ElePhone

[Sunset Sea Islands]

Even though not a single seat was empty in the conference room, not a single sound was audible. Ever since the foundation of the Elegy Megacorporation on January 1st, 2018, millions of people have been waiting for the next big thing. Superconcrete revolutionised the world of construction forevermore, but since then, things have been suspiciously quiet. There have been no leaks or similar incidents that would spoil today's event and it was clearly visible that the authors of wild internet theories were groping in the dark. This is why everyone was so excited for today's conference. Then, finally, dim lights in Elegy's signature hot pink began illuminating the room. One bald, thin man was standing on the stage.

"Greetings, my friends! I am happy to see that so many of you came to listen to an old man ramble for 45 minutes." It was Stephan Tasks, the Chief Executive Officer of Elegy.

"Truly, today is a historic date. This is the beginning of a true software revolution. This week dark figures for domestic violence and abuse made the headlines. But what if I told you that there is another set of crimes that you are virtually unprotected against? I am talking about cyber crimes. Common operating systems and browsers fail to protect you against identity theft, fraud and all sorts of other digital felonies.

When Elegy bought Future Tech earlier this year, we acquired the rights to the most common personal computer operating system of the nation. Furthermore, since we are the ones who produce the soft- and hardware for the Synapse System, we have learned a lot about safety and security. And since we, Elegy, care about you, our family, we are concerned about your security. It is time for us to show you that we care about you not only when you're in the streets, but also when you're online.

In cooperation with both the government of the Radiant Republic of the Sunset Sea Islands and the Synapse System, we have created a new, official operating system for the citizens of the SSI. Here, take a look at...

Panopticon Operating System, or PanOS for short, is the most secure operating system the world has ever seen. The list of features we built in to keep you safe is way too long to recite up here. The number of bullet points about security features is 1606, if you're interested, but here's the gist of it:

PanOS is connected to the central Sunset Sea Islandian citizen database. Upon first bootup it requires the user to log in using their ValID account. As their ID and password is individual and unique, the device becomes useless if a thief decides to nick it. We fully utilise the additional security features ValID offers: compatibility with fingerprint sensors, as more and more devices come with such sensors, iris scanners, 3D face unlocking algorithms and even infrared vein scanners. Did you know that the blood vessels in your body create an individual, threedimensional pattern is unique for you and only you? Well, now you know, and you can use that knowledge to make your life a big chunk safer! Should your device not have any of these functions, all of the mentioned scanners can be bough in our online and offline stores at a very fair prize.

Furthermore, PanOS features a virtually impermeable firewall. The built-in system scans every website you visit for viruses or other digital maladies. Also, should a cyber criminal try to commit a crime using a PanOS system, the Synapse System is notified immediately! How cool is that?! Not only does PanOS make your life safer, it makes the life of criminals harder as well!

But I haven't told you about the coolest thing yet: PanOS will be available as a completely free update on your computer right now! So go ahead and join us and become a part of the crimeless society!

Soon, we will stop supporting older versions of our operating systems, as it should be pretty clear by now what kind of huge security risk they pose. We are happy to have gotten this opportunity to cooperate with the Synapse System and the government of the Radiant Republic of the Sunset Sea Islands to make your life safer."

Tasks takes a break and sips from a glass of water. The crowd is cheering and applauding, thousands of camera flashes make the room look like the heart of a thunderstorm. Then, Tasks smirks. The crowd goes quiet immediately. He inhales and says three short words:

"One more thing..." The crowd loses its mind. The magic words have fallen. Whenever this short sentence is uttered at the end of an Elegy presentation one thing becomes clear: everything that Tasks was talking about up until this point was only small news. What could possibly be more important than the single largest revolution in digital security? Then, a ringtone. "Whose is that?" Tasks asks. The crowd goes quiet, heads turn, but the ringing continues. "Oh, right." Tasks says. "It's mine." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a smartphone. The crowd explodes. Their excitement eclipses everything that has happened during the press conference so far. "If you want to, I can tell you some things about this baby, or you can just keep celebrating!" Tasks jokes. Slowly, the cheering fades and stops completely, after Tasks raised his arms to calm the audience down. The giant screen behind the small, bald man lights up and reveals the ElePhone.

