nitinah writes "Nokia design concepts is an ongoing initiative from the Finnish communications giant that invites designers around the world to create breakthrough cellphone designs. Phonemag has coverage of this year's entries, which includes theAki,a wrist wrap device for programmed self expression that tunes its behavior and outgoing/incoming communications based on the moods and gestures of the user,and allows 'talking' without speaking, just by gesture.Another design is the Acibo, which features a mini buddy device that has an entirely voice driven all-in-one personal communicator whichcan be charged by bio-energy. More featured concepts include a wearable, shock proof and waterproof device, the SURV1, a necklace based communicator calledthe Global Nomad, and a complete communication device called the Colores, with virtual storage to access all your personal information on the go." Futuristic Nokia Concepts Reviewed Log in/Create an Account | Top | 92 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 92 comments 0: 92 comments 1: 65 comments 2: 40 comments 3: 13 comments 4: 9 comments 5: 7 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. well, let's just do the future, ignore the present (Score:2, Insightful) by yagu (721525) * <yayagu@gmail.com> on Saturday October 08, @11:43PM (#13749014) (Last Journal: Saturday October 08, @10:40PM) Oh please, oh please, stop making futuristic cell phones. How aboutsome today phones. Phones that work. Phones that sound good. Phonesthat have decent battery life.Last time I looked at cell phones, the only ones on display at the kiosk werecamera phones. I asked to look at just a plane old cell phone. She asked whyI would want a phone that couldn't take pictures. Hwah?Let's see, what is Nokia considering: the Aki, a wrist strap device for programmed self expression? Hellmost people aren't able to self express anyway, let alone thinking some wrist deviceis going to do this. An electronic and more expensive twenty-first century moodring (for those of you who are old enough to remember). the Acibo?, voice driven?, bio-energy rechargeable? Hwah? Don't knowwhat bio-energy rechargeable means. I'm also not wild about the idea of yet anotherdevice to which people can talk and get increasingly frustrated when it calls "Bob"instead of "Mom". Nope. the wearable shockproof SURV1. Huh, shockproof wearable electronics?They'd better be. Interesting looking, old looking in a year, which of course iswhat they want. a necklace base communicator, the Global Nomad? Cute name. Uglydevice. They describe it as the necklace for your geeky girlfriend. For those geeksI know who do have a girlfriend, even they won't wear this device.Nor, I'm guessing would any guys. Next! the Colores. Apparently this does everything and holdseverything.I just don't think there's a need for people to be this chock full of data, norto be this transcendentally connected to the universe. But, I could be wrong.Maybe I'm too Unix "old school". I like small devices each of which do theirthing well, and integrate nicely with other things when it makes sense. In theabove "future", it mostly doesn't.Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for cell phone technology to work correctly. Can youhear me now? [ Reply to ThisRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by G3ckoG33k (Score:3)Sunday October 09, @12:05AM Re:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres (Score:5, Interesting) by Jeffv323 (317436) on Sunday October 09, @12:17AM (#13749097) Maybe you are no longer the target market for cell phone companies. At any rate, these things in the article are called prototypes, and they are absolutely necessary when you want compete in the market for gadgets that do more and more things every day. Nobody knows what kids will want tomorrow. But if you keep a fresh buffet of shiny new things for them to pick from, you are sure to keep their attention.As for your complaints of the current phones on the market, "Phones that work. Phones that sound good. Phones that have decent battery life." From what I understand and have seen, nearly every phone in the store has those attributes. I myself have a brand new phone that I picked up about a month ago. It is a phone that you would not want. Two high resolution color displays, mp3 player with stereo speakers, 1 megapixel video / still camera."It works. " Check."It sounds good." Well, I have had no problem hearing people. I have taken it to a bowling alley, and people I talked to did not hear the ambient noise in the background. The speakerphone is also very clear and loud, and surprisingly lacks the echo that seems to be prevalent on most landline phones. I was impressed."It has a decent battery life." I use about 500 minutes a month. I have gone as long as 36 hours without plugging it in and making average amounts of calls throughout my two days. Also, I was testing the phone when I first got it. I watched a little over an hour's worth of video, listened to music for about an hour, and of course made some phone calls (didn't take note of how many) but in the end the battery was showing half full. Not exactly scientific, but batteries and power management are getting good across the board.So, my recommendation is to buy the phone that you hate the least, and in a week you will be used to it. There you go. [ Reply to This | Parent Re:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres (Score:5, Funny) by Trillan (597339) on Sunday October 09, @01:13AM (#13749205) (Last Journal: Wednesday June 08, @11:51AM) I tried that. I found after a week, I just hated it more than I had hated the other options. