Skins Color Changing Phones being developed

Philips Research is working on a new phone feature that will enable mobile phones to change their skins to match the taste, and conform to different environment users find themselves. This according to the company will be done through the use of e-paper technology. When fully developed, users would be able to operate this feature via a push- button on their mobile phones.

According to the Principal Scientist who works with Philips Research, Kars-Michiel Lenssen, “The first application using the technology could be e-skins for small devices such as mp3 players or cell phones. However, the technology is highly scalable.”

Continuing, he said that “In the future it will be possible to use e-skins to bring new color and a new aura or ‘vibe’ to much larger equipment. Just as Philips’ Ambient experience uses light and color to make hospital diagnostics rooms far more welcoming, a large e-skin could make the concept fit for the MRI or CT scanner itself, potentially putting patients more at ease.”

Customizing a mobile phone can be done in variety of ways, especially as mobile phone manufacturers continue to add a lot of very interesting innovations to enable users customize their phones to their taste. Additions like downloading of wallpapers, themes and images continue to witness introduction of great ways users can get their mobile phones customized, the thought of having beautiful skins that can switch colors is something to look forward to.

Philips Research gives us more insight as to what the picture looks like. The company states that, “If you create a pixel with colored particles in a clear suspension, applying an electric field perpendicular to the surface makes the particle migrate to the top of the pixel, turning it dark. This is the basis of the monochrome e-paper used in e-book readers.”

For mobile phone users, the future holds a lot of exciting promises.