NTT docomo have developed a prototype smartphone that works through touch on the front and back, using touchpanels on both sides of a see-through display.

This smartphone is being co-developed by DoCoMo and Fujitsu. By using it from the back, you can scroll the screen without obscuring the display, and reach the slide down notification bar easily with your index finger. DoCoMo also implemented a new way of using smartphones, by touching both sides at once.

“You could hold down an icon on the front, and slide on the back to move an icon, or use the message bar, or create a new application. For example, from the front, you can only move the whole Rubik cube like this, but if you slide your finger across the front while holding down the back, you can rotate just one face. So this display makes gripping operations possible.”

“The display is QVGA (320 x 240), at 2.4 inches. We think it needs to be bigger if we’re to market this kind of phone. But even in this form, we think it could be used as a sub-display. In that case, it will have a limited display capability, so we think the range of applications could be wider.”

“Compared with a standard smartphone, this one still has slightly low brightness, so it’s a bit hard to view in bright places. We’d like to improve the technology to overcome things like that.”

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