Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos certainly does have an active imagination. He and Amazon VP Greg Hart have applied for a patent for protecting delicate, expensive smartphones from droppage by deploying a tiny airbag when the handset senses an imminent impact.
In an impressive design flourish that reminds us of a Mars landing craft, this invention will also enable micro air jets (steered by a laser rangefinder) to orient the phone on its way down to the ground, making sure the impact occurs precisely where that mini-airbag resides.
Will this be a real product anytime soon? Well, probably not, but the far-fetched scheme surfaced when GeekWire spotted the names of Bezos and Hart on a patent application for the idea. So now if anyone else dreams up a product using such protective paraphernalia, they'll have to shell out to Bezos and company for the privilege of using it.
Still, it seems unlikely this technology would be ready for mass use any time soon.
Sure, there are accelerometers in many smartphones, and present-day hard drives can sense of they're being dropped, instantly locking up their read heads to minimize damage. But battery power is at a premium in smartphones, and we're wondering if those cute little air jets and airbag will require lots of juice to keep them ever-vigilant. Beyond that, such protective devices must be slightly bulky, adding unwanted girth to smartphones that get skinnier every day.