New H2 smartphone puts a lab grade molecular sensor in your hands

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By Matthew Griffin Industrial Revolution 7th January 2017

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Being able to analyse the chemical composition of products, particularly counterfeit ones, has long been something you could only do in a lab, now the lab’s in the palm of your hand.

Smartphones already do a lot of things, in fact, it’s likely that if they were human they’d be forming a union and going on strike. But now, thanks to Chinese company Changhon Electric Co they have a new party trick – they can tell us what things are made of using an in built molecular sensor.

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First demonstrated at 2015’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), in Las Vegas, the Android Changhong H2, backed by $2.3 million in crowdfunding and the result of a partnership between Sichuan based Changhong, Analog Devices Inc (ADI) and Consumer Physics Inc., is back. And this time it’s smarter than ever.

The H2 is essentially a miniature spectroscope embedded into a smartphone format that works by shining near-infrared light onto materials. This excites their molecules and the H2 analyses the light that’s reflected off of them, reads their unique optical signature and determines the chemical composition of the material.

Changhon say that the H2 works with almost every material and before you think the products boring, or worse in truth it has some interesting use case, but while Changhon suggest using it to figure out the chemical composition of the food you’re eating, or using it to detect how ripe your fruit and veg is – something that could be useful if combined with a fitness and diet tracker, such as Fitbit, for example. It’s killer application though might be helping authorities and individuals detecting counterfeit products, anything from clothes and drugs, to fake food and medicines, something that is a growing global problem that rakes in over $600Bn a year for organised crime groups who then use the money to fund anything from human trafficking to murder.

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However, if you just want to know the chemical composition of Sulphuric Acid without consulting a text book, now you can. Needless to say, though, the sky’s the limit once third parties start producing apps.

The H2 will be available to buy in China in the first half of 2017, with a US introduction expected for later in the year and pricing has yet to be announced.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, described as “The Adviser behind the Advisers” and a “Young Kurzweil,” is the founder and CEO of the World Futures Forum and the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures consultancy working across the next 50 years, and is an award winning futurist, and author of “Codex of the Future” series.

Regularly featured in the global media, including AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, RT, Viacom, and WIRED, Matthew’s ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of revolutionary emerging technologies on global culture, industry and society, is unparalleled. Recognised for the past six years as one of the world’s foremost futurists, innovation and strategy experts Matthew is an international speaker who helps governments, investors, multi-nationals and regulators around the world envision, build and lead an inclusive, sustainable future.

A rare talent Matthew’s recent work includes mentoring Lunar XPrize teams, re-envisioning global education and training with the G20, and helping the world’s largest organisations envision and ideate the future of their products and services, industries, and countries.

Matthew's clients include three Prime Ministers and several governments, including the G7, Accenture, Aon, Bain & Co, BCG, Credit Suisse, Dell EMC, Dentons, Deloitte, E&Y, GEMS, Huawei, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Lego, McKinsey, PWC, Qualcomm, SAP, Samsung, Sopra Steria, T-Mobile, and many more.