You want the latest in technology then just switch to Nokia or Apple’s page. This bit is about a cell phone that makes no excuses about sacrificing features for form, and we love it as much for the honesty as for the pretensions. The Basic Tab phone has been designed for Resonates 08 to compliment our dressing sense, not fulfill our technological aspirations. Physical traits are worked upon at the cost of technological characteristics! Does it make a penny worth of difference to our liking; no it doesn’t. The front of the phone is a gorgeous black screen with little else to draw attention. This humongous screen rests upon a metal slab to add volume. The camera located at the back also makes claim more as a fashion accessory than anything else and is designed as something located on a designer handbag than a tech device. Tech junkies move over, Basic Tab will put you at shame for having to pass over so sleek a device.

All of us have fantasized about those terribly suave and secretive communicating devices of retro flicks. The way 007 (and other less known secret agents) flicked the top of their watches and twiddled the little antennae captured imaginations of the viewers. And it seems even modern concepts are carrying the light. Elie Man is an industrial designer from South Florida. His Mobile Phone Lifestyle Concept jumps straight out of the retro flicks. Designed for the well known watchmaker Breitling “the concept combines a chronograph timepiece with a mobile phone”. The designer does not reveal too much about the specs that he wishes to incorporate. Elie does however add that the titanium make will hide in its belly a phone based on Motorola Mobile OS. The watch itself will ooze luxury with the glare-proof sapphire crystals. All in all the concept might seem a bit far fetched but worth seeing on the product shelf.

Space being a constraint for almost all gadget designers, it is becoming increasingly common to design astonishingly tiny gadgets. Phones aren’t far behind with each designer competing with the other to reduce the size as much as possible. One such designer has created a tiny phone concept, which is just about 8cms long and 2.6cms wide. The thickness being 1.5cms, it can easily be put inside your pocket without even feeling it’s presence. The interesting part about this phone is that in spite of being so small, it has a display of 3.5 lines and is compatible with sms. There are four 3way number keys while the ‘123’ keys double up as the menu button. The speaker ‘cap’ is used to open the display, which is neatly concealed within the phone. The display closes in once you hangup. This basic phone might appeal to those looking for a no-frills design.

You know how when you’ve just blown a bundle on getting that swanky new cellphone and the moment you step out of the shop you see someone carrying a more attractive looking handset and you instantly feel so low about your own ugly phone? Well, I do. That’s why I’m so in love with this innovative cellphone concept created by designer Rune Larson that comes with a shape shifting screen!

The thing basically features two layers of plastic- one plastic and one hard layer with liquid inside. This liquid gets pushed inside the layers to form different shapes on the surface that can potentially generate a variety of keyboards using this technology. Of course this doesn’t help you at all if you’re stuck with a cellphone with an ugly body, but if you like to experiment with different keypads, this handset will certainly please you a great deal!

Cell phone designers are trying to design models to attract the women users who need something different and fashionable. After working with feminine colors such as pink, now, it is the turn for the feminine curve to make its way into the cell phone world. Daniel Mota Veiga has designed this female figure inspired model for Motorola. The Piccolo Concept 1 is still in the concept stage and Motorola needs to work on this unique design to make it a reality. After all, it is for its own sake that Motorola must develop innovative models and this might be an instant hit among women and men struck by the feminine shape.

Created by designer Takumi Yoshida, the Sens Inclusive Mobile phone concept offers users real-time audio feedback to help visually-impaired people better interact with their phones. Specially shaped keys are all uniquely accessible making them more identifiable by touch. Since many visually impaired people have at least some ability to recognize light density or colors, the phone concept does away with text and uses color illumination to inform users of basic phone status. By creating a cellphone that can be easily used by people with visual handicaps, the designer opens up a whole new level of possibilities for creating specialized communication devices that can cater to people with special abilities and we sincerely hope Yoshida’s concept will soon be picked up by mainstream cellphone manufacturers as well.

We, over at CellphoneBeat, are crazy about concept cellphones. While most of the concept phones we come across are packed with a range of multimedia specs, the ‘Need’ concept phone is meant for communication only - no MP3, video, camera etc. Two screens, one touchscreen and one OLED, have been used. When you slide the lock down, you can see the battery and after that, you can scroll the phone menu. It’s a plain concept, but designed ingeniously to look sophisticated and trendy.

