We have seen so far a lot of both great and weird devices at CES 2017. This week, Changhong, a Chinese company, just introduced a phone, Changhong H2, with a sensor that’s able to optically scan objects and tell you what they’re made of.

How it works?

The technology that we will talk about is near-infrared spectroscopy. What is it? It is a technique that shines a light on an object and analyses how that light changes as a result. Therefore, it can figure out how things are made of on a molecular level. At first, it sounds all sort of crazy advance. but actually we already use similar technology on phones today, for example Samsung Galaxy. You not only can use the light to track the heart rates, but also measure blood oxygen content.

So, what is new? The Changhong H2 steps further than what we have seen. The phone can tell you what things are made of. Not finished. Imagine you go to the super market, the phone can help you scan the food and gain useful information about the ingredients, nutrition and evaluate the level of calorie that you will obtain. It will be helpful for diabetic control their level of blood sugar. And just like the optical heart-rate scanner on existing phones, a spectrometer can tell you about your own body. It means that you can keep an eye on your body fat levels while you work your way through an exercise regimen.

Unfortunately, the potential of this technology is just limited by the imagination of developers. In fact, what we got to see at Changhong’s CES booth, the apps can be used to tell genuine materials apart from fakes, e.g, distinguishes prescription medications from counterfeits. It still takes time for developers to develop apps which can do more than that.

Changhong H2: Availability

Does it like many other “high-tech” devices which introduced at CES, just a prototype gadget that only comes out at the expos. Is there very little chance to make it become the real one? The answer is NO. Changhong H2 are getting strarted in China early this year. Changhong H2 price comes out to the equivalent of mid-$400 range. Will you be looking to take one for a spin once it lands.