Today, the OnePlus 8T Concept was announced, which is the company’s second concept phone. After showing off the OnePlus Concept One earlier this year at CES 2020. This year, OnePlus is showing off some other really cool concept technologies in the 8T Concept.
Basically, with the OnePlus 8T Concept, the back of the phone changes from blue to silver, and this is using Electronic Color, Material and Finish or ECMF. This allows the physical design of a device to work dynamically with the user and software features. With the OnePlus 8T Concept, ECMF uses color-changing film that contains metal oxide in glass. What this means is that when the metal oxide activates, the color of the glass changes from a dark blue to a light silver.
ECMF brings out a really cool user experience when working in combination with mmWave. Which is a technology used for 5G. The mmWave radar module transmits and receives electromagnetic waves. When it receives those waves, the digital signal processing and CPU perform signal and information processing. This allows the device to perceive, image, locate and track objects.
How can this concept benefit the user experience?
While ECMF is really cool, how does this impact the user experience? Well there are a couple of examples that OnePlus is talking about with the 8T Concept.
Firstly, touchless notifications. ECMF would be able to flash colors for an incoming call. Users could accept or reject the call with a simple gesture. This would also allow users to control the OnePlus 8T Concept without even touching the device. A bit like Google’s Soli did on the Pixel 4, but this takes things a step further.
The other user benefit could be a breathing monitor. By using mmWave to register a user’s breathing, the color could change in sync and effectively making the phone a biofeedback device. So the OnePlus 8T ECMF breathes with you.
This isn’t going to immediately change the way we use our phones or what we use our phones for. But it is still cool, nonetheless.
OnePlus Gaudi is here to solve unsolved problems
OnePlus is also announcing Gaudi. Which was actually established after the Concept One was announced earlier this year at CES 2020. OnePlus Gaudi is aimed at empowering creative minds with meaningful and playful technology, while also solving unsolved problems in a better way.
OnePlus Gaudi has brought that Never Settle spirit to the 8T. With the OnePlus 8T Concept, the OnePlus Gaudi team developed and alternative version of the device that is able to blend organic design with industrial design.