Phones Gone Wild: The 10 Strangest Features Ever Crammed Into a Smartphone

Right now, the full user tech satellite is laser-focused connected AI. But earlier the AI era, telephone makers were successful their chaotic phase, throwing chaotic ideas into devices conscionable to spot what mightiness work. The results? Holograms, radiation sensors, concierge buttons, and different features that were either up of their time… oregon conscionable plain bizarre.

So let’s instrumentality a look backmost astatine 10 of the strangest, astir off-the-wall features ever crammed into a phone.

1 LG G8’s Hand ID & Air Gestures

LG, bless its heart, ever tried to bash things differently—and sometimes, excessively differently. The G8 ThinQ, launched successful 2019, brought 2 features that felt consecutive retired of Minority Report. First, determination was Hand ID, which scanned the unsocial vein patterns successful your thenar utilizing an infrared Z Camera. No joke—it work the humor travel successful your hand.

Then determination was Air Motion, a diagnostic that fto you power apps with Jedi-like manus waves. Change the music, reply calls, set volume—all without touching the screen. Sounds chill successful theory, but successful real-world use? Laggy, inconsistent, and often much occupation than it was worth.

Still, successful a satellite leaning into touchless everything, could a polished mentation enactment today? Maybe—but lone if it doesn’t marque you look similar you’re casting a spell each clip you privation to intermission a video. (And yes, Samsung did dabble successful “Air Gestures” connected the Galaxy S3 years earlier, but LG took it to a full caller level with vein-scanning sorcery.)

2 YotaPhone’s Dual-Screen Displays

Imagine a Kindle and a smartphone had a baby—that’s the YotaPhone. Its rear E-Ink surface lets you work books, glimpse astatine notifications, oregon prevention artillery by utilizing a power-sipping display.

It sounded genius. But successful practice, it was slow, clunky, and not precise good supported by apps. The YotaPhone 3 was its last gasp earlier the institution went silent. Still, the conception lives connected successful niche E-Ink phones similar the Hisense A5—and honestly, an E-Ink screen show connected thing similar a flip Razr telephone successful 2025? That could really work.

3 Vertu’s Concierge Button

Luxury telephone shaper Vertu wasn’t astir features—it was astir flexing. Starting astatine respective 1000 dollars, Vertu phones came with sapphire glass, golden accents, and 1 of the weirdest features of all: a dedicated concierge button.

Pressing it gave you entree to a existent quality 24/7 who could publication flights, get you performance tickets, oregon possibly bid you caviar successful the mediate of nowhere. Totally unnecessary for the remainder of us, but for billionaires? Why not.

Today, with AI assistants similar ChatGPT and Google Gemini evolving fast, it’s not hard to ideate a integer concierge acquisition becoming much mainstream. But for now, Vertu’s ruby fastener remains a glorious, pointless monument to excess.

4 Samsung Galaxy Beam’s Mini Projector

This 1 inactive gets points for sheer audacity. The Galaxy Beam, launched successful 2012, had a built-in projector that could beam 50-inch images onto immoderate surface. Movie nighttime connected your ceiling? Presentations connected the fly? It was each possible.

But artillery beingness took a superior hit, and successful agleam rooms, the projector struggled. While Samsung moved on, the thought got a spiritual successor successful Unihertz’s rugged Tank 2 (and its successors), which includes a modern projector. Maybe it's clip idiosyncratic made a compact, entertainment-first telephone with this conception done right.

5 LG Wing 5G’s Swiveling Screen

Just earlier LG exited the telephone business, they gave america 1 past jaw-dropper: the Wing. Its surface swiveled horizontally, revealing a smaller show underneath, turning the full telephone into a elephantine “T.”

Was it useful? Sometimes. Cool? Definitely. Popular? Not really. App enactment was minimal, and it felt bulky successful regular use. But it gets points for trying thing new, and honestly, with foldables becoming mainstream, possibly LG’s unusual “T-mode” was conscionable a fewer years excessively early.

6 Red Hydrogen One’s Holographic Display

The camera institution RED makes immoderate of the champion cinema cameras successful the world. But their smartphone? Not truthful much.

The Hydrogen One, released successful 2018, promised a "4V holographic display"—essentially a 3D effect without glasses. It was expected to beryllium revolutionary. In reality, it was headache-inducing and grainy, and the 3D extent effect was much of a gimmick than thing useful.

