Samsung will showcase three experimental projects at the Consumer Electronics Show next week. One is a fitness tracker that’s integrated with a belt. Another is a system that conducts audio through your body, allowing you to hold your finger up to your ear to hear audio from your smartwatch, for example. And the last is a handheld motion controller for virtual reality.
The projects come from Samsung’s Creative Lab, or C-Lab program, which the company describes as a sort of incubator for employees with ideas for new product ideas.
TipTalk
This is a system that conducts audio through your body, allowing you to hear sounds without using earphones.
Samsung says this could let you answer a phone call or hear notifications without a loudspeaker, so you don’t have to worry about nearby people listening in.
It’s not clear what kind of sound quality you can expect: I doubt you’ll want to replace your high-end headphones with your fingertip. At the very least, you’d probably look silly holding your finger to your head all the time.
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There aren’t many details about this motion controller yet, but Samsung describes it as an intuitive handheld device that lets you interact with virtual reality experiences.
The promotional image showing a virtual tennis racket and a Samsung Gear VR headset should give you an idea of what to expect.
WELT
There are plenty of fitness trackers that you can wear like a wristband. There are also models you can clip onto you shirt, belt, or pocket.
WELT is a fitness tracker that’s integrated into a belt. It can record your step count and other activity… but it can also keep track of your actual waist size.
Samsung will likely unveil more details about each product at CES… but there’s no guarantee that any of these projects will ever go on sale.