Historical tales are full of cases where twin brothers separated at birth are reunited in the strangest of circumstances. Well, now it seems that we have a modern-day version of the story… but will one be pure good and the other pure evil? iPhone was raised by Apple in the United States, while LG KE850 was raised in Seoul by LG Electronics (later sold off to Prada). The two brothers were worlds apart and were recently made aware of one another for the first time. It’s still unknown as to which is the elder of the two. But what I do know with 99.99% certainty is that the LG KE850 derived from the Onyx Concept phone, made by Synaptics. It’s unfortunate that the only video we have is in French. The owner showed only a few features, so it’s hard to determine whether the features we see on the Onyx Concept and iPhone were implemented.

Video demonstration of the LG KE850
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On the other hand, the developmental history of the iPhone is a big mystery, but I’m positive this Apple fell from the same tree as the LG KE850. The purpose of this story is to share with you similar characteristics between the Onyx Concept phone, iPhone and LG KE850. It’s not my position to take sides as to whether Apple copied LG or vice versa; we’ll leave that up to the courts.

Let’s take care of the first few questions such as the screen technology. I’ll show you through video demonstration what’s being advertised and what the two devices are capable of when they grow up.

This first video demonstrates Synaptics’ ClearPad touch screen technology, a transparent touch-sensitive capacitive sensor. Far greater in accuracy than traditional passive touchscreen displays, ClearPad’s strength is the resolution and detail it captures from each touch and gesture; the video below shows the Matrix-like stream of data generated simply from swiping a finger across the screen.

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Steve Jobs demonstrates gestures on the iPhone
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The Onyx Concept phone can discriminate between one and two finger use and can even tell when it is being held against a cheek: answering the call automatically. Now while the iPhone hasn’t learned this yet, it does have a distinctly similar trait that they’re also calling the proximity sensor. This sensor detects when you lift the iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. It is to be seen whether the LG KE850 will have this feature. The video below features a conceptual explanation of the the proximity sensor, a demo on the Onyx Concept phone, and finally an explanation by Steve Jobs.

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Now the iPhone doesn’t have a GPS (that we know of yet) but it does feature Google maps, which highly resembles the GPS system that we saw on the Onyx Concept phone. This feature is yet to be confirmed on the LG KE850.

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I didn’t notice Steve Jobs demonstrating on-the-fly play list management, so the feature we saw in the Onyx Concept may be implemented down the road.

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John demos the audio features of the Onyx Concept phone

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Note the incredibly straightforward way that two single calls (watch Onyx Concept videos below) are combined into a conference call, by dragging one contact onto the other, and contrast that against the convoluted menus and key presses needed on traditional cellphones.

Looking into a crystal ball, I have a rare opportunity to share with you the potential of these two handsets and future offspring. In a way we’re lucky, considering Synaptics were clear when they exclusively demonstrated Onyx to me that the first derivative consumer handset would appear in early 2007. Until the lawyers have earnt their daily crust and the phones themselves hit the shelves, we’ll just have to enjoy this three-part video walkthrough of the Onyx Concept phone and look with barely-restrained contempt at our bland Nokias, Motorolas and Samsungs.

Synaptics Onyx Concept Phone Conceptual explanation part 1:

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Synaptics Onyx Concept Phone Conceptual explanation part 2:

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Synaptics Onyx Concept Phone Conceptual explanation part 3:

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Now we have solid confirmation that LG’s handset is based on Synaptics technology, and the UI itself looks very similar to that designed by the other side of the Onyx partnership, Pilotfish. Apple information, of course, is harder to come by, and there’s no doubting that their GUI is streets ahead. They’ve referred to it as OS X for a cellphone, and whether that’s true or more like marketing patter the bottom line is that it appears to be a naturalistic and texturally-rich way to interact with your mobile. Based on our observations, then, MYiPhone would wager that the DNA of both handsets can be traced back to Synaptics initial concept, but their personalities – the way they present each app and the ecosystem your data resides in – is most definitely a product of their adopted parents; at the end of the day, isn’t it fair to say that this is pretty much par for the course in the electronics world? Multiple gadgets, often made up of the same core technology, with the interface as their distinguishing factor. On those grounds, Apple – while maybe not the hardware trailblazers here, have nonetheless seized the upper-hand.

View all the images of the Synaptics Onyx Concept Phone in the gallery.