Smartphones to come with airbags!

Amazon has been granted the patent of the technology.

Accidental drops can be deadly for a smartphone, especially if they have touchscreens but a new technology has arrived which could prove to be a must for today's handsets as it works like an airbag as found in cars.

Retail giant Amazon has been granted the patent of this smartphone protection technology which involves air jets and an airbag that will automatically deploy in order to reduce the damage a smartphone receives in case of a fall.

The smartphones, according to the patent, can be fitted with an airbag system along with cartridges filled with compressed CO2 gas. In an even of a fall the system will detect the orientation of the device and with the help of the compressed gas it will try to alter the orientation of the device so that the device lands on the airbag minimizing damage. The change in the orientation is done via a series of jets that act as thrusters altering the point of impact of the device.

According to the patent, the technology involves "a method for protecting a portable device that includes an airbag deployable from a side of the portable device, comprising: detecting that the portable device will impact a surface; prior to impact with the surface, determining if a risk of damage to the portable device from the impact exceeds a damage threshold; when the risk of damage to the portable device exceeds the damage threshold: altering the orientation of the portable device such that the air bag first impacts the surface; and deploying the airbag prior to impact with the surface".

This technology can be implemented for most devices including phablets (phone-tablet hybrid) and even in tablets which are prone to severe damage.

At present, the technology sounds promising but it is only after the first prototype device is seen in action the true potential of the technology will be known.