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by znu (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @02:42AMRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by cpeterso (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:48AMRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by rugger (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @05:15AMRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by gl4ss (Score:3)Sunday October 09, @12:20AMRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by eln (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:21AMRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by ThJ (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @07:19AM Re:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres (Score:5, Funny) by McSmithster (917730) on Sunday October 09, @12:25AM (#13749125) You pretty much said everything I was thinking. These are by far some of the worst ideas I've seen in mobile technology. Fortunately they are just designs and will never make it to the market. In fact Im left wondering how some of these things even relate to mobile phones and devices. Its like they got together and had some weird conversation.Nokia Exec : Hey you designers over there, you go design us some futurist concepts for mobile devices.Designer 1: Sure thing, ok so what are we going to do???Designer 2: Hey lets make things like electronic necklaces and talking robot heads.Designer 1: Are you sure thats what Nokia wants? I thought they were into mobile phonesDesigner 2: Ya ok, so we will throw in some ridiculous fragile looking thing, cause all futuristic crap must look fragile, and then we design my talking head.Designer 1: Whats up with you and this talking head???Designer 2: Just think, phone sex will never be the same again hehehe.Designer 1: OHHH DAMN, thats good. Every nerd will buy one. Your brilliant.Designer 2: Ya, we will even have it so that it will recharge while the user does a stroking motion. And with most nerds I would imagine that would be a lot.Designer 1: HOLY CRAP, Im sold.Nokia Exec: Me too. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by rilister (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:15PMRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by lifterx (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @12:35AMRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by dj245 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @01:11AMRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by tooth (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @02:29AM Re:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres (Score:5, Insightful) by macpeep (36699) on Sunday October 09, @04:26AM (#13749626) I live in Finland - the country that Nokia is based in and a country that has been at the forefront of mobile phone development for at least the past 10 years. I have to say I don't understand at all the "I want a phone that is just a phone" or "I want a phone that works" type of comments. I can't even remember when I've had a phone that didn't work. In the past 10+ years, the battery life on every phone I've had has been good enough that I have charged them about twice a week; that's 3+ days of real-life battery life that includes plenty of calls, text messages, etc. Reception has always been good and the only time I remember having dropped calls is when I've been in an elevator going down to an underground parking hall or something as extreme. Hell, even on my recent hiking trip in the mountains in Norway, there was reception half of the time. And that was far from any civilization! On the roads on the way to the mountains, there was good reception 100% of the time. Either way, reception is more about the deployment of base stations than about the phone. The last phone I had with an external antenna was 5 years ago anyway. As far as functionality is concerned, I also don't get the complaint at all. There are plenty of models for all tastes. Let's look at Nokia, which this article is about: Nokia 1100, 1110, 2650, 2600, 3100, 3120, 3220. None of them have a camera. You are free to pick one. Or if your carrier doesn't offer one, it's probably because nobody wants them! Having said that, I wish people would get over the "phone" label. It's a device. Who gives a damn about what the name of it is? Not wanting a "phone" to have a camera or mp3 player is similar to saying that your don't want your computer to have the ability to play mp3's or view photos from your digital camera. It's a COMPUTER. It should only COMPUTE. Seriously, it's a device and it has a bunch of features that makes sense to people in their daily lives. And you get whichever device (or none) that makes sense to you. I have a Nokia 6630 right now and it's perfect for my use. It has 3G, EDGE and GPRS. It has tri-band GSM and it has Bluetooth. That means I can use it pretty much anywhere in the world! And with 3G/EDGE and Bluetooth, I can get Internet access to my laptop anywhere in the world too. I can sit in Starbucks in Shanghai and surf the net and read emails on the laptop while the phone is in my backpack, without ever touching