1) Mozilla Seabird
Developed with feedback from the wider community, the Seabird is the evolution of Mozilla Labs community member Billy May’s concept of what an “Open Web” mobile phone could look like.
The two stand-out features from May’s vision are the integrated Bluetooth headset that doubles as a remote control and the dual pico projectors that can project a virtual keyboard as well as video or imagery.Other specs include an eight megapixel camera, a 3.5mm headphone jack, mini USB connectivity and wireless charging, which although available on Palm’s latest handsets, has not yet been widely adopted in the industry.
Sadly, as part of Mozilla’s “Concept Series” there are no plans to put the Seabird into production, but the exciting elements from the design — the pico projection and the Bluetooth dongle (both technically possible today) — are features we could see more of in the future.
2) Nokia Kinetic
The Nokia Kinetic was design student Jeremy Innes-Hopkins’ answer to a Nokia-set brief for a “playful phone for 2012.”In addition to those curvaceous looks, the Kinetic offers the rather unusual ability of “standing up” when a call or text is received by “converting digital information into kinetic movement.”
Under the hood, the “visual clue” of the phone standing up would be carried out by an electromagnet shifting a weight, while the same position could be employed for a video call or even watching media.
Should you want to dismiss the “spontaneous, magical and undirected” alert, you could just gently push the phone to lie back down again.While we’ve no word on whether Nokia plans to put the Kinetic into motion (sorry!), we think that a visual cue for an incoming call sure beats hearing that tinny Gran Vals one more time.
3) Kinneir Dufort Revive
UK design and innovation company Kinneir Dufort came up with the “Revive” concept after working with the electronics remanufacturing specialists at Regenersis.
The concept is simple: Many of us are tired of the excessive energy used and waste produced during the never-ending product cycles of the consumer electronics industry.
The idea is that instead of trading in your old handset for a new one, you upgrade elements of your phone as they wear down (e.g. the battery) or as better parts become available (e.g. the camera).
This way, says Kinneir Dufort, the system would allow “electronic products to keep pace with technological developments as well as consumer expectations.”
To help encourage consumers to hold onto to their handsets, the materials used for the initial Revive handset would be ones that “become more beautiful with age” such as leather (as you can see in the image below) and it would boast what’s probably the world’s cutest graphical interface in order to help establish an emotional connection.
Additionally, a reward scheme would favor those that kept hold of their product for longer, while sophisticated diagnostics, remanufacturing methods and efficient logistics would take the hassle out of upgrades for the consumer.
It’s a great concept for some kind of sustainability in the mobile phone market — “the phone that can only get better with age” — and we’d love to see a major manufacturer take up the idea. But while the majority of consumers still happily swap their gadget hardware every few years, the idea may be unlikely to get backing for some time.
4) HTC 1
Andrew Kim’s design for the HTC 1 encompasses both the handset and elements of the user interface in order to “create a harmonized hardware and software design.”What both elements have in common is a fantastic simplicity, with a smooth, seamless phone design complimented by a much more minimal “mono edition” of HTC’s existing Sense UI.
The wow factor for HTC 1’s design comes in with the simple, yet brilliant idea of offering a twist out kickstand across the entire bottom of the phone, which doesn’t ruin the device’s clean lines when not in use, and provides a useful way to stand the phone up, either for watching media or to set the phone on your nightstand as an alarm clock.The HTC 1’s materials would be premium (glass, machined brass) and its build quality superb. “Like a fine watch or rangefinder camera,” says Kim, “the 1 is made to be in your hands, not the landfill.”
There’s one more design aspect from the Korean-Canadian product design student that any clean freaks might like — a built-in UV light that shines through the phone’s glass display when it’s charging to kill bacteria lurking on the surface.
5) Synaptics Fuse
The Synaptics “Fuse” concept is remarkable if for nothing else than for how many companies were involved in its design.
TheAlloy provided product design efforts, the UI was from both TheAlloy and TAT, which also enabled the 3D environment, Immersion added the tactile feedback, and the phone — that exists as a real-life prototype (unlike others on this list) — is powered by Texas Instrument’s OMAP 3630 processor.But of course that’s not the only remarkable aspect of the concept or it wouldn’t have made the cut. The Fuse has been designed for single-handed usage, and boasts multi-touch capacitive sensing, haptic feedback (that tiny feedback “buzz”), and 3D graphics, as well as force, grip and proximity sensors.
The single-handed control comes via the back of the phone and its touch-sensitive surface. Users can touch to navigate the interface on the display, while grip sensors on the side of the phone control pan and scroll.
A Synaptics VP said of the Fuse as it was revealed: “The improved sensory experience of Fuse will drive handset innovation to evolve, taking the current generation of touch-based interaction to the next level of human-device interaction.”
We’ve already seen the BACKFLIP by Motorola launch with a “BACKTRACK” navigation pad behind the screen, so it looks as if the Fuse’s influence is already being felt.
Bonus) iPhone 5 Concept
We’ve relegated this to “bonus” status as it’s not a fully-fledged concept, but a very clever video from WaterWorks that imagines what the next-generation of iPhone would be like if it boasted holographic functionality.
So what do you think of these phones? Personally, I love them...however, some of them will not see the light of the day as they are merely concepts and may never be implemented unfortunately. Do let us know if you can think of any other concepts or phones which interest you.
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