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While big players in the mobile phone sector are busy outdoing each other in developing new technical features for their products, the creative genius of some designers are playing with the shapes and sizes of the phone to give it an amazing new look. Roman Tubl has designed an oval phone surrounded by an illuminated red strip. The phone is packed with the usual features – including touchscreen display, Bluetooth, USB, Wifi, 3.2-megapixel camera and 4 GB memory. Although the sassy phone at the first glance looks like a kid’s toy phone, but its functionality makes it a real thing.

often have you landed up in a soup for not managing the parameters of your voice and spewing anger or naïve emotions in personal interactions? I’d be honest enough to say, “Many times!” With the world banking on Internet and telephonic conversations over in-person interactions, instantaneous control over one’s emotions is what we need. And that’s why our Super-Gizmo(something like a SuperMan, FU-Man!), the FuChat Cordless phone has made Planet Earth its only abode. The makers are none other than D-link, king of communication devices. It is armed with the uber feature of detecting changes of tone in a person’s voice and changes in body temperature, in order to alert the user of their current emotional state.

Encased in an environmentally-friendly-biodegradable plastic made from corn starch and sugarcane (Impressive!), it’s the apt pick for the green buffs. The inner framework is of a light aluminum compound to keep scores on durability high. The function of making the speaker aware of its emotions seeks to achieve the goal making phone conversations a more personal experience. So, when it detects a change in the user’s tone of voice or body temperature, it will pull up related, text, sound, lights, and color on the display, thus portraying your emotions. And the rest of the work is what you’ve to take care of.

The back of the phone could also be used to deliver person messages across family members like the time, weather images, or the “Do not disturb” icon. It can also hang from a door-handle using the hole on the top of the phone while displaying messages like “Do not disturb” or “Busy studying.” The bottom is weighted so it can stand upright on any flat surface in order to display messages. If you don’t wish to receive any phone calls, you could use the block function and let the voicemails be recorded.

Other features include displays weather conditions (info is pulled up from the internet and supplanted with lively images), temperature, time, and caller ID for incoming calls. With regards to perfection, they haven’t left any stone unturned. The makers have provided access to regular land-line telephone networks provides additional reliability in the case of Internet outages. No word on availability and pricing as we believe the concept is yet to hit the production house.

Yeah we always knew nature was the best damn designer. It sure did take us humans to swallow our pride and admit the fact but I’m glad we did. And a great testament of the superiority of nature’s designs is this LG Synthesis concept phone created by Andrew Suenghyun Kim for the LG design competition that ended last month. As the name would suggest, the concept phone is based on the process of photosynthesis and though the phone does not use the solar-charging concept of the flora entirely, it does use solar panels on the face to charge the Bluetooth headset. The stunning looking phone features a single piece of scratch resistant tempered glass face which adds another coat of super glossy touch and feel to the 3.5-inch AMOLED touch display while a glossy white trim which elegantly curves to the back frames the leaf reminiscent design. With touches of purple adding warmth to the design, a warm glow of led lights pulsates at the lower front of the phones face symbolizing energy of life.

The UI of the device is directed within the design itself, responding with input touch, assisted by haptic response where the device vibrates when touched. Floating bubbles complete the plant analogy while the UCI (User Created Interface) support makes the experience completely adaptable to the user. The back of the device features a 5mp camera as well as a rubberized cover for easier handling while the front of the phone features a hidden forward facing 1.3mp camera for video conferencing.

The device has 16GB SSD Solid State Drive with the option of 32 GB while a wireless charging and speaker dock is made to resemble the branch of a tree. The concept looks like a true fantasy/fashion phone to have and we sincerely hope LG decide to put this beauty into production.

It’s always nice to see how a technology company like Nokia envisages the future. Nokia 888 claims to be the icon of future communication. Its sleek, simple and very handy. It can be transformed into any shape and is ultra portable. You can strap it like a wrist watch, put on your clothes like a clip or mould into any shape.

This concept was proposed and designed for Nokia Benelux Design Awards by Tamer Nakisci. It consists of a flexible touch screen and speech recognition system. It is supposed to run on liquid batteries to enable flexibility. We can talk without words but with emotions which can be sent and received by Nokia 888 users. Everything in this concept is new and unique.

After an extravagant research demonstrating the flexibility over use of mobile devices, Nokia has formulated a concept that explains how future mobile tools could be more stretchable and adaptable, allowing the user to transmute their mobile devices into radically different outlines.

‘Morph’, a definition of the joint nanotechnology theory, developed by Nokia Research Center (NRC) an the University Of Cambridge (UK); and has been launched at the side of ‘Design and the Elastic Mind’ exhibition, put up from 24th February to 12th May at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Morph features the exhibition catalog as well and on MoMA’s official website. Video after the jump.

