OnePlus is all set to introduce its first concept phone at the forthcoming Consumer Electronics Show and like clockwork, the China-based company has begun to tease the device, which will be called OnePlus Concept One, in bits and pieces. on Friday, the phone maker has shed further light on what appears to be the project’s headlining feature: A rear camera setup that can disappear.
In a tweet, OnePlus has revealed that the OnePlus Concept One will come equipped with “a groundbreaking invisible camera and color-shifting glass technology.”
We’re bringing the #OnePlusConceptOne to #CES2020, but you don’t have to wait: you can get a sneak peek at it right here, along with its groundbreaking “invisible camera” and color-shifting glass technology. pic.twitter.com/elsV9DKctn
— OnePlus (@oneplus) January 3, 2020
What that means, as per a Wired exclusive, is that the OnePlus Concept One’s camera array on the back will be covered by a piece of special glass that’s often found on high-end car sunroofs and aircraft windows. Called electrochromic glass, it’s capable of altering its opacity when an electric signal passes through the panel.
So when the cameras are inactive, the glass stays opaque. But as soon as you launch the camera app, it turns translucent and the cameras magically break cover.
The idea likely stemmed from OnePlus’ longtime partnership with McLaren. On top of that, the OnePlus Concept One itself is designed in collaboration with the supercar manufacturer and the rest of the phone’s aesthetic echoes that as well. Similar to other McLaren-branded OnePlus phones, the Concept One has a papaya orange leather back and visible stitching around the edges. A narrow spatula of electrochromic glass runs through the middle of the phone’s back all the way down to the bottom.
In addition, the OnePlus Concept One comes with the same set of cameras as the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition. There’s a 48-megapixel primary lens coupled with a 16-megapixel wide-angle shooter and an 8-megapixel telephoto camera.
However, for now, OnePlus says the Concept One will remain a concept and won’t hit the market anytime soon. “With this approach, we’ll be able to produce smaller amounts of the product and, with feedback from a small group of users, look at the possibility of making a device that’s available for users more widely,” OnePlus CEO Pete Lau told Wired.
You can keep tabs on updates from OnePlus and the rest of the tech companies from our dedicated CES section.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.