They say, “Behind every man’s success is a woman.” But for Tony Stark, this may not always be true. While he has Pepper Potts to take care of him and tolerate his eccentric playboy antics, his formidable Ironman suit will not be complete without his genius robotic assistant J.A.R.V.I.S. and his intelligent work laboratory. Who hasn’t dreamed of literally touching your digital file folders, spreading them on your desktop, and crumpling and shooting one folder to trash in thin air? Well, if there’s a real life a Tony Stark, he’d make Bill Gates’ intelligent house, primitive.

Luckily, we do have contemporary visionaries who have foreseen a real-life virtual world. At the moment though, their visions are still concepts under development. With the emergence of iPhones and tablet PCs, their concepts sound more and more promising, making ardent fans more enthused with how far more technology can go. Who knows? A desktop personal computer may be literally an intelligent desktop with the same computer functions in no time.

Hence, we give you the state-of-the-art Glass Smartphone and Tablet devices.

Through the Glass:  The concept came from the ingenious thinking of Andrew Solesbury who thought of sharing his enthusiasm for the next smartphone. He incorporated the use of a transparent glass, which is fashionably thin and sleek, yet hard enough to resist tears and scratches.

Aside from the elegance of using a glass material, the smartphone or tablet uses an advanced system of microscopic electronic components in order to maintain its function albeit transparency.

iPhone’s trademark is its rectangular Home button; and Solesbury’s smartphone intends not to be left behind. In his concept design, the microscopic components are arranged as an array compressed atthe bottom, where the Home button is located.

If it hasn’t dawned to you yet, yes, this device is completely transparent which displays content from one edge to the other. Furthermore, Solesbury intends to install the front and rear facing 3D cameras thatcan sense motion from both the surroundings and the user.

In this sense, augmented reality can be achieved. To add, placing a 3D screen on top will create a semi-holographic effect of the objects displayed without having you to wear inconvenient 3D glasses.

With all these smart specs and functions, it would sure bring a whole new definition to the term smartphone. With the capability to let you live like the techie-est super hero, your smartphone truly comes into real life!

Questions and Skepticism

Some critics question the durability of a glass design. Although it can be modified to adjust to scratches, breakage, of course, is stillinevitable. Hopefully, advancements in the glass industry particularly with Dragontrail and Gorilla Glass will address such incompetencies.

It may be a long way to go until the plan materializes. Or perhaps, with additional efforts, it can push through sooner than expected. Who knows? As technology develops more, there may be more ideas to come that couldturn this concept from a fragment of our imagination to an actual item for gratification. This definitely keeps us excited for the future, doesn’t it?