ZAGG, makers of cases for various consumer electronic devices, was at CES last week showing off their latest innovation called HZO. Unlike a case that you put on a device you’ve already purchased, HZO is a technology that a device vendor would spray on the internals of their hardware during the manufacturing process. The folks at Pocket-lint spoke to ZAGG and found out that they’re “in the process of signing up a major smartphone partner and a headphones maker in the very near future.” When ZAGG showed off HZO to Samsung’s Chairman, he “couldn’t believe his eyes” and became “really excited” about the promise it delivers. ZAGG also says that they’re talking to Apple and hope that they get sign a deal early enough to implement the HZO technology into the iPhone 5. So does HZO even work or is this all hype? Watch the video below and prepare to share some of Samsung’s excitement:
What we want to know is why has it taken so long to see HZO come to devices? Phones in Japan have been waterproof for ages. In July 2007 Fujitsu announced the F704i for NTT DoCoMo. It was billed as the world’s thinnest waterproof mobile phone, coming in at around 18 mm thick. The product demos for that device, now 4.5 years old, are the same “dunk the phone in a fish tank, look in amazement that it’s still working” demos that ZAGG is doing for HZO. Surely companies like Apple, Nokia, and Samsung had employees who knew that Fujitsu’s device existed and that they should try and mimic the technology and bring it to their devices one day?
We’re not saying that HZO isn’t impressive, we’re just kind of pissed that it’s only now getting some attention. It’s kind of like near field communication (NFC) technology, which has been shown off year after year after year at tradeshows, yet it’s only landing in smartphones right now.