"The ElePhone", Tasks explains, "brings PanOS into the palm of your hand. It is a machine created especially for the needs of the Sunset Sea Islandian citizen. The ultra high definition screen is almost completely seemless, with the largest screen-to-body-ratio the world has ever seen. Looking at a picture on your ElePhone is like holding a window to a different place in your hand. However, not only is the screen super cool, it hides a couple of other cool features underneath itself! There's a fingerprint sensor underneath the screen so make biometric identification a breeze. Since some users, including myself, to be honest, prefer a fingerprint scanner on the back of the device, we've put another one just there. By the way, that scanner is the only place on the phone we've put any branding on. Furthermore, we've hidden a top-notch front-facing selfie camera and three-dimensional face identification sensors underneath the top of the screen. It'll be like looking into a mirror when you take that selfie for your Wittier feed or record that Whine, since you won't even see the camera underneath the OLED screen! Look, you can even count my bear hears on that selfie!"

A selfie of Tasks is shown on the screen behind him. It shows his face from a weird frog perspective as he pushes his chin to the front. Each and every hair is clearly discernable. The audience laughs. "Just for fun, we've counted my beard hair." A tiny number pops up on every hair. "There are three thousand and seventeen of them." After a short laughing break, Tasks continues.

"Naturally, the rear camera takes the cake. The dual lense system with AI-supported software takes the sharpest pictures ever recorded on a smartphone. It is the perfect tool for capturing that sunset over the Fallingstar Sea when you're done surfing for the day.

To know exactly how your day will be before it even begins, we introduce live updates on your home screen. You can use all that screen real estate to display the information you need to seize the day. In our example, my neice, Hannah Nguyen, uses it to display calendar events, like her friend Chrissie's birthday, the weather- and the crime forecast supported by the Synapse System, her parents track her exact location in case anything unfortunate happens and below that you can see an ENN news feed and what's hottest on Wittier right now.

But what I like best about the ElePhone is its design: it is a true monolith. There are no buttons or ports anywhere on the device, except for the SIM tray, which is long enough for two SIM cards and expandable storage, should the internal 64GB of storage not be enough for your dank memes. The device comes with a wireless charging stand and is compatible with all types of Bluetooth headsets. You can even pair our infrared vein scanners over Bluetooth! Volume rockers are hidden under the right edge, so you can still comfortably adjust the volume of those sick beats. Oh, I forgot to mention, the powerful speakers are hidden and linked to the ElePhone's body to use its structure for resonance! This design makes the ElePhone completely dirt and waterproof, so go ahead and record that epic jump from the ten metre springboard!

To come to an end, since I'm sure that by now I'm boring y'all with my ramblings, naturally, the creme de la creme of smartphone components are hidden under the brushed aluminium and Gorilla Glass hood, available in a plethra of pretty colour schemes. The processor is fast, the battery lasts all day long and, say it with me, the ElePhone goes on sale for 650 Sols right..."

"NOW!!!" the audience shouts. Another lightning storm erupts as Tasks leaves the stage.

Over the course of the following days media is abuzz with the news, PanOS registers dozens of millions of downloads and people line up day and night in front of dealerships that carry the ElePhone, including the Elegy flagship stores. Once more, Elegy Megacorporation has managed to revolutionise the tech world.

[Sunset Sea Islands]

Full conference halls were a common sight at Elegy HQ. The past two years of financial success and economic growth cemented Elegy's position as the nations premier provider of consumer electronics and multimedia services. From laptops to TV sets, from payment services to home security systems: Elegy had permeated every nook and cranny of the tech market it had found. Whilst competing brands de facto still existed, their size paled in comparison to the economic behemoth that was Elegy. Monopoly laws in the Sunset Sea Islands were lax enough for Elegy to be able to absorb them, however, maintaining alibi competitors was an integral part of corporate strategy. Trying to compete with Elegy provided a reason for other companies to research and develop innovative technology. Then, however, it was only a question of time before Elegy would purchase the rights to use said new technologies or acquire the competing R&D teams outright. Elegy's could then allocate more resources to the refinement of said technologies than their creators could have ever hoped to, thereby making competing products obsolete and unprofitable. The combination of the exploitation of David's creativity in Goliath's face and Elegy's immense funds and brand recognition had made Elegy into the unshakable tech titan it was. Now, once more, news republics, tech influencers and lucky members of the public awaited Elegy's newest presentation. Hundreds of eyes were glued to the stage, expecting the young CEO of the megacorporation, Liên Viênxuân. Then, an aide walked onto the stage and nervously began to speak.

