At the 2020 International Consumer Electronics Show, OnePlus announced a concept phone based on OnePlus 7T Pro. This phone is officially called the OnePlus Concept One and is manufactured in cooperation with McLaren.
The highlight of the phone is its “invisible” rear camera, which is only visible when current passes through a piece of electrochromic glass covering the sensor. This is a very clever technique that can bring a very unique look to the phone.
Now, OnePlus has launched another concept smartphone called OnePlus 8T Concept, which also has very cool design skills.
As the name suggests, this is a concept phone based on the latest OnePlus flagship product OnePlus 8T. However, the rear panel of the OnePlus 8T Concept distinguishes it from the regular model or even the Cyberpunk 2077 Limited Edition.
The back of the phone is covered with a glass plate, but there is a layer of metal oxide film underneath. When the voltage applied to it changes, the oxide film changes color.
Yes, this is also electrochromic glass technology. The pattern of the color-changing film looks like oil droplets in water, but OnePlus said the design was inspired by the hot springs in Pamukkale, Turkey. OnePlus said the color change may be caused by new notifications or incoming calls. But this is not all.
The OnePlus 8T is an amazing overall smartphone, but we’re always exploring cool new technologies—not necessarily to bring to market, but just to see what else is possible. Check out our latest experiment: the Concept 8T. pic.twitter.com/jmJMVcyBMT
— Pete Lau (@PeteLau) December 21, 2020
When paired with the radar module in the camera housing, the function will be enhanced. The module is based on mmWave technology. According to OnePlus, it is “borrowed from 5G” but has no communication capabilities.
The radar module sends and receives electromagnetic waves. OnePlus explained that when it receives electromagnetic waves, “DSP (Digital Signal Processing) performs signal and information processing together with the CPU, so that the device can sense, locate and track objects.”
This means that it will respond to gestures, so when the color on the back of the phone changes to show an incoming call, the user can put his hand on the gesture to reject the call.
OnePlus says that the radar can also sense your breath and send information back to the film, so it can switch between colors that are synchronized with your breath, so it can be used as a “biofeedback device.”
The video only switches between two colors-from dark blue to light silver, but if there are more, so much the better.
Red will definitely be great, and we can already imagine that the square OnePlus logo will light up red when you have missed calls, or green when you receive a WhatsApp message.
Just like the OnePlus Concept One, The Verge revealed that it will no longer buy the OnePlus 8T Concept, but we hope that OnePlus will be able to integrate the technology, even if it is smaller, such as the OnePlus logo example we cited above in future devices.