a button on it. That's important to me, because I travel a lot and because I like to work in cafes, restaurants etc. The phone has a 1.3 megapixel camera and a lens with less crappy quality than on most other mobile phone cameras. That allows me to snap pics of booths on tradeshows and MMS or email them to colleagues back in Finland. "Check out what company X is showing!". Or I can send my wife pictures of the beautiful lake by the sauna at the company off-site. "Wish you were here!". Obviously, it's not a replacement for my actual camera, which takes 100x better quality pictures. But the useage is different and I don't want to carry around my camera everywhere! The phone has an email app. It lets me check my email when I'm somewhere where I don't want to take the laptop along. For example, I could be hiking in Lapland but I still want to check if we got that major deal that I was hoping would have been done before my vacation began. I don't use it much, but there are times when it's been a real life saver. The phone has an XHTML web/wap browser. I use it to check the news, weather, TV-program listings, view webcams from Finland when I'm traveling, check what movies are in what theater and at what time, and even to order movie tickets once in a while. It's also good to do the occasional Wikipedia or Google lookup. It has Symbian OS and Java, so I can play some fun games on it to pass the time on the subway or while waiting for a connecting flight. Or I can run some other useful apps, like IRC, AOL IM, MSN IM, SSH, BusWatch, WorldMate, Opera, etc. There's tons,Read the rest of this comment... [ Reply to This | ParentRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by jgs (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:53AMRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by jgs (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:37PM2 replies beneath your current threshold.Oh, for god's sake. by pwhysall (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @04:31AMRe:well, let's just do the future, ignore the pres by EntropyEngine (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @03:11PM3 replies beneath your current threshold. Sadly (Score:5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 08, @11:44PM (#13749018) Phone functions have been removed from all of these devices due to space limitations. [ Reply to This Seriously??? Where are the phones? (Score:1) by tivoKlr (659818) on Saturday October 08, @11:45PM (#13749020) (Last Journal: Thursday August 18, @11:32PM) These must be the most ridiculous items to be called mobile phones ever. Just what I want to carry, a little talking ball that backtalks to me when I ask it to call someone.God forbid I miss that important call while scuba diving. I'm sure my clients would love to talk to me underwater.What's wrong with just making a quality phone with good RF and solid networking... [ Reply to This Unusable (Score:4, Insightful) by Numair (77943) on Saturday October 08, @11:45PM (#13749022) (http://www.numair.com/) The user interfaces for these things completely suck. Anyone remember that retarded "rotary dial" interface on the 3650? Yeah, well, here's more from the same people who brought you that piece of crap ... [ Reply to ThisRe:Unusable by gl4ss (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:03AMDamping effect from EUCD anyway by SgtChaireBourne (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @05:19AMRe:Unusable by NanoGator (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @05:41AMRe:Unusable by jacksonj04 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @06:17AMRe:Unusable by Hurricane78 (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @12:54PM2 replies beneath your current threshold. Does this mean (Score:5, Insightful) by zappepcs (820751) on Saturday October 08, @11:49PM (#13749031) (http://www.asomaworld.net/zinn | Last Journal: Tuesday October 04, @08:28PM) that Nokia is out of ideas? Can't they go down the street to Ikea and get some more? [ Reply to ThisRe:Does this mean by OldManAndTheC++ (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @07:09AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Make Phones for Consumers (Score:5, Insightful) by fragmentate (908035) * on Saturday October 08, @11:50PM (#13749032) (http://stoic.wisdomguild.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday October 09, @04:57AM) Subject says it all. Most companies are making their phones for the carriers. Which means out of the last 4 camera phones I've had, I've had to buy a service to get the pictures off. Yeah, I can buy some 3rd party hack to do the job, but these hacks would work so much better if the phone had been designed for my personal use. Instead, they're designed so the carriers can make more money.So, they can make all the fancy phones they want, I've ceased buying them.Now that I think about it, I'm probably the only one that cares... [ Reply to ThisRe:Make Phones for Consumers by zappepcs (Score:2)Saturday October 08, @11:53PMRe:Make Phones for Consumers by yagu (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:01AM Re:Make Phones for Consumers (Score:4, Insightful) by Slashdiddly (917720) on Sunday October 09, @12:06AM (#13749068) Maybe they would make phones for consumers if consumers paid for them. However, at least in the US, most phones are heavily ($200-$300) subsidized by carriers. So the simple answer is, as always: follow the money. