Several companies are working on smart handguns that only fire for a biometrically-verified user. IDEAL’s latest creation took smart in a different direction: it disguised itself as a smartphone.
They call the gun the IDEAL Conceal (expect a 503 error, their website is getting hammered), and it looks an awful lot like a Galaxy Note that’s locked inside a chunky Otterbox case. The two large openings on the top edge give it away, but only at close range. From a distance, you’d probably never realize someone with a Conceal was holding a deadly weapon and not a phone.
A gun that looks like a smartphone sounds like a terrible thing for public safety, doesn’t it? In reality, though, that doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s not as though you can just pull the Conceal out of a smartphone holster and squeeze off a round. There’s a little prep work involved: you’ve got to fold down the handle to expose the trigger first. Its clever disguise, then, comes at a cost: it actually takes longer to draw and shoot with the Conceal than with an ordinary handgun.
The Conceal also doesn’t try to conceal itself from metal detectors or scanners. It’s barrels, trigger, and hammer are all metal. It also only holds two rounds — one for each of its barrels — and most handguns on the market hold at least three times as many. It’s also got very limited stopping power. The Conceal is a .380 caliber gun, which some class as “pea shooters.”
That’s not to say they can’t be deadly in the hands of a skilled marksmen, but the Conceal is pretty clearly built for self-defense. It’s also going to be sold in gun shops, so hopefully you didn’t count on being able to pick it up at a heavily-subsidized price with a new two-year contract.