how I discovered on twitter was the customisation interface ideas. Additional control over the configuration and app categorisation would be a welcome addition to the current Windows Phone platform.
Check out the concept video below and leave a comment to let us know what you think.