It exhibits the ultimate functionality that nanotechnology may deliver; complete with transparent electronics, flexible data and self-cleaning surfaces. Among the noted names with whose help this ease in the mobile devising era has been witnessed are Dr. Bob Iannucci, Chief Technology Officer Nokia; Dr. Tapani Ryhanen, Head of the NRC Cambridge UK laboratory Nokia; and Professor Mark Welland, Head of the Department of Engineering’s Nanoscience Group at the University of Cambridge and University Director of Nokia-Cambridge collaboration.

This association between the NRC and the University of Cambridge was declared in March, 2007 – with an agreement to work co-operatively on an extensive and long term program of joint research projects; Morph being one of these undertakings.
The fundamentals of Morph might be accessible to integrate into handheld devices within a stretch of 7 years, though at the outset, only at the high-end. However, nanotechnology may one day lead to low cost manufacturing solutions, and furnishes the possibility of incorporating complex functionality at a low price.

Here’s an eye treat for you all trendy people – ‘The Edge’ concept phone by Chris Owens. The Edge phone is especially designed for style conscious fashionistas. The Edge phone makes sure to hypnotize you with its glowing glass keyboard. The glass keypad slides out whenever needed. An embedded LED illuminates the etched numerics via refraction creating a glowing effect.

To answer an incoming call you just need to slide the glass keyboard out. The only visible lines in the Edge is the microphone wiring which Chris Owens has cleverly masked as a keyboard border.

Nokia’s pushing accelerator on the green highway; more so after a little praise coming from Greenpeace. Its drive to go green has resulted in a prototype concept phone tagged “Remade.” Nokia proudly displayed its contribution to planet Earth at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Made entirely from recycled materials, Remade is made with an intention to create something out of nothing new. And it successfully does that – the metals are extracted from recycled aluminum cans, the plastics are from drink bottles and this forms the chassis, and the keypad rubber has been extracted from old car tires. Even the insides are eco-friendly with printed electronics and energy-saving display graphics.

At the moment this concept is confined to a prototype but we do see commercial production as a distinct possibility. That ought to get Nokia some serious lovin’ from environmentalists.

Even though we rarely find cellphone concepts that can revolutionize the way we interact with cellphones beyond telling us that our breath smells like we just ate our dogs, this Nokia 9900 Pen Phone Concept really makes us wonder what life would be like if this thing ever came to life. I mean the thing is a like a pen with a scroll-like roll-out display so we’re guessing it’s radical alright!

But with a stretchable touch panel that doubles up as a display AND as a viewfinder for the handset’s camera, the phone really starts to show its true revolutionary colors. What’s even more is that when not being used as phone, the pen functions like a normal writing device with the button on top of the device that is used to control the phone.

Wooden gadgets are catching everyone’s attention lately, especially the wooden mobile phones. Have a look at this compact wooden phone, designed by Hyun Jin Yoon and Eun Hak Lee. The Maple handset is made out of African Blackwood. This cool looking handset measures 4.5 x 10.4 x 9.8 cm and rocks an MP3 player, digital camera and basic functions like calling or texting. This unique handset has the display that is placed at the back, revealing itself as you slide the handset. Until you touch it, it’s just wood. The camera phone concept features touch sensitive buttons that light up through the housing when you touch the phone. Maple phone is being expected to use the capacitive touch technology. No words if it would ever go into production, but one thing we are sure of is that the wooden phone, if made, will certainly be available at an affordable price.

That green bandwagon is speeding down the global highway at break neck speeds and corporations are rushing to hop on. That’s the good news… the other good news is that electronics giant Siemens is looking for ways to make bold and beautiful green statements with these cordless telephone designs. Siemens Home and Office Communication division commissioned design firm Formwelt with guidance from Hans-Henning Brabänder to dream up these ultimate green phones for the home or office. The “Gigaset Eco Visions” “Leaf” and “Solar” are made of recyclable raw materials, such as eco-plastic and liquid wood. Sun-light is used as a natural energy source for handsets. An eco-index provides the “nutritional facts” regarding the environmental-friendliness of each phone. This includes the percentage of organic materials and number of components used at disassembly, the energy consumption and emissions in use and production as well as the how recyclable each product is. So much more relevant info on all the ways this design is innovative below.

Leaf has a unique natural design reminiscent of a leaf in spring. The eco plastics provide sensational haptics and substantial convenience. The invisible OLED display is embedded in a translucent lens encasement, giving the phone a futuristic touch.