Seems there's a new mobile phone manufacturer in town, and they're gunning for those designer phones that are currently all the rage. Called Neo, the company is showing off its brand new Neo 808i, which is kind of funky looking, featuring a more horizontal approach to mobile phone design, with the keys placed to the right of the screen. I guess this is the innovation now obligatory in all new phones, no matter how unergonomic!

More pictures of new Neo phones after the jump.

The Neo 808i is nothing special at the moment, but what might be more interesting is the phones it has up its sleeves for the future. Indeed, future is the right word - these phone designs are straight from the latest thinking in concept phones. The picture above shows the Neo Flip, while the picture below shows the Neo Curve. Not sure how close they'll resemble the final product, though, as they don't seem all that ergonomic!

If Neo can turn these phones into reality, though, it might have some serious success on its hands. Of course, that's a big if. The big existing mobile phone companies are always churning out designs for concept phones that never see the light of day. So we can only hope that with designs as revolutionary as these, the new Neo is really able to deliver.

Neo 808i Specification

According to the company, "the new Neo 808i will be one of the smallest and lightest phones in today's marketplace. Measuring only 65mm x 40mm x 13mm and weighing less than 90g. For those who don't have a ruler handy, let's just say that it is about half the size of your current mobile phone, if not smaller. Despite its small size, the phone will pack in great features like a 1.3 MP camera, Bluetooth, MP3 and MP4 player, WAP capability and a memory slot expandable to 2 GB. Each phone will come with a built in 128mb storage and a free 128mb micro SD card."

Interestingly, the company also claims its future phones will have WiFi and 3G, and should be ready for the second half of 2007. We'll see. I wish Neo well, but the mobile phone market is frighteningly competitive, as BenQ-Siemens discovered.