Move over HTC, the Windows Phone concept that really plays on the tile design

HTC might have said it was designing the Windows Phone 8S and 8X with Windows in mind, but it didn't take it as far as it could have, according to designer Alexandros Stasinopoulos

Sharing his concept with the blog Yankodesign.com, the idea seems to be to accentuate the tiled effect by carrying the black lines seen in the OS through to the hardware chassis as well.  

Kanavos is a study on smartphone design and it explores the visual interaction between hardware and software, according to Stasinopoulos. We think it is very Mondrian inspired, personally. 

The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the Kanavos concept removes the “windows” button from the front-lower-centre part of the device and places it to its left and right sides.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/47620/kanavos-windows-phone-concept-design

Smart Pants Kanavos!

According to designer Alexandros Stasinopoulos, Kanavos is a study on smartphone design and it explores the visual interaction between hardware and software. It features a number of vertical and horizontal contrast color stripes and relies on the strong windows interface design. Basically the hardware, the OS and the interface blend and complete each other.

Kanavos removes the “windows” button from the front-lower-centre part of the device and places it to its left and right sides. This is to facilitate the easier access to this function while holding the device.

Designer: Alexandros Stasinopoulos

http://www.yankodesign.com/2012/09/18/smart-pants-kanavos/#ff3DgqRrLDmB0hpw.99

Photos of prototype Sony Xperia 2013

User with the nickname playd published three photos on Twitter dummy Sony, which will be added to the lineup Xperia 2013. They do not work everywhere plugs and they can see the logo Sony Ericsson. The most interesting is the model whose body is made ​​of metal (a bit like the iPhone 5):

  

Most likely, the devices were shown to European partners within the IFA 2012, so they were aware of the plans of the Japanese manufacturer in the near future and do not write him off. We believe that the announcement will take place at the MWC 2013 in the beginning of next year, but do not rule out that they never come out and exist solely to demonstrate possible design. Familiar lines can be seen in the official video:

http://mobiltelefon.ru

Google Glasses: A New Way to Hurt Yourself (parody of Google's Project Glass)

http://tomscott.com - I made the Google Project Glass team a new commercial. I don't think they'll like it.

Project Glass

Thoughts, designs, and stories.

We think technology should work for you—to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t.

A group of us from Google[x] started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment. We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input. So we took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do.

Please follow along as we share some of our ideas and stories. We’d love to hear yours, too. What would you like to see from Project Glass?

Project Glass: One day...

We believe technology should work for you — to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don't.

A team within our Google[x] group started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment.

Follow along with us at http://g.co/projectglass as we share some of our ideas and stories. We'd love to hear yours, too. What would you like to see from Project Glass?

The LunaTik Touch Pen seamlessly goes from paper to tablet with a click of a button.

It writes. Both ways!

HELLO AGAIN!

Thank you for checking out our LunaTik Touch Pen project. Ever since we launched the TikTok+LunaTik Watch Kits on Kickstarter last year we have been constantly asked when we were going to do another project. Well, we have been working on a variety of ideas which we plan to launch in the near future. One of the first ideas is a simple and obvious solution inspired by the way we work between the analog and digital worlds every day.

INSPIRATION

Paper and pen will never be replaced. However, more and more people are embracing their iPads and tablets to take notes and capture ideas in a new hybrid analog-digital workflow. These users continuously switch between paper and touch screen during the day. This means they require both a traditional ink pen and a digital stylus.

While both are great on their own we would prefer to have our everyday pen be compatible with iPads and tablets with a click of a button eliminating the need to carry both items. This was the inspiration for the LunaTik Touch Pen. The idea was born from a desire to integrate our pen of choice, the rollerball, with the digital stylus.


OBSESSIVE DESIGN

The Lunatik Alloy Touch Pen is manufactured from premium materials and features an aircraft grade aluminum barrel, a die cast clip that is hard coated with PVD plating, high grade silicone rubber grip as well as our patent-pending dual mode tip that allows you to seamlessly use the LunaTik Pen with any touch screen. Our custom engineered materials are designed to meet our demanding specifications for touch screen responsiveness and flow. And on paper, the Touch Pen uses precision Japanese rollerball components for a fluid inking experience.

