I love see-through tech; ever since I saw my first crystal shell Game Boy and discovered the translucent iMacs, I've been hooked. It's one of the reasons that I love the M64 and the fact that they came with transparent shells as standard instead of as a limited-edition option. Being able to see all the way through to the inner gubbins has always fascinated me, but I've never had a wholly see-through handheld before. I mean, there's the screen in the way, and the circuit board - a transparent handheld would be something a ghost uses, right?
Readers, meet the Arduview, the first fully transparent handheld game console. And when I say fully, I mean fully. The shell is clear, the circuit board is see-through, and you can see straight through the OLED screen too. It's like something from Star Trek!
The Arduview holds 400 games and only weighs 50 grams, which is insanely light for a handheld and helps to give this thing an otherworldly presence to go with the transparent design. As you might guess from the name, it uses Arduboy, meaning you can start messing with the open-source software straight away if you so wish.
I've spoken briefly to the founder of Arduview, Louis Huang, who told me that the project started as something he and some fellow college students were working on at Babson College, Massachusetts. Like my thought process about feeling like a scientist whenever I look at the innards of my tech, Louis shares the opinion that the inside of a device is the most interesting part of it. So he's created the world's first see-through pocket console that's meant to be opened and tinkered with, rather than remaining closed off to inquisitive creators.
The Arduview lets you see right into the heart of the console (and through the other side). The board, the chip, copper flex cable, button domes, and USB Port cease to just be 'components' and become part of the handheld's design, shown off rather than hidden away. It's like an artistic statement that combines retro gaming with the kind of futuristic tech that you might see in something like Altered Carbon.
Credit: Louis Huang
There's no app store and no Wi-Fi needed to play on the Arduview - you just turn it on and game like the good old days. The first units are shipping this month to Founders, with a Kickstarter coming in 2027. We're going to be getting our hands on one for a review to give you more information as to what this thing can do, how it feels to play, and how cool that see-through display is in real life! Keep your eyes peeled for more information coming your way soon!
Credit: Louis Huang
