Phone Porn

February 28, 2008 6:56 AM

The Nokia Morph concept phone is currently featured in The Museum of Modern Art “Design and The Elastic Mind” exhibition (warning: flash interface). This 'self-cleaning' shape-shifting mobile follows Nokia's other recent phone concept, the environmentally-friendly Remade, unveiled at Mobile World Congress earlier this month.
posted by chuckdarwin (19 comments total)

Neat, particularly the easy bracelet-style carrying mode and solar powering, but:

1) They don't even have a real fake. They had to photoshop the Morph into that woman's hand. So we'll actually see one circa 2078? (The 2003-era requirement that I have Quicktime installed to view video doesn't bode well for their keeping pace either.)

2) Nanotechnology also can be leveraged to create self-cleaning surfaces on mobile devices, ultimately reducing corrosion, wear and improving longevity.

Oh, cellphones break because you don't Windex them often enough! I could have saved literally dozens of dollars if I'd known this earlier.
posted by DU at 7:05 AM on February 28, 2008

nanoscale technologies that will potentially create a world of radically different devices that open up an entirely new spectrum of possibilities.

In other words, they got nothing.
posted by brain_drain at 7:06 AM on February 28, 2008 [2 favorites]

Man! I wish I got paid for the kind of stuff I would draw up when I was a kid, with a logistically retarded imagination and all the time in the world!

Cashing that check for coming up with a neat looking photoshop of a flying person-pod mobile office shower CO2->O converter would sure be sweet!
posted by pedmands at 7:17 AM on February 28, 2008

In other words, they got nothing.

Shame, too. The concept video for the morph makes the iPhone look like a portable telegraph. I hate getting excited over technology that will probably never exist in my lifetime. Well, no, I like it, but I hate that I can't have it. The part at the end of the demo video where she takes a picture of the pattern on her bag and makes it be the wallpaper for the Morph after she puts it on her wrist was just perfect.

Beautiful idea, though. As opposed to the MOMA site, which...ick.
posted by middleclasstool at 7:21 AM on February 28, 2008

middleclasstool- I liked that part too, but laughed pretty hard when it said "saving picture as wallpaper". We have nano technology, but it still takes three seconds to save a 480 x 272 .png or whatever.
posted by pedmands at 7:27 AM on February 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ha! Didn't notice that. Funny how old tech ideas creep into even our wildest tech fantasies. Next up: "Are you sure you want to unfold the Morph? Y/N"
posted by middleclasstool at 7:30 AM on February 28, 2008

Fake-Cellphone-You-Desire-Filter
posted by redbeard at 7:30 AM on February 28, 2008

Oh, cellphones break because you don't Windex them often enough! I could have saved literally dozens of dollars if I'd known this earlier.

No, they break because sand and salt and other crap gets inside and eats away at inner components.
posted by mkb at 7:44 AM on February 28, 2008

This will only be cool when Apple conceives it.
posted by juiceCake at 7:46 AM on February 28, 2008

I can't wait for technology to advance to the point that this is vaporware.
posted by oddman at 8:07 AM on February 28, 2008 [2 favorites]

Integrated sensors might allow us to learn more about the environment around us, empowering us to make better choices

This is a great idea.

SMS to quin:

Message 1: Sensors indicate that your blood alcohol level is sufficiently high that you should not be attempting to leave your house.

Message 2: GPS navigation is attempting to alert you that you are about to enter a heavily wooded area. Per Message 1, this is inadvisable.

Message 3: Biological analysis of the surrounding area has revealed the presence of a badger. Proceed with caution.

Message 4: Sensors indicate that you are currently poking a sleeping badger with stick. This is HIGHLY INADVISABLE.

Message 5: G-sensors indicate that you are have hit the ground with considerable force. You are currently bleeding from at least three lacerations, and you have an angry badger still attempting to remove your foot. I am contacting emergency rescue services, and uploading the video of this event to youtube. You are an idiot, and the world should know this.

Things like this would make life so much easier.
posted by quin at 8:07 AM on February 28, 2008 [12 favorites]

God I hope I live long enough to see something that cool exist.
posted by splatta at 8:12 AM on February 28, 2008

laughed pretty hard when it said "saving picture as wallpaper". We have nano technology, but it still takes three seconds to save a 480 x 272 .png or whatever.

480 x 272? What you didn't see is that that pattern is now the wallpaper OF HER ENTIRE HOUSE. The couch automatically shifts to a complementary design, so don't worry about that.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:46 AM on February 28, 2008

Enough of the fucking imaginary product posts, already. This is like the third in three days. Is there some sort of "Design Without Engineering" conference going on right now?
posted by mr_roboto at 2:49 PM on February 28, 2008

Other examples:

Dumb imaginary implantable phone design.

Pile-o-shit interface that the designer couldn't even be bothered to mock-up properly.

Eck. Real technology is much more interesting.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:53 PM on February 28, 2008

And do all of these cite "nanotechnology"? Have designers just heard about this or something?
posted by mr_roboto at 2:56 PM on February 28, 2008

Can we put an end to this misuse of the word "porn"?
posted by evilcolonel at 3:55 PM on February 28, 2008

Imagining things is dumb.
posted by middleclasstool at 5:39 PM on February 28, 2008

evilcolonel,

If pornography can be described as media meant to titillate, where the subject matter is almost assuredly a fantasy, and therefor unobtainable by the average human then this is most assuredly pornography.

I'm just sayin' is all.
posted by Sam.Burdick at 8:04 PM on February 28, 2008