ASUS’ Waveface Concept Could Change the Face of Mobile Tech

Imagine walking into the subway and finding a map to the correct train automatically appear on your wrist. That’s just one example of Waveface, a trio of concept products founded on the idea that the world around us is a rich source of data just waiting to be properly leveraged. The goal: deliver information to and from the cloud at just the right time, based on your location. This project currently includes two other head-turning devices—a tablet and home entertainment portal—that are designed to work together.

The inspiration for Waveface came from the recent explosion of social networking sites and services in addition to our growing dependence on the cloud, says Beck Lee, public relations manager for sales, marketing, and PM groups at ASUSTek. “In today’s mobile life, it’s simple to find a wealth of information anytime, anywhere,” he said. “But it’s not easy to sort out just the information [you want] and get rid of what you don’t need.” Waveface technology will help gadgets weed out superfluous data and factor in a user’s preferences. The devices will learn to take such factors as a person’s location, environment, and schedule into account.

Lee and his team hope to combine intuitive interfaces and mobile devices with an advanced location-based technology, dubbed context-based service (CBS). Using multiple sensors, the interface knows not only your location, but also the moves you make at a given moment. Put simply: automatic augmented reality to the max.

The Waveface Ultra prototype is the aforementioned super smart phone/wristwatch that pushes important information to you, such as calendar appointments, e-mails, and social network notifications. But it also finds, filters, and alerts you to location-sensitive information. The movement of your fingers in front of the device would navigate through menus and screens. The Ultra also snaps flat to enlarge the viewing area, and can be easily slipped into a pocket.

The Waveface Light is a sleek, lightweight tablet. Similar to the Ultra, the Light will be adept at context-based information gathering, employing CBS to get you the info you need. It works folded or flat, and the keyboard can be raised for a familiar typing experience. Plus, the Light will seamlessly store, access, and sync your data (such as bookmarks, contact information, and e-mails) with the cloud. The soft-touch exterior will be composed of a technologically advanced fabric that Lee says “features improved durability and robustness over current designs.”

Finally, the Waveface Casa is a connected big-screen TV. Despite its deceptively simple appearance, it does much more than channel surf. When you’re not using Casa to browse the web, view premium programming, or manage your social networks, a decorative casing covers most of the screen; the smaller exposed areas show off contextually relevant information, such as weather conditions or incoming messages.

Such futuristic technology is not likely to make its way into ASUS devices for another three to five years, but Lee believes the tenets of Waveface will trickle into a variety of the company’s product lines, including Eee PCs, laptops, and mobile phones. “The true value of Waveface,” said Lee. “is the spirit of pursuing innovation and pushing the boundaries of technology to improve the lives of our customers.”