The sun is an obvious example of where this energy comes from, but other examples that Intel are looking at include the motion of a trackball on a mobile phone and even the energy from a mobile phone basestation.

More info over at MediaMentalism.

Unless there's some kind of tactile feedback (such as that provided by Samsung's haptic touchscreen phones), it's difficult to determine whether you've selected a virtual key or not, thus slowing down text entry.

The new Nokia concept phone, designed by Rune Larsen, fixes that by introducing water. Specifically, the touchscreen contains a membrane-like keypad that can inflate and deflate according to whether the user wants the touchscreen to be completely flat or not.

For example,when you want to use the keypad, water is pumped into the keys, which inflate to give a physical key to press. When you want to use the touchscreen, the water is pumped out, making the screen completely flat. Not sure where the water goes though!


Like all good concept phones, this is just that - a concept, and it's doubtful that it'll ever see the light of day. What's beyond doubt, though, is just how stunning this phone looks. If Nokia could produce a phone that looked this good, irrespective of whether it contains water or not, they'd really be able to give the iPhone a run for its money.

[Source: YankoDesign]

With 3D displays and projector technology, the phone is mutating into an all in one entertainment. In the not too distant future the term "phone" will seem as archaic as "horseless carriage" does now as these devices continue to evolve into so much more than just a communications device.

[Source: ITMedia]

[Source: ITMedia]

Based on your actions you make when you move in a particular way (all of which the phone records via its sensors), sophisticated software will predict what your next actions wil be and will provide recommendations in advance. In other words, the phone will attempt to guess what you're doing, and the predict what you're about to do, which sounds just a little bit freaky if it works too well!

The work is part of Japan's "Information Grand Voyage" research project, in which they're trying to capitalize on the untapped data that can be harnessed through a world of sensors. Japan recognizes that Google effectively owns the Web's information, and so cannot compete with existing digital info.

However, data from sensors, particularly those from mobile phones, such as accelerometers, GPS, compasses, etc., are completely untapped, and so it trying to steal a march on the giant search engine by exploiting this data first.

DoCoMo are just one of several companies working on harnessing this sensor data. Already DoCoMo's prototype phones, which are worn on a belt and use accelerometers to determine movement, can sense when a person is standing, sitting or walking, though quite what the phone is meant to do with this information isn't clear.

Other companies can determine whether a person is on a train (although a combination of GPS data and knowledge of train tracks would surely also give you this info) or eating a meal, while Kyuden Infocom is considering using the data to "...prevent lifestyle diseases", which I can only presume means nagging you to get off your arse and do some exercise to stop you becoming obese!

Personally, although extremely impressive, this technology seems a little too invasive. Although the data's anonymized, the very fact that my phone would be second guessing my every move would make me feel depressed - am I really that predictable that a mobile phone can guess what I'll be doing next?! Why bother getting out of bed when your phone can tell you what you'll be doing throughout the day?!

Oh that we've come to this!!

[Source: Techon]

Short for Long Term Evolution, 3GLTE is being touted as 3.9G - i.e. version 3.9 of the third generation of mobile network technology.

Ordinary 3G runs at just 350bps or so, but that's now been superseded by 3.5G technology in the form of HSDPA. This is at least ten times faster, and newer mobile phones support a full 7.2Mbps.

3GLTE makes that look like a dial-up modem. The technology DoCoMo was showing off was running at a stunning 250Mbps for downloads,and 50Mbps for uploads!

Their demo included two Playstations connected via their 3GLTE network and their was no lag in gameplay whatsoever. DoCoMo expect to have the tehcnology deployed by 2010. Once we have 250Mbps mobile phones, will there be any need for a landline?!

[Source: Akihabara News]

KDDI also had several other odd-looking concept phones on display at this year's CEATEC 2008 event, which you can see after the jump.

[Source: Akihabara News]

Interesting concept, I bet you were thinking, but these phones are just concepts - there's no way you can produce any real music on them.

Oh really? Just check out the video taken by Akihabara News. I thought the sounds they made were going to be OK, but not much more than you get from an old 16-bit arcade machine.

Boy was I wrong!

Check out the video after the jump.

This is the single most impressive new concept I've seen from a mobile phone in ages! These musical phones are genuine musical instruments, and the music you can make with them is seriously impressive. Toys they most defintely aren't.

Sure, you look a bit odd playing them at first, but when you think of the success the Nintendo Wii and Guitar Hero have had in getting the general public to play vitual guitars (not to mention shedding their inhibitions), it's crystal clear that people will have no inhibitions playing these phones.

Furthermore, these phoens could actually usher in a new wave of music. It was cheap electronic musical instruments from Japan, such as the Roland TB-303 baslline, TR-606 drum machine and SH-101 synth unit, that helped create a whole new music genre back in the early '80s: electro, from which spawned hip hop, house, acid house, and eventually every electronic musical genre since the days of Rave.

Not everyone has a musical instrument, so kids with an interest but not enough money have little incentive to get one. But if your mates suddenly have a musical phone and your mobile's contract is up soon, what are you going to buy? A new phone with an MP3 player on it, or one that lets you jam with your mates?

This concept has the potential to take over the world, and create a huge surge in new musical innovation. Yamaha and KDDI, you'd be nuts not to turn these phones into production models. And if you do, please ship them over to the UK!

[Source: Akihabara News]

Yamaha are well known in the music trade for developing synthesizers and other musical instruments, so it seems only natural that the company,when asked by Japanese carrier KDDI to develop some phone prototypes, should come up with the synthesizer phone.

