Smell-O-Vision was a short lived idea in the 1960s that never really took off. Even so, people have tried to communicate smells through electronic transmission for quite some time now. One new smartphone accessory may have finally perfected it.
Say hello to Scentee, a new accessory from Japanese company ChatPerf. It’s a small attachment for mobile devices that disperses scents from small liquid capsules loaded into it. Check it out in action below:
So, how would you actually use this? The developers at ChatPerf suggest that somebody could send a scent to a friend, or they could use it to augment a media experience. One example in particular is that the Scentee could disperse a gunpowder odor during a first-person shooter.
Using odors as a form of communication seems like a strane idea that might not catch on, but you just never know anymore. If it works as advertised, the smartphones of 2020 may have odor dispersals integrated within them.