It doesn't just appear in Star Wars when Luke Skywalker intercepts the message for Obi Wan from Princess Leia, but also in Futurama, Total Recall and countless other sci-fis and parodies, and now the 3-D hologram phone may be made available to you too!

Star Wars
The first Star Wars made us all want to communicate via holograms and soon we will be able to

The revolutionary communication technique is being masterminded by Polish telecommunications company Leia Display Systems, named after the 1977 classic's female hero. It has taken nearly forty years since we first saw the idea presented to us on the big screen, but now it looks as though science fiction will become science fact, and sooner than you may expect. According to the firm’s chief executive Marcin Panek, the hologram communication device could be available in as little as five years time.

“Our holograms will take video phone calls to the next level,” Panek promised in a statement (via The Mirror). “We are on the frontier of technology that was imagined in movies 40 years ago - it is science fiction becoming science fact. It will be as if loved ones, friends and family are standing right in front of you while you talk with them halfway across the world. At the moment, our holograms are made using machines that are more than six feet high but we are designing smaller versions that can be set up on a coffee table in a living room."

The new piece of technology will work using high tech cameras and water vapor to display the holograms. To make the call, a person sits in front of the camera, which is equipped with two lenses and a microphone, which then sends the image via the internet to the corresponding caller. The hologram generator then projects the image onto a screen made of water vapor.

Next Page: When the heck can I get a hold of this thing!