We are also offering a LunaTik Plastic Touch Pen in a range of colors that are more expressive and less expensive in case you are always losing your pens like us. :)

With either the Alloy or Plastic Touch Pens, going from paper to screen is as natural and simple as clicking your pen like you always have. Once you have transitioned to the digital side you have endless ways to express yourself with the same pen through a wide range of note taking and creative apps. While we love multi-touch as much as anyone we believe that the stylus is an important tool for certain types of precision input that fingers were not designed for.

KICKSTART US THE REST OF THE WAY

So here is where you come in. Designing products is what we, MINIMAL, do day-in and day-out for big brands. We also enjoy designing our own products. But as with TikTok+LunaTik, funding, minimum order quantities, manufacturing and distributing a new product and category is a whole other story. Kickstarter is a great way for us to test and realize many of the ideas that we have in our small studio that we believe people will love but big companies are too scared or too slow to do. And we love creating cool stuff without the big company politics and indecision. We believe in the emerging power of community and the individual to bring ideas to life and challenge convention.

WHERE THE FUNDING GOES

Products take a lot of time and money to develop and launch. Here are some areas where the pledge money helps to make the product a reality.

Tooling & Development. Our tooling and development will be approximately $50,000 based on the current designs.
Minimum Order Quanities (MOQs). Factories often require MOQs  thousands of units per design. This is a huge risk for a startup. Kickstarter can validate whether you should produce the product or not.
Patents. The patents we have filed protect this simple idea from being knocked off by every pen manufacturer on the planet. We hope someday all pens have this functionality. Just not next week. Everyone wants the Kickstarter products they support to stay original and unique longer than that.
Development trips. Ideas are worthless without execution. Over the next several months we will need to go to Asia to manage and oversee development, tooling and production to make sure the products live up to your expectations.
With your support we are targeting to have these products in your hands by April. We hope that you are inspired and excited by the idea and choose to support the project. Either way please spread the word and share with your friends.

THANK YOU!

NOTE: All included Japanese rollerball cartridge inks are black.

Downloadable Touch Pen Gift Cards available for the holidays

It gives. Both ways! Do you plan to give your LunaTik Touch Pen pledge reward as a gift to friends and family this holiday season?   Since product won't be ready until spring, we thought creating a holiday gift card for both Alloy and Plastic Touch Pens would be appreciated in anticipation of what is coming in 2012.  Happy Holidays!

Sony Nyphon - the first smartphone from Sony Xperia

The network has information about the first smartphone to be released by Sony after it ceases to be Sony Ericsson. As was previously known, the change of branding may not happen until mid-2012, which means the unit will be no earlier than this date. But that casts doubt that the published specifications owned flagship model, although at the moment looks that way. Sony Nyphon model is based on the platform of the company's ST-Ericsson U8500 dual core processor with 1 GHz. Also, the device has a 4-inch screen with a resolution qHD, 8-megapixel camera with Exmor R sensor, backlit. Model Sony LT22 will be released under the name of a non-Nyphon, it is only the code name for the project, and will be the first vehicle in line of Sony Xperia. Initially the machine will come with the operating system Android Gingerbread, which will later be replaced by Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Among other features include 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage (whether or not a memory card slot - not clear). What is the positioning of the smartphone will get in the middle of next year is not yet clear - it could be an attractive device for the price, and fairly expensive model.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Curve is a Relative of the Xperia Arc With a Big Bottom

After showing you the first real pics of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc HD, aka Nozomi, now we have yet another work from Jsus, the same guy who created some appealing Sony Ericsson concepts. This time he seems to have tweaked an Xperia Arc handset, as shown in the following pictures.


The front side of the device is totally a Xperia Arc, while the profile shows us a big bump in the lower back area of the phone. This doesn’t look anything like other Sony Ericsson devices, to be honest. Also, those physical buttons below the display seem already antique right now, considering that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich uses virtual buttons under the screen. I also don’t quite understand what that bump is for… It may allow the device to use a bigger battery, stuff in a LTE chip, a bigger camera sensor or who knows what.

