Device Arena

Here is a concept design by Nils Siegel, an unique clamshell phone that let you design the phone case pattern by little metals and gems. The PIN Phone has a grid lattice structure outside, you can then insert the clip pins to your own design.

SlashPhone

With Bluetooth headsets gaining in popularity everyday, cellphone vendors are trying to think of new ways to make them even more comfortable to use. We’ve seen one such interesting attempt from Samsung - with removable Bluetooth headset attached to the phone.

Now it’s LG’s turn to reveal something cool in headsets. And they have come up with removable acoustic transducers.

The basic idea is that these detachable acoustic transducers are configured to perform different functions in different modes.

When attached to the phone, they act as traditional speakers and microphone. Their batteries are charged there as well.

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There have been pen phone concepts before, even a few working products, but none as slim and small as this one sent us by an anonymous tipster. He told us this “design A” is not a finished product yet, and added that the undisclosed company he’s working for wants to gauge interest in such a device. While most users will connect the phone to Bluetooth earpieces, those two target-shaped areas on the top and bottom are earpiece and receiver. So far, so good. What do you think, readers?

GIZMODO

Do you have a grandmother, who can’t be bothered with typing in a 9 digit number? In fact she usually asks someone else to dial the number if it’s not already on speed dial. Unfortunately even speed dial isn’t enough for grammy. She wants it easier. The T-Phone is perfect for her.

So you have a phone with a standard numeric keypad and one large call button underneath. You get a bunch of RFID tagged badges to program someone’s number and even insert their picture. When grammy wants to call someone, all she has to do is place the badge on the call button and press it. The phone reads the RFID information in the badge and dials the number.

It’s just a concept for now so until then, grammy will have to live with T-Mobile’s Fav 5. That’s as easy as it gets.

Yanko Design

Jut in time to my previous column if the Windows Mobile touchscreen interface is ready for single-hand use, the United States Patent and Trademark Office yesterday unveiled a patent which was given to Microsoft (Application Number: 11/765,684). Title of the patent: “Extensible Filtered Lists for Mobile Device User Interface” which is about systems and methods for providing an improved user interface for mobile devices (smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like are explicitly stated in the patent specification). Access to data and services from multiple software applications can be provided through a group or list of items. Each group or list can include multiple items, which can be associated with data or tasks from multiple applications.

The set of groups of items can be both customizable and extensible to allow users to locate and utilize data and tasks relevant to the particular user. The set of item groups can provide users with a filtered view of content available through the mobile device, enhancing access to subset of data and tasks available on the mobile device:

Briefly described, the provided subject matter concerns an improved user interface for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like. Selected data and services provided by multiple software applications can be accessed through a group or list of items. Each group or list can include multiple items that provide access to data or tasks from multiple applications. For example, a list centered around a user’s current day can include items corresponding to meetings scheduled for that day using a calendar application, E-Mail received on that day through an E-Mail application, and a weather forecast for the day provided by a weather service application.

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You know what’s really bugging me sometimes on a touchscreen devices that we’ve used so far? It’s that we have to actually look at at the screen to do anything with it.

There’s no way we can find necessary controls to scroll through songs, dial a number, or adjust the volume without looking at the screen. Or is there?

Well, Nokia has a really interesting idea about that - Slider input lid on a touchscreen of your mobile phone or music player.

The basic idea is ingeniously simple. Ad a lid to a touchscreen device, with the specially shaped physical opening to guide user inputs. And then use the software to provide interface to control various applications through these guided user inputs.

Well, 2007 turned out to be the year when, thank’s to the iPhone, LG Prada KE850, LG KU990 Viewty, HTC Touch/Slide, Samsung F700 and the likes, we really discovered the use of touchscreen interface in mobile devices.

We guess 2008 will be the year when mobile touch really hits the mainstream and everyone starts churning out ever more innovative interfaces around it.

Unwired View

IO

Announced as a concept phone in October 2006, KDDI has finally commercialize the INFOBAR 2 mobile phone, continue its simple style from the first version which was released in 2005.

The innovative INFOBAR 2 features a distinctive shape - as if rectangular candy design began melting and became slightly rounded in the mouth which is an organic and natural change. The shape, therefore, fits perfectly in one’s hands and goes smoothly into a pocket. The evolution of INFOBAR 2 is synchronous with a gradual change of machines taking on the characteristic of human roundness. The smooth and lustrous single surface of INFOBAR 2 has operation keys of various colors and a display screen.

The INFOBAR 2 has a 2.6-inch display screen (240 x 400), microSD card slot, 2 megapixel camera and a battery charging station to let you dock your phone on it directly.

SlashPhone

The first Sony Ericsson touchscreen phone design attempt to become public wasn’t that impressive. But I told you that it’s just the beginning and we should see something more interesting soon.

Well, here it is - the new Sony Ericsson touchscreen slider, described in another patent application called “Housing arrangement for a portable device with display”:

The overall concept of reverse slider is similar to the ones explored by BenQ , Asus and LG, but with an added twist of a touchscreen interface.

This Sony Ericsson design is more interesting then the one described earlier, but I still don’t like it much.

C’mon SE, you can certainly to better for a touchscreen phone that should become your flagship model for 2008.

Unwired View

Touch interface in mobile phones, that started as a new trend with the launch of Apple iPhone and LG Prada KE850 , is becoming mainstream.

LG will soon have 3 touchscreen models LG Prada, LG KU990 Viewty and LG KS20 on the market, Samsung will have two - Samsung P520 Armani and Vodafone Samsung F700v, Nokia confirmed that it’ll have something interesting with touchscreen next year, Motorola is rumored to be working on an advanced smartphone that may include touch interface.

That leaves only Sony Ericsson, among major cellphone vendors, that did not at least hint about it’s plans with touchscreen devices. That’s probably about to change, as recent Sony Ericsson patent application called “Programmable keypad“, indicates.

I can’t say that I’m very impressed with the results of Sony Ericsson efforts. It really reminds me about the idea behind Pantech Sky IM-200 and it certainly lacks the ingenuity Sony Ericsson demonstrated with PSP Phone, when they experimented turning cellphone into a gaming device.

But, hey, it’s only their first effort that become public, and I’m sure that Sony Ericsson will be able to come up with something much more interesting in the near future.

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