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New concepts in mobile handset design |
axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
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From: Londinium
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Alloy (www.thealloy.com), an industrial design consultancy with a leading track record in communications design and PMN (www.pmn.co.uk), the independent mobile market intelligence firm, have announced the results of an extensive research and product design collaboration at the World Handset Forum in San Diego.
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WIDGX|THE TRUTH REVEALED
[ This Message was edited by: axxxr on 2006-05-24 00:04 ] |
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k4m!k4ze
Joined: Oct 02, 2004
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From: CBE
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wow looks good, more futuristic 
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence of your attempt !! |
cyberkid
Joined: Nov 25, 2003
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Wow, 95 % touch touch screen, hard to protect this kind of phone! |
axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
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From: Londinium
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Quote:
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On 2004-12-11 10:10:38, cyberkid wrote:
Wow, 95 % touch touch screen, hard to protect this kind of phone!
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Touch screen technology is getting better by the day,no doubt in the near future models touch screens will be completely 100% scratch proof...I know some mobile manufactures are already working on this technology including 
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Indiandawg
Joined: Sep 18, 2004
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From: Mumbai
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if i aint wrong s700 has a scratch proof screen |
axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
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Quote:
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On 2004-12-11 16:10:21, Indiandawg wrote:
if i aint wrong s700 has a scratch proof screen
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Yes absolutely the S700 does indeed!
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Indiandawg
Joined: Sep 18, 2004
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From: Mumbai
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thats why sony ericsson rox guys 
i m really looking fwd wht the companies have to say abt these...futuristic phones...espiceally sony ericsson |
marekp
Joined: Dec 13, 2004
Posts: 4
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Thanks for picking up this news item - I was responsible for this project at PMN, working in partnership with the product designers at Alloy.
To answer your question regarding the touch-screen on this concept design, the glass is actually covered by a protective plastic membrane, which is also used to give 'texture' to the soft-keys on the screen. This means you have the advantage of being able to change the interface behind the buttons (e.g. skinning with a different style or changing the arrangement of the buttons altogether) but still get the feeling of real hard keys.
It also incorporates a relatively new technology which provides tactile feedback by enabling the whole screen to 'click' downwards when pressed.
Alloy used this approach because the users the handset is designed for (15 - 18 year old kids, driven by shared interest in music) had some very demanding requests which require the handset to change its interface quite dramatically depending on which mode it is in. For instance, in texting or instant messaging mode, the buttons will show ABC alphabet characters, but in voice mode, these change back to numbers. In music mode, the buttons can dissappear altogether and the screen can morph into a graphic equalizer or music 'visualiser'.
Marek Pawlowski
PMN - Mobile Industry Intelligence
www.pmn.co.uk |
axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
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Thanks marekp!...I just like to say a very warm welcome to esato,and it is indeed an honour to have members such as yourself among us.
Its good to have people that are directly involved in these projects join our discussion forum,And give us inside and detailed information as you have on your concepts.I hope you keep us upto date with your companys ventures and projects....and hopefully one day the news on the final production of these amazing handsets.
Cheers!! 
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marekp
Joined: Dec 13, 2004
Posts: 4
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Thanks for the warm welcome. Always happy to discuss these projects - PMN is very much commited to promoting a better mobile user experience and this collaboration with Alloy is a significant part of that process.
The designs are intended as concepts to provoke debate on this issue, but part of the brief was to ensure they used technologies readily available today and could be produced within the required cost parameters for each market segment (i.e. for the 15 - 18 year old kids, it had to be possible to manufacture it at relatively low cost).
There are no plans to pursue manufacturing of them in their current form, but after the interest we received at the World Handset Forum, I suspect you will see some of these innovations filtering into mainstream handsets over the next 18 - 24 months (the average time-to-market for new mobile handsets).
The real moral of this story, however, is that the major mobile handset manufacturers need to start focusing on understanding the REAL needs of mobile users, not just what they're told in focus groups and user surveys. There is a whole new generation of innovative handset manufacturers emerging in China and other low-cost economies who will soon be able to drive down the price of handset production to previously unthinkable levels, leaving design as the main competitive differentiator. Put simply, if Nokia, Motorola, Siemens et al want to be around in 10 years time, they need to make very sure they are using their expertise and resources to produce truly inspirational designs.
Marek Pawlowski
PMN - Mobile Industry Intelligence
www.pmn.co.uk |
blackspot
Joined: Sep 06, 2004
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From: Philippines
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This is a great design! I just wonder how you can make it affordable considering that it has a large hi-resolution screen. Also, doesn't it affect much the battery performace?
resistance is futile. |
marekp
Joined: Dec 13, 2004
Posts: 4
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The cost of colour screens has actually fallen quite considerably as they have become a standard feature on most handsets. The power consumption is also dropping as companies introduce new technologies to improve performance. For instance, at the Society for Information Displays conference in Seattle in May of this year, Kodak showed a low-power, 3.6 inch organic light emitting diode (OLED) display which incorporates a white pixel array in addition to the standard red, green and blue pixels. This will make it possible to use the low power OLED displays for the main screens of handsets, whereas previously they have been reserved mainly for smaller sub-displays.
Also, this device would be offered as part of a complete music download service offering and would therefore enjoy high levels of subsidy from the network operators. |
mustafabay
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Egypt
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It looks like sub woofer on the back, if that was something that is going to filter down to us soon then we'll be seeing some some interesting phones soon,you'd only need vibration in silent mode but with sound a few blasts from the woofer should be enough  |
marekp
Joined: Dec 13, 2004
Posts: 4
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The 'sub-woofer' is more of a styling element. The handset is designed to provide high quality sound output, but we found this group of 15 - 18 year olds is very visually driven, so some aspects of the design are more about portraying an image - you could probably achieve the same sound quality with a much smaller speaker. In the 1-to-1 interviews we did with kids of this age they consistently equated 'bigger' with 'better' - e.g. mountain bikes with the biggest suspension springs were immediately perceived as being better than more expensive bikes with more understated styling. |
milmino
Joined: Jun 14, 2004
Posts: 454
From: Kenya
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oh I get it, a lot of kids these days also perceive the more expensive to be better. Anyway I like this innovative design as well as the "24-7" one. |
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Posted: 2004-12-11 04:38
