Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Emerging Tech
  3. News

With a built-in molecular spectrometer, this phone can identify any material

Ed Oswald
By

changhong smartphone spectrometer ces 2017 scanning strawberries
What if you could flash your phone over anything –a banana, a pill, or even a piece of plastic– and instantly know its chemical composition? It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but thanks to a new partnership between Asian electronics manufacturer Changhong and israel startup Consumer Physics. The Changhong H2 is an eight-core phone with an extra large six-inch screen and built in spectrometer.

Spectrometers work by sending out a pulse of near-infrared light that causes materials in an object to vibrate. From the returned light, the exact material composition of an object can be obtained. The company first debuted similar technology in 2014, which it plans to launch in the form of a handheld called the Scio sometime in 2017 for $249.

The H2 is essentially the same thing but built into a smartphone. The device will also launch this year, however, immediate details on exact availability and pricing have not been announced. Regardless, it almost feels like the idea of the tricorder from Star Trek is ever closer to reality.

Related

There are several different possible uses for this type of technology. Athletes could use it to scan themselves to figure out body fat percentage, while concerned individuals could use it to scan for the nutritional content in food and drink. Even another compelling use could be to scan objects to verify authenticity — preventing you from purchasing a rip-off.

“Just as the smartphone put the power of the internet and a vast knowledge base into our pockets, this innovation will put the capability to learn about the chemical and molecular makeup of materials into the public’s hands,” Consumer Physics CEO Dror Sharon says. “This is the next leap forward not just for mobile phones, but for all sorts of connected devices. The Changhong H2 and smartphones are only the beginning.”

On its own end, Changhong says it is committing to the development of a wide series of applications for the H2, as well as assisting third-party developers in creating their own. A software development kit is planned for later in 2017, according to a statement. The H2 is the culmination of about a year’s work with Consumer Physics as well as semiconductor manufacturer ADI to shrink the Scio molecular sensor into something that could fit inside a smartphone.

While the H2 will provide powerful functionality that is so far unique to the device, Changhong says power efficiency was a key focus for developers. At launch, the H2 will be about 20 percent more power efficient than regular smartphones.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
The Google Pixel Fold may not be as expensive as you thought
Alleged renders of the Google Pixel Fold in black.

Google’s long-in-development foldable phone — the Pixel Fold — is reportedly eyeing a late June launch. A recent leak predicted that the Pixel Fold will hit the European shelves priced at 1,700 Euros, which equates to roughly $1,800 based on current conversion rates. That’s not easy to digest, especially for a first-gen foldable phone and considering Google’s own shaky history with its Pixel hardware and software.
But it appears that the Pixel Fold’s price won’t be inexplicably exorbitant at all. Leaker Yogesh Bear shared on Twitter that the foldable phone could actually cost anywhere between $1,300 and $1,500. Assuming that turns out to be true, the Pixel Fold could undercut the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4 and its successor by a healthy $500.

In fact, such an asking price would put the Pixel Fold in roughly the same ballpark as the higher storage configurations of phones like the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max. Of course, Google won’t be able to match the asking price of foldables from Chinese brands, but it would at least look competitive in the Western markets.
Now, a price of around $1,300-1,500 makes a lot of sense. First, the biggest deterrent for foldable phones is their high asking price. There’s a reason Samsung managed to sell bucketloads of its flip-style foldable phones because they cost nearly half vis-a-vis the phone-tablet hybrids in the Galaxy Z Fold series.

Read more
6 years later, the iPhone X still does one thing better than the iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone X.

I’ve been an iPhone user since the very beginning, starting with the original iPhone. You know, the one with the 3.5-inch display that was perfect at the time, making it super easy to use a phone with one hand? As the years go by, the iPhone — and every other smartphone out there — just get bigger and bigger. We now have phones that with almost 7-inch displays, and honestly, I don’t understand how anyone can comfortably use these giant phones — especially if you have smaller hands!

With the iPhone, we’ve gone from 3.5-inch to 4-inches, then 4.7-inches to 5.8-inches, and now the standard 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch of the iPhone 14/iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Plus/iPhone 14 Pro Max, respectively. I personally use an iPhone 14 Pro as my primary device, and while I have gotten used to the 6.1-inch size over the past few years, I still think it’s too big. In fact, the last perfect size iPhone was the iPhone XS with the 5.8-inch display ... and I really wish Apple would bring it back.
5.8 inches was a perfect middle ground

Read more
Google Pixel 8: all the latest rumors and what we want to see
Google Pixel 8 leaked render.

The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are on their way. Google's fallen in a pretty reliable release pattern for Pixel phones, meaning we can safely expect a new lineup of flagship Pixels each year. In 2023, that means the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro.

The Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are two excellent devices -- possibly two of the best smartphones Google has ever made. But while they have some serious strengths, a number of problems and missed opportunities drag both phones down. This wouldn't be a problem if the competition was standing still, but it's not. The Apple iPhone 14 Pro refreshed the iPhone design for the first time in years, and the recently released Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is quite possibly one of the best smartphones ever created. So what's a humble Pixel to do?

Read more