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Make Phones for Consumers by FRiC (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @01:29AMRe:Make Phones for Consumers by Spoukie (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @03:19AMRe:Make Phones for Consumers by cpeterso (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:12AMRe:Make Phones for Consumers by karnal (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:19AMBuy GSM then. by tabbser (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @01:20AMRe:Make Phones for Consumers by fiddlesticks (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:58AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Global Nomads (Score:2, Funny) by starling (26204) <starling@subdimension.com> on Saturday October 08, @11:50PM (#13749034) The Rev. Spooner would be shocked at the idea of someone giving their geeky wife Noble Gonads. [ Reply to This The Aki (Score:1, Offtopic) by lxt (724570) on Sunday October 09, @12:05AM (#13749066) (Last Journal: Thursday June 17, @11:02AM) See, now electronic tagging of prisoners can be cool too! [ Reply to This oh come on (Score:3, Insightful) by akhomerun (893103) on Sunday October 09, @12:07AM (#13749070) this isn't even realistic. phones have been the same, weak, slow, useless crap for the last 10 years. even if these phones are plausibile, they are totally unergonomic and unrealistic. i mean what planet are these guys on?even if any of these devices become plausible, the cell phone companies won't touch them because they don't involve ripping off the customer for $3 ringtonesfurthermore, isn't it easier to just push buttons rather than to remember stupid gestures that you have to act out in public and look like a complete idiot? [ Reply to ThisRe:oh come on by Wazukkithemaster (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @03:11AMRe:oh come on by akhomerun (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:24AMRe:oh come on by Rob_Warwick (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @04:56AM riiight (Score:1) by akhomerun (893103) on Sunday October 09, @12:12AM (#13749086) "...which can be charged by bio-energy"uhh...okay spock. [ Reply to This3 replies beneath your current threshold. Cant keep up (Score:1) by tbulka (900587) on Sunday October 09, @12:17AM (#13749098) They could'nt compete with motorola so they had to open source it?Sounds a bit like SUNW. [ Reply to ThisRe:Cant keep up by mtenhagen (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @03:50AM And They Will Sell (Score:2) by Quirk (36086) on Sunday October 09, @12:19AM (#13749104) (Last Journal: Monday October 03, @05:07PM) I lurv a good pathetic fallacy as much as anyone.Some of these, especailly the "Aki", ranks among the all time greats of things fashioned by repeatedly being beaten by the stupid stick.There were mood rings [howstuffworks.com]; and, one of my favs, pet rocks [virtualpet.com] (I keep mine in my shoe). Then there was/is the virtual pet [virtualpet.com].Stupid though they be ya gotta admire the chutzpa to market this stuff. Somewhere in a virtual heaven Willy Loman [wikipedia.org] is smiling down on Nokia. [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. Practical applications? (Score:2) by Mostly a lurker (634878) on Sunday October 09, @01:01AM (#13749181) Hmmm...The Aki allows communication only by gestures. The SURV1 is completely waterproof. I guess if you could combine these features in one phone, you would have the ideal device to call for help if you get in trouble while diving.I am having real difficulty coming up with any other practical benefits to any of these devices. [ Reply to ThisRe:Practical applications? by Phobea (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @06:21AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Article error- (Score:2) by NilObject (522433) <ttate@calpoly.3.14edu minus pi> on Sunday October 09, @01:22AM (#13749220) (http://www.fallingbullets.com/) More featured concepts include a wearable, shock proof and waterproof device, the SURV1They misspelled "pad of paper and a pencil". [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. No, Bad Idea! (Score:2) by Comatose51 (687974) on Sunday October 09, @01:35AM (#13749241) "the Aki, a wrist wrap device for programmed self expression that tunes its behavior and outgoing/incoming communications based on the moods and gestures of the user, and allows 'talking' without speaking, just by gesture"I'm sure no Slashdotter would want something like that. It's not such much the concept is bad as putting it on the wrist might reveal too much without a whole lot of talking... [ Reply to This Better ideas (Score:2) by Animats (122034) on Sunday October 09, @01:56AM (#13749288) (http://www.animats.com) Here's a better idea, and one that's quite buildable -the two piece jewelry phone. One piece is an earring; that's the speaker end. The other is a necklace or choker; that has the microphone. Voice controlled, using something like Wildfire's semi-intelligent interface.No ring tones; a subtle whisper tells the user who's calling, and a head-toss quietly diverts the call to voicemail. Finally, an elegant phone. [ Reply to This Generating power (Score:1) by dawhippersnapper (861941) on Sunday October 09, @02:43AM (#13749397) (http://portlandforums.com/) The bouncy ball cell phone