The future of smartphones may be drastically changed. French designers Philippe Starck and Jerome Olivet have proposed a radical concept for a post-iPhone smartphone for electronics brand Thomson. Dubbed Alo, the smartphone is based around holograms and voice control and haptic feedback. An always-on camera would track the user’s face to aid with 3D hologram displays. Also, it has a “gelatinous”, translucent and elongated case designed to fit naturally in the hand.
“Alo provides a fully vocalised interface in all phone functions, reads SMS and emails, and even allows them to dictate their messages rather than typing them,” said Olivet, who specialises in product design for new technologies.
“The phone’s camera acts as an ‘eye’. Among other things, it allows the reader to read the texts he detects or to identify the faces. It also allows you to project a 3D hologram to view a movie or message.”
So, no screen, it is entirely operated by voice commands. Compared to Alo, Steve Jobs’ first iPhone launched in 2007 will look like some old-fashioned toy.