ZUK demo a transparent bezelless smartphone concept


zuk transparent phone concept

ZUK recently launched its first ever smartphone in China and during the event had an innovative transparent phone prototype on display.

The ZUK Z1 lauched earlier this week with 5.5-inch FHD display, USB Type C, Snapdragon 801, 3GB RAM and low asking price of only 1799 Yuan. The launch on the 11th was all about the ZUK Z1, but during the show fans and media were allowed to glimpse the future of smartphone design.

A bezeless ZUK smartphone model with transparent body was shown at an “experience” booth at the launch event filling us with hope of some very cool and interesting phones from the Lenovo sub brand in the future.

zuk transparent phone concept

Obviously the prototype on display is nothing more than a display with all the electronics, power supply and other necessary hardware hidden in the large box beneath, but it is an exciting concept non the less, and proof that ZUK aim to be in the market for the long run.

I will be heading to Shenzhen at the end of this month to take part in the ZUK Z1 international launch. Keep posted for my hands on and first impressions of the new flagship and more ZUK news.

[ Weibo ]
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40 Comments

  1. quodvadis
    August 14, 2015

    Cool in concept. Utterly impractical in real world usage (I’m talking about when the tech is in your palm). You can try to prove me wrong, Lenovo.

    • Stef
      August 14, 2015

      Actually it’s impossible (no such thing as transparent components) but extremely practical. It will bring one handed use to modern “phones” (phablets). Accidental touches can be easilly solved by onboard fingertip sensor (rejects all touches not originating from fingertips).

      Unfortunatelly this whole concept is sci-fi and modern “phones” (mini tablets) will remain as uncomfortable as they have been since 2012 for many years on.

      • quodvadis
        August 14, 2015

        “Easily” lol.

        How does it bring “one handed use to phablets”?

        • Stef
          August 14, 2015

          A bezeless 5.5 inch, 2k/4k screen measures around 130x65mm. That’s the utmost size for one handed use (think the original Moto X) … that’s how.

          “easily” as in if you have the rest of sci-fi tech (transparent tech), a fingertip sensor would be the least of your worries (fingertip scanners are already ubiquous, unlike transparent components)…

          • quodvadis
            August 14, 2015

            I’m not talking about the bezelless thing, that’s not new.

            Easily as in making software that’s always 100% correct for this short of thing is something that human cannot make yet, if ever. Let alone easily.

            But hey, who am I to crush your dream? Go on.

            • Stef
              August 14, 2015

              I explained to you that there is already such tech, it’s called “fingertip scanner”. The transparent thing is sci-fi, the fingertip scanner isn’t. My phone has it…

            • quodvadis
              August 14, 2015

              I can see that you have absolutely no clue regarding difference between simple fingerprint scanner (which take your fingerprint pattern) to utterly predict whether a touch is valid or not (which involve complex AI and predictions to be flawless).

              It’s nice to want things.

            • Stef
              August 14, 2015

              Again you didn’t read my post I see… There is no complex AI involved, that’s exactly why you use the fingertip scanner to avoid that issue.

              You’re a bit slow aren’t you?

              So let me try to explain that to you (again). A fingertip scanner scans a finger pattern. With me ’till now? OK, now you tell this “sensor” anything that does not match a finger pattern (which as you well know is not complex for a phone to “know”) to *reject* it.

              That implies that if you touch the screen with any other part of your body (accidetnal touch), it rejects it. See? No AI involved. A very simple thought…

            • quodvadis
              August 14, 2015

              Lol you clearly don’t understand what you’re talking about. Do you even understand how the tech that uses the entire screen operate to detect the fingerprint? Do you know how much is the latency? Do you know that the angle of your finger differ greatly, and consequently the finger pattern, whenever you use your phone? Do you know how many possible patterns there are if the phone were to record them all?

              But heck lol, let them dream. My last advice to you is to not hold your breath within several decades for that perfect anti accidental touch mechanism. Okay, now dream on!

            • quodvadis
              August 14, 2015

              Lol you clearly don’t understand what you’re talking about. Do you even understand how the tech that uses the entire screen operate to detect the fingerprint? Do you know how much is the latency? Do you know that the angle of your finger differ greatly, and consequently the finger pattern, whenever you use your phone? Do you know how many possible patterns there are if the phone were to record them all?

              But heck lol, let them dream. My last advice to you is to not hold your breath within several decades for that perfect anti accidental touch mechanism. Okay, now dream on!

            • Stef
              August 14, 2015

              Again, you didn’t understand … There is a reason why I called it fingertip “sensor”, it’s different than fingertip “scanner” in the sense that it doesn’t try to find an exact copy of a (given) pattern but rather a generalized pattern that cannot be replicated by anything other than a finger.

              Obviously that’s not a technology we currently have, but we’re close, unlike -say- transparent chips/batteries. Heck if a company like Apple were to put money on it we’d have it in less than 2 years. Transparent batteries … well that may take decades…

              Basically that was the whole of my argument (if we have the capacity to create a transparent phone, it would be nothing to have it not register accidental touches). That problem with reading comprehension of yours stikes again I think…

              BTW don’t even become an engineer, you have the same capacity to think yourself out of a problem (re-using existing tech) as a lemming would…

            • Stef
              August 14, 2015

              Again, you didn’t understand … There is a reason why I called it fingertip “sensor”, it’s different than fingertip “scanner” in the sense that it doesn’t try to find an exact copy of a (given) pattern but rather a generalized pattern that cannot be replicated by anything other than a finger.

