Consumer Physics' smartphone molecular scanner really works, and it's pretty cool

By Ed Oswald Published January 7, 2017

At CES, getting on the public Wi-Fi can be a bit of a pain. We found that out during Consumer Physics CEO Dror Sharon’s visit to the DigitalTrends booth Thursday afternoon. But through the connectivity issues, we at least saw a glimpse of how its molecular scanning technology works.

While the company has been working on the idea of getting what was once a $10,000 piece of equipment into something we can all afford since 2011, it’s only had a working prototype since 2014 in a handheld model. That device has only now made it to the pre-order stage (to ship in six to eight weeks), but Consumer Physics in partnership with Chinese electronics manufacturer Changhong is already taking the next step.

Recommended Videos

Meet the Changhong H2, the world’s first molecular scanning cellphone. On its own it’s a pretty impressive device, with a large six-inch screen and eight-core processor. But it’s that spectrometer — the fancy name for the molecular scanner — that is sure to impress most.

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. There’s a lot of different uses for that, and soon third-parties will be able to develop their own sensing apps thanks to an SDK that will be available later this year.

Thanks to the finicky Wi-Fi, Sharon was only able to show us one of the many different possible uses for the scanner. On stage, he scanned a strawberry. Thanks to data in the cloud, the device returned back the exact sweetness of the strawberry, which Sharon joked would be helpful if you’re buying strawberries to feed to your significant other.

He even pointed out that Consumer Physics’ databases have enough data to verify the authenticity of medications. One of the most commonly counterfeited pills is Viagra, which Sharon had on hand — but the Wi-Fi didn’t cooperate (we can confirm later that it indeed was scanned as authentic, though).

No announcement has yet been made on the availability or pricing of the Changhong H2, but we can say with certainty that we’ll be taking a closer look at what is possibly one of the coolest devices coming out of CES 2017 in a lot more detail quite soon.

Digital Trends is live all week at CES 2017 in Las Vegas. Check out our continuing coverage live on YouTube, Facebook, #DTces, and DigitalTrends.com/ces/.

Former Contributor

For fifteen years, Ed has written about the latest and greatest in gadgets and technology trends. At Digital Trends, he's…

Topics

Emerging Tech

Emerging Tech

Anti-surveillance clothing is getting cheaper, but don’t expect an invisibility cloak

Affordable shirts now claim to confuse facial recognition, although their protection depends heavily on the camera and software watching you

Chart, Plot, Adult

Anti-surveillance clothing is starting to look less like an art-school experiment and more like something you could actually wear outside. Shirts designed to confuse facial recognition systems now cost about as much as ordinary streetwear, although buying one won’t make you disappear.

The Guardian reports that designers are using face-like prints, unusual cuts and infrared lights to interfere with computer vision. These techniques target specific weaknesses, so their success depends on what happens to be watching you.

Emerging Tech

This spinning drone hides in plain sight using a visual illusion

This drone doesn't turn invisible. It tricks your brain into thinking it has.

Phantom Twist

For decades, engineers have chased the dream of an invisible drone. The usual approaches have involved transparent materials, camouflage coatings, or complex optical systems that bend light around an object. Researchers at Northwestern University decided to take a completely different route. Instead of hiding the drone itself, they chose to fool the human eye.

The result is Phantom Twist, an experimental drone that spins so rapidly it almost disappears into the background. It's not technically invisible, but to anyone watching, it looks more like a faint blur than a flying machine.

Emerging Tech

This smart knitted fabric can flip switches, count your steps, and even change shape

Grandma's knitting just entered its Iron Man era

Representative Image

For most of us, knitting brings to mind sweaters, scarves, and perhaps an ambitious grandmother determined to make winter more fashionable. Researchers at Harvard University, however, have a far more futuristic vision. They've transformed ordinary knitted fabric into a programmable material capable of changing shape, acting as an electrical switch, sensing movement, and potentially forming the foundation of tomorrow's wearable technology.

The research, published in Advanced Functional Materials by scientists at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), demonstrates how machine-knitted textiles can "snap" between multiple stable shapes without relying on motors or rigid mechanical parts.