"So, umm, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for coming out tonight, as you all can see, I am not Mrs Viênxuân. My name is Shinji and I am a personal assistant to Mrs Viênxuân. Currently, we don't actually know where she is, she is a very busy person, I'm sure she has her reasons, I bet her other positions need a lot of attention as well, and, um, I'd appreciate it, if you could be patient for a little while, I'm sure she'll join us very soon. I'll try calling her again, if you could give me a moment..."

As the aide holds his phone against his ear, the silence is broken by a well-known ringtone jingle. A single spotlight is cast on the source of the sound. A camera zooms towards it and shows the image of a familiar-looking lady in an elegant dress, a big sun hat and disproportionally large sunglasses on the screen behind the speaker. The sound appears to come from her glistering, black, MYNE-branded handbag. The aide addresses her:

"Excuse me, Mrs., but could you please turn the sounds off or leave the room if you need to take a call? We know this is a weird situation, but please, we'd appreciate it if you could mute your phone."

The woman performs a dismissive gesture with her hand. The camera zooms in on her bag as she reaches inside. The movements of the camera follow her hand as she pulls a tiny, black, shiny square out of the bag. What happens next, amazes press and public alike: the woman unfolds the tiny, ringing square into a fully fledges smartphone. She holds it to her ear and begins to speak. Her voice can be heard throughout the entire hall. It is the voice of none other but Liên Viênxuân.

"Hey there, Shinji. Can I help you with anything?"

Applause erupts throughout the hall, as Liên takes off her MYNE hat and sunglasses and walks up to the stage, smiling and waving for the cameras in the process.

"Thank you so much for coming to the 2020 Elegy keynote! It is a pleasure to welcome all of you here!"

Lien closes the clampshell-like device and puts it back into her pocket. The audience groans.

"Oh, this? You want to know about this?"

Again, the audience bursts in applause.

"It's nothing special, just the very first device in Elegy's lineup of foldable smartphones! May I present to you: the Elegy G Flip!"

A promotional animation showcasing the revolutionary new device starts playing in the background.

"The G Flip is nothing less than what it looks like, folks" Lien continues. "It is a fully functional smartphone, just as you know it, except that it can fold down like the good old flip phones all of us were obsessed with at the beginning of the millennium. The G Flip is a no-compromise phone. Not only does it include flagship specs, thanks to our ultra-thin foldable glass displays you are not making concessions in user experience either. Thanks to its rigid hinge, you can use it as a hand mirror, have it stand during video calls, or you can play games on it like in the good old days of handheld gaming. Furthermore, when it's closed, it takes up less space in your pocket and the screen itself is protected against scratches better than a conventional smartphone would be! Naturally, a secondary, always-on OLED display on the outside of the device shows you the most important information you need at any given time: date, time, weather, notifications and even Synapse crime prognostics!"

Whilst a thunderstorm of camera flashes is unleased and a new wave of applause reverberates through the conference hall, Liên takes a sip of water from a glass on her lectern.

"Naturally, this amazing technology is way too versatile only to use it in clamp-shell-style devices. Why would you only make something that is already small even smaller, when you could just as well make something small larger? This is the idea behind the Elegy G Fold, the Flip's larger brother: please take a look."

The massive screen behind the speaker shifts to a different promotional video. This time, it shows a device the size of a normal smartphone fold open into a larger, tablet-like format.

"There are so many uses for larger screens in everyday situations. Whether you need more screen real estate to work on your million-cell spreadsheet, whether you are a digital artist who wants to draw on the go, or whether you want to read an e-book or stream some videos on your train ride home: the G Fold is perfect for you. Having a fully-fledged back camera right next to a screen also eliminates the need for a selfie camera, since you can now use the superior sensors on the backside of your device."

Again, Liên smiles for the cameras, as the audience applauds and flashes illuminate the dark hall.

"As you can see, even though this technology is in its infancy, there are so many use cases for this technology. Later this evening, Shinji will tell you about how Elegy will use this technology in other devices, such as rollable TV sets or curved screens for specialised work stations. For now, one thing is clear:

The future is foldable, and the future is now."