              Obviously that’s not a technology we currently have, but we’re close, unlike -say- transparent chips/batteries. Heck if a company like Apple were to put money on it we’d have it in less than 2 years. Transparent batteries … well that may take decades…

              Basically that was the whole of my argument (if we have the capacity to create a transparent phone, it would be nothing to have it not register accidental touches). That problem with reading comprehension of yours stikes again I think…

              BTW don’t even become an engineer, you have the same capacity to think yourself out of a problem (re-using existing tech) as a lemming would…

  2. Lars
    August 14, 2015

    This is not a transparent smartphone, just a transparent screen … nothing new here.

    • Bailey
      August 14, 2015

      Oh so l’m guessing that you have one at home

  3. Rob
    August 14, 2015

    This will look great in the hand until the first time you drop it and is shatters into a 1000 pieces!

  4. Akhtar Parvez
    August 14, 2015

    @Andy – Heading to Shenzhen ..i thought you lived in shenzhen 🙂

    • August 14, 2015

      nope, I lived in Qingdao Shandong and now move between Spain, UK and China

    • August 14, 2015

      nope, I lived in Qingdao Shandong and now move between Spain, UK and China

  5. quodvadis
    August 14, 2015

    Cool in concept. Utterly impractical in real world usage (I’m talking about when the tech is in your palm). You can try to prove me wrong, Lenovo.

    • Stef
      August 14, 2015

      Actually it’s impossible (no such thing as transparent components) but extremely practical. It will bring one handed use to modern “phones” (phablets). Accidental touches can be easilly solved by onboard fingertip sensor (rejects all touches not originating from fingertips).

      Unfortunatelly this whole concept is sci-fi and modern “phones” (mini tablets) will remain as uncomfortable as they have been since 2012 for many years on.

    • quodvadis
      August 14, 2015

      “Easily” lol.

      How does it bring “one handed use to phablets”?

    • Stef
      August 14, 2015

      A bezeless 5.5 inch, 2k/4k screen measures around 130x65mm. That’s the utmost size for one handed use (think the original Moto X) … that’s how.

      “easily” as in if you have the rest of sci-fi tech (transparent tech), a fingertip sensor would be the least of your worries (fingertip scanners are already ubiquous, unlike transparent components)…

    • quodvadis
      August 14, 2015

      I’m not talking about the bezelless thing, that’s not new.

      Easily as in making software that’s always 100% correct for this short of thing is something that human cannot make yet, if ever. Let alone easily.

      But hey, who am I to crush your dream? Go on.

    • Stef
      August 14, 2015

      I explained to you that there is already such tech, it’s called “fingertip scanner”. The transparent thing is sci-fi, the fingertip scanner isn’t. My phone has it…

    • quodvadis
      August 14, 2015

      I can see that you have absolutely no clue regarding difference between simple fingerprint scanner (which take your fingerprint pattern) to utterly predict whether a touch is valid or not (which involve complex AI and predictions to be flawless).

      It’s nice to want things.

    • Stef
      August 14, 2015

      Again you didn’t read my post I see… There is no complex AI involved, that’s exactly why you use the fingertip scanner to avoid that issue.

      You’re a bit slow aren’t you?

      So let me try to explain that to you (again). A fingertip scanner scans a finger pattern. With me ’till now? OK, now you tell this “sensor” anything that does not match a finger pattern (which as you well know is not complex for a phone to “know”) to *reject* it.

      That implies that if you touch the screen with any other part of your body (accidetnal touch), it rejects it. See? No AI involved. A very simple thought…

    • quodvadis
      August 14, 2015

      Lol you clearly don’t understand what you’re talking about. Do you even understand how the tech that uses the entire screen operate to detect the fingerprint? Do you know how much is the latency? Do you know that the angle of your finger differ greatly, and consequently the finger pattern, whenever you use your phone? Do you know how many possible patterns there are if the phone were to record them all?

      But heck lol, let them dream. My last advice to you is to not hold your breath within several decades for that perfect anti accidental touch mechanism. Okay, now dream on!

    • Stef
      August 14, 2015

      Again, you didn’t understand … There is a reason why I called it fingertip “sensor”, it’s different than fingertip “scanner” in the sense that it doesn’t try to find an exact copy of a (given) pattern but rather a generalized pattern that cannot be replicated by anything other than a finger.

      Obviously that’s not a technology we currently have, but we’re close, unlike -say- transparent chips/batteries. Heck if a company like Apple were to put money on it we’d have it in less than 2 years. Transparent batteries … well that may take decades…

      Basically that was the whole of my argument (if we have the capacity to create a transparent phone, it would be nothing to have it not register accidental touches). That problem with reading comprehension of yours stikes again I think…

      BTW don’t even become an engineer, you have the same capacity to think yourself out of a problem (re-using existing tech) as a lemming would…

  6. kawamase
    August 14, 2015

    transparent is so dumb.

  7. kawamase
    August 14, 2015

    transparent is so dumb.

  8. Lars
    August 14, 2015

    This is not a transparent smartphone, just a transparent screen … nothing new here.

    • Bailey
      August 14, 2015

      Oh so l’m guessing that you have one at home

  9. Rob
    August 14, 2015

    This will look great in the hand until the first time you drop it and is shatters into a 1000 pieces!

  10. Akhtar Parvez
    August 14, 2015

    @Andy – Heading to Shenzhen ..i thought you lived in shenzhen 🙂

    • Andi Sykes
      August 14, 2015

      nope, I lived in Qingdao Shandong and now move between Spain, UK and China

  11. MaxPower
    August 14, 2015

    not for me.
    my wife would find out I’m watching boobs on internet

    • koss_x_treeme
      August 17, 2015

      haha :))

  12. kawamase
    August 14, 2015

    transparent is so dumb.

  13. MaxPower
    August 14, 2015

    not for me.
    my wife would find out I’m watching boobs on internet

    • koss_x_treeme
      August 17, 2015

      haha :))