Is this the tent of the future?

Home / News / Is this the tent of the future?

Gone are the days of a flimsy £20 tent from Argos to see you through the festival season. Orange has just unveiled its latest hi-tech tent concept showcasing at Glasto this weekend.

The fruit-based mobile company has a history of dreaming up ambitious Glasto concepts – we’ve already seen a dance-powered and airbed pump-powered mobile phone chargers as well as a solar-and-wind-powered Recharge Pod.

Now say hello to the next step in the evolution of the solar tent. “Photovoltaic fabric” means that specially coated solar threads can be woven into natural materials – so no more fixed, bulky solar panels.

So three lightweight solar panels are melded into a moveable shell to suck power-giving rays from the sun.

But that’s not all – this hi-tech pod also packs “Glo-cation” technology, enabling festival goers to find their pad using SMS or RFID to trigger a glow when you got near. But then if this became popular, wouldn’t there be entire campsites of glowing tents…

There’s also a wireless control hub to provide WiFi, wireless charging, and a touchscreen LCD display, while a next-gen groundsheet provides thermostatically controlled warmth for your festival-weary bones.

This makes my home look decidedly low-tech in comparison.

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.