By Evan Ackerman
Yeah, I have a cellphone. I use it in public to look like I’m busy and important, and in private for the occasional phone call. Not much else. It would take, I dunno, three mildly interesting cellphone designs appearing all at once for me to actually get off my ass and write a cellphone post… And guess what happened today:
Sky IM-U200 Released in Korea
You’ve gotta give some credit to Sky for producing a more or less original cellphone design; it looks like wedge shaped flip phone but instead rotates open, sorta like the Helio Kickflip, but with a much more graceful end result. The phone itself doesn’t seem to offer any stunning features, and you have to wonder how comfortable it actually is to hold against your head. Plus, the space in the middle when the phone is closed is effectively wasted.
Two more after the jump.
BenqQ Siemens SL98 Slider Design
Unlike most slider phones where the display slides to reveal the keyboard, BenQ (and Asustek and LG, incidentally) are developing slider phones with the keyboard (and a small auxiliary display) on top. Not only is the primary display protected, but the design leaves more space for a larger keyboard in a smaller form factor. The developers go on to say that this makes lots of sense because the primary purpose of a cellphone is making and receiving calls which you don’t need a big display for, but everyone with an iPhone knows that that philosophy is total bunk.
Polygonal Cellphone For The Blind
Although this concept phone has been developed to replace braille keys, it’s so cool looking that I could see myself using one just for the heck of it. Each key features a differently angled surface, and there’s also some sort of menu navigation wheel, but I haven’t a clue as to how it would be used by those who can’t see. Take note: this is where cellphone design should be headed, people… Forget slightly smaller/better/faster and give me an angle textured keypad instead.
VIA [ Akihabara News ], [ Unwired View ], [ Sensory Impact ]