Come to think of it, it seems such a natural concept that I can't believe no-one's thought of it before! There are all manner of DJ and synth-box units you can use with an iPod, which, as the iPhone has proved, is just a mobile phone without the phone, so why not extend the concept and let your phone help you create music ?

More details of Yamaha's concept music phones after the jump.

Yamaha's Music Phones

Yamaha produced no less than six different concepts for KDDI.

Yamaha Band In My Pocket

The Yamaha "Band in my Pocket" is a fully functional synth, complete with a selection of different modules that snap onto the side of the phone, letting you play your music like a trumpet or bass, or even just like an old analogue synth.

Seeing trumpet keys coming out of the side of a mobile phone is quite possibly the last thing you'd ever expect, even from a gadget as versatile as the mobile - but blimey, does it work! I love the way you can snap on different keys and buttons according to how you prefer to play your music. The twiddling knobs for controlling the internal analogue-esque syth are particularly evocative for old TB-303 acid house lovers (ask your Dad!)

Yamaha Trio in your Hand

Next up is the Yamaha "Trio in your Hand" (OK, so the names aren't exactly blinding, but it's the tech we're focused on here, people, not the branding!).

This superb looking phone has a novel tri-clamshell design with three faces - the third of which is a scratch pad for DJs to mix their MP3s (much like the Tonium Pacemaker).

It's stunning to look at, but I've no idea how it works, or what actually it looks like when (if?) it's folded up. This, I think, would be a huge hit with the youngsters (ah, showing my age now!), particularly those who like cool tech rather than the more traditional nerdy tech.

Yamaha Sticks in the Air

Mobile phone drum sticks! Yes, of course, why did no-one think of this before? Actually, I can think of many reasons, and this is perhaps one of the less successful protoypes! The phone, as you can see, splits in two, with each half representing a drum stick that when waved about in the air, will trigger drum beat events that cause the phone to emit a drum sound.

Interesting idea, but would make you look a bit, well, odd if you do this on the tube!

Yamaha Box to Play

Stretching the boundaries of concept phone just a little too far, the "Box to Play" phone is shaped as a cube, and so is somewhat less than practical in terms of fitting it in your trouser pocket! That said, it's a novel solution to the age old problem of how to cram too many interfaces and features into one device.

As it's a cube, the Box to Play has six side with which to play around with - one for a phone keypad, another for a screen, a camera, a DJ scratch wheel (of course!), and the remaining two for speakers.

Looks novel, but I can't see this going anywhere, particularly when your average phone these days is less than 10mm thin.

Yamaha Key to Touch

The Key to Touch is an absolute cracker of a design. Open up the clamshell, and rather than a larger screen, you get a two octave keyboard! Again, stunning simplicity and such an obvious design, you wonder why no-one's thought of it before. There are already all sorts of tiny music boxes that let you craft your own tune while travelling,from allthe major high-tech music companies. Why no-one ever thought to marry them with a mobile phone is beynd me!

I love this design. Imagine your mates' faces when you open up your new phone to reveal piano keys! A much better idea for killing a few minutes than mobile TV.

Yamaha Strings for Fingers

For the budding guitar hero in you, the Strings for Fingers prototype lets you use your phone to play the guitar. Rather than feature a virtual set of strings, though, the Strings for Fingers phone comes with real guitar strings! Slide the phone's screen back, and there they are, looking completely discordant with the high-tech feel fo the rest of the phone.

Again, seeing a series of guitar strings hidden behind the screen of a phone is the last thing you'd ever expect. No idea how well this plays, and I've a feeling your mates would laugh their heads off rather than go "Wow!" when they saw it, but again, it's another interesting concept.

Yamaha and KDDI should be warmly congratulated for coming up with some amazing concept designs that aren't just novel, they scream out to be made! These aren't just concepts that are designed by fanboys or which blatantly ignore the laws of Physics; they're a truly novel set of concepts that have explored a genuine gap in the market and which have found a new feature for the mobile phone to play and experiment with - and that's nothing easy to do these days!

Props go out to Akihabara News as well for bringing these concept phones to our attention.

[Source: Akihabara News]

A concept phone is just that - a concept, showing what could be done if the phone were left solely to a designer without a care for whether or not it could actually be built, much less whether it could be built for a reasonable price.

Mind you, although some are undoubtedly stunning pieces of design, not all of them are what you might call attractive. You can see what I mean after the jump...

Take, for example, this latest design by designer Andy Kurovets. It's called the Bend Mobile concept phone, but unfortunately looks more like a FrankenPhone, with borrowed bits of other gadgetry bolted onto it in an almost arbitrary manner.

The camera, for example, is an odd little unit bolted onto the side that pops out like a silver tumour whenever it's needed. There's an odd concept of a double screen that gives you extra screen real estate when browsing the Web (no bad thing), but which doesn't exactly integrate all that well with the rest of the phone's design. Given that a concept phone is all about design, that's not exactly a good thing!

And as for the colour?! Yeesh! Now I know why mobile phone are black, silver or occasionally pink!

Finally, we can't ignore the shape of the phone. It's curved, apparently, to facilitate easing in and out of your trouser pocket. In other words, the Bend Mobile really was purposefully designed to look like an arse!

The Bend Mobile will never go on sale, and for that we have to be truly thankful. In the meantime, if you want to see an example of a concept phone that's so beautiful in its design it should be classed as a piece of art, check out a Sony Ericsson concept phone that was created a couple of years ago. Never made it to full production, but beautiful nonetheless.

[Source: Yanko Design, Andy Kurovets]