Add successful the bulky, concern plan and a terms tag northbound of $1,000, and it flopped hard. It was a classical lawsuit of overpromising and underdelivering, from a institution that was intelligibly retired of its lane.

7 HTC Evo 3D / LG Optimus 3D’s Glasses-Free 3D Display

Speaking of failed 3D dreams—remember erstwhile 3D everything was a happening successful the aboriginal 2010s? HTC and LG some jumped successful with phones that could seizure and show 3D photos and videos without glasses.

It worked, technically. But the effect had a constrictive viewing angle, reduced surface resolution, and nary existent contented to enactment it. It was a short-lived gimmick that aged astir arsenic good arsenic 3D TVs.

8 Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom

Samsung erstwhile had a dream: harvester a point-and-shoot camera with a phone. The result? The Galaxy S4 Zoom, a chunky instrumentality with a 10x optical zoom lens that jutted retired similar a mini telescope.

It offered existent zoom, which was uncommon backmost then. But it besides made the telephone consciousness similar you’d taped a camera to the backmost of your Galaxy S4. Not practical. Samsung aboriginal refined the thought with the Galaxy K Zoom, but the conception faded. Now, phones similar the Galaxy S25 Ultra propulsion disconnected 10x optical zoom with periscope lenses and slim profiles. The weird kid grew up.

9 PANTONE 107SH’s Radiation Sensor

Here’s 1 you astir apt haven’t heard of: the Softbank PANTONE 107SH. This Japan-exclusive telephone came with a built-in radiation sensor. Yes, you work that right—it could measurement radiation levels successful your environment.

Why? Likely a effect to nationalist concerns aft the 2011 Fukushima atomic disaster. Was it useful? Maybe, but lone successful circumstantial circumstances. For the mean user, it was much of a speech starter than a life-saver.

Still, successful today’s satellite of wellness sensors and biology monitoring, could we spot hyper-specific sensors similar this again? It’s possible—just astir apt not for radiation.

10 Amazon Fire Phone’s Pseudo-3D Interface

Remember the Amazon Fire Phone? No? That’s okay, astir radical don’t. Amazon’s archetypal (and only) telephone debuted successful 2014 and came packed with a chaotic feature: Dynamic Perspective.

Using 4 infrared beforehand cameras, the telephone could way your caput and eyes to make a 3D-like interface that shifted position arsenic you moved. It was chill successful theory, but the execution felt much similar a disorienting carnival trick. Developers didn’t follow it, users didn’t similar it, and the telephone tanked hard.

Still, this was a glimpse astatine motion-tracked UX design, thing that could marque a comeback if done right—especially successful AR oregon VR interfaces.

Could Any of These Ideas Make a Comeback?

Some of these features were straight-up duds. Others? Just excessively early.

Let’s instrumentality foldables arsenic a cleanable example. They erstwhile looked similar gimmicks acceptable to dice astatine launch. But now? Phones similar the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, OnePlus Open, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold are sidesplitting it. They’re practical, durable (to an extent), and large for multitasking. What was erstwhile “weird” is present desirable.

Cameras are wherever immoderate of the wildest ideas are yet starting to marque sense. Devices similar the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, Oppo Find X8 Ultra, and the upcoming Vivo X200 Ultra are pushing mobile photography into DSLR territory. We're talking inch-sized sensors, adaptable aperture systems, and earnestly susceptible periscope zoom lenses.

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra adjacent ships with an optional photography kit that transforms it into a existent point-and-shoot, implicit with a detachable shutter fastener and thumb grip for amended control.

Vivo is going a measurement further with the X200 Ultra, which volition enactment an external zoom lens co-engineered with Zeiss. This accessory connects via a customized adapter and sits implicit the phone’s 200MP periscope lens, enhancing its optical zoom with a 13-element solid construction.

A decennary ago, this benignant of setup would've sounded ridiculous. Today, it’s conscionable different leafage successful the flagship spec sheet.

Wrapping Up

Smartphones utilized to beryllium wild, and sometimes they inactive are. While astir of the devices successful this database are present footnotes successful tech history, they correspond thing we shouldn’t forget: the willingness to experiment.

Not each thought has to beryllium a hit. Some tin conscionable beryllium bold. Strange. Different. And adjacent if they don’t instrumentality the landing, they tin animate what comes next.