is okay, what I'd really like to see is a wind up generator similiar to emergency wind up radios, if one exists for a decent price already, I'd love to see it. I wouldnt even mind a .5 cubic feet one, if it supported multiple voltages and generated enough power to maintain a cell phone or maybe efficient laptop. [ Reply to ThisRe:Generating power by twoshortplanks (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @07:08AMRe:Generating power by tuomas_kaikkonen (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @09:39AM Hmm... a futuristic watch named Aki? (Score:1) by yojimb0 (921531) on Sunday October 09, @06:51AM (#13749879) Sounds a lot like the name of the protagonist from "Final Fantasy: Spirits Within", which I believe was Dr. Aki Ross, and that Nokia phone/watch of the same name sure as heck looks a like hers. http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ff/affw/ffmov/propaga nda/watch1.jpg [rpgamer.com] [ Reply to This In soviet russia .... (Score:1) by crowdofone (918899) on Sunday October 09, @09:35AM (#13750230) nokia's tell you what to do! [phonemag.com] [ Reply to This Worst thing that ever happened (Score:2, Interesting) by LaughingCoder (914424) on Sunday October 09, @09:44AM (#13750260) Ever since Nokia won the best design team award back in 2003 they have been cranking out crap. I was developing software for cell phones and everytime a new Nokia model would come in we would laugh at it. Not only was the UI usually braindead (3650 rotary dial comes to mind - or how about the stupid NGage "sidetalker"), but the electronics kept perpetuating the same flaws. Our company was were putting music on cell phones (over the air delivery of full tracks), and for some reason Nokia insisted on mono 16KHz audio on their high end Symbian phones. They kept coming out with new plastic, but the same old pathetic innards, model after model. Our customers were begging us to get decent sound on the Nokias and we were constantly explaining to them how Nokia was the problem, not our software (which played wonderful stereo 44KHz sound on MS Smartphone devices). Anyhow, if Nokia had put half the effort into improving the inside as they spent on "improving" the outside, they would have been much better off. [ Reply to This So carriers can cripple them some more? (Score:2) by gelfling (6534) on Sunday October 09, @11:29AM (#13750652) (http://slashdot.org/) It's not about the phone it's about the carrier and the carriers will just cripple these new concepts so that they can fuck you over on the premium serive charges.And let's face facts - only about 15% of cell phone owners ever bother to use all the extra features. Not even the camera once they get that first picture email bill. [ Reply to This What the (Score:3, Insightful) by LS (57954) on Sunday October 09, @11:29AM (#13750653) (http://slashdot.org/) The Colores concept featured by Nokia provides a fully packed communication device that lets you handle your digital life ubiquitously, allowing you to access and share information seamlessly on the go. What a load of crap! This is so 1998? Let's break this down.* fully packed - what does this phone have that others don't? I don't see a hard drive. a GPU? An altimeter?* communication device - um, we say phone around these them parts* digital life - Until I get a jack in the back of my neck, this is nothing but market-speak* ubiquitously - ummmm whatEVER* access and share information - I f'n hope so! What phone can't do that these days?* seamlessly - What, is this phone made of a tube of spandex?* on the go - Great, I don't have to set up a tripod to use the phone? Awesome!And what's with the head/robot thing? Haven't enough engineers heard of Microsoft's Bob to figure out that they need to PLEASE STOP trying to make a gadget that resembles "my friend"??!?!? Look people, until you have software that can pass the turing test, stop wasting your time making compromising the UI by trying to make it "my friend". There's a reason most gadgets are not anthropomorphic, and you prematurely ejaculating engineers need to wait until these machines can ACTUALLY be my friend before introducing me to them :)LS [ Reply to ThisRe:What the by cornface (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @03:10PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Re:If you want a phone that "works" (Score:2) by Lispy (136512) on Sunday October 09, @08:36AM (#13750077) (http://www.blissx.co.uk/) Yup. Spot on. Actually old mobiles start cluttering up my desk. Last week they were handing out one year old Siemens phones at my company. Someone brought them in so we could sell them on ebay, but in fact they weren't worth the hassle so I got one and used it during the Oktoberfest were I tend to loose or break phones (so would you, trust me!). By chance it survived and I will keep it around in case I need a rugged, inexpensive mobile. I still use my Nokia 6210 occasionally and it has great sound quality, one week of standby and the most intuitive interface. They sell at ebay for 20$. My everyday phone is a 6230 wich has everything I could ever ask for except, maybe, a decent text editor for reading project gutenberg books on the road.But hey, that's just me and a small java program can solve this in a minute. Anyone has pointers on this? [ Reply to This | Parent1 reply beneath your current threshold.8 replies beneath your current threshold.