It might also be that this model mimics the design of the Sony Tablet S, with a curved area like a folded magazine and a buttons placed in its sides, far from the user’s sight. Or it could just be a real phone, that will be coming soon and it got pictured ahead of time. Which one do you think it is?

Sony Ericsson Nypon LT22i Gets a Render, May Feature 20 Megapixel Camera?!

Over the past days I have been receiving quite a bunch of Sony Ericsson concepts from a guy called Jsus, that does a tremendous work when it comes to design. Here’s his latest work, a render of the Sony Ericsson Nypon LT22i, a handset that has been in the news a lot, together with Nozomi:

The rumors say that this is a next generation handset from Sony Ericsson, one that runs Android Ice Cream Sandwich, features a qHD display and a NovaThor U8500 processor. This one is a dual core 1 GHz unit with support for 1080p video recording and more next gen multimedia abilities. Sony Ericsson Nypon comes with HDMI and USB connectivity and thanks to its processor, it can support cameras of up to 20 megapixels.

USB support means that we might see some game controller action here, opening the door for mobile gaming, a feat that has also been highlighted by Android 4.0. The new OS brought joystick input control to smartphones, a feature that was only present on Honeycomb tablets before. What do you think about this device?

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Nokia Research Center: HumanForm

HumanForm was created in a joint effort between Nokia Design and Nokia Research Center to translate the most promising new nanotechnologies into meaningful user experience, prototype those for decision making; and transfer and set aspiration for future portfolio.

Project is a key to bring significant user experience benefits to the market thereby creating mindshare and value share through nanotechnology enabled experiences.

HumanForm is a visionary solution for a dynamically flexible device beyond touch screen and voice communication where technology is invisible and intuition takes over. Natural interactions are enabled with kinetic user interface.

HumanForm concept and a follow-up Nokia Kinetic Device prototype were launched in Nokia World 2011.

To learn more, visit: http://research.nokia.com/

Follow us on Twitter here - http://nokia.ly/j7zixs
Or connect with us on Facebook here - http://nokia.ly/hWCnbn

Nokia GEM: 21st century mobile jewel

This is the new Nokia GEM concept device. What if *every* part of your next phone was a touchscreen?

Is this the iPhone 5 leaking ahead of release?

We just got this video of an alleged iPhone 5 - it's got a bigger screen but design-wise, it looks the same as the iPhone 4.

Mozilla Seabird 2D

Mozilla Seabird 2D

Concept of periscopical camera

At the present moment on the market for digital cameras is a huge amount of models. However, the differences between the models as a whole not too much - clear boundary can be conducted only between [tsifrokompaktami] and specular cameras. Each user can select apparatus conformably to its budget and needs, although sometimes the difference between the models of compacts is reduced to the field of design. Mirrorless cameras with change optics separately stand. And also separately can become the concept, devised by designer [Yaniv] Berg (Yaniv Of berg).


It created the [tsifrozerkalnuyu] camera, which is periscopical. Camera has change optics and possesses the bent housing, in which is hidden the system of mirrors. The key advantage of this construction becomes the possibility to look in viewfinder not directly, but on top or from below. In such a way that to photographer is not required to retain camera in face - it can hold it at the level of breast, or in another convenient manner, in this case obtaining the same possibility to look through optics as in [tsifrozerkalke] of traditional construction.

No information about the actual possibilities of the obtained prototype it communicates. It is also unknown, did draw concept the attention of the important producers of photographic technique.

SE Glory

SE Glory

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Design by Community sketches – the votes are in

GLOBAL – Last week, we asked you to choose between three different designs for the Nokia U, the concept device whose features and specifications have been voted for by Conversations readers. Well, now the votes are in, the ballot boxes have been emptied and it’s time to reveal the final results for each of the candidates. Read on to find out more.

You had to choose between three sketches created by the design team to meet the specifications set by you. Over 18,000

Sketch one wins with 7276 votes. It’s a margin of just 1754 votes over the closest runner-up, number two. That’s just 11 per cent more of the vote. But a win nonetheless.

It’s a lot closer than you might have anticipated. But what does that mean? The first thing it might suggest is that people’s tastes are more varied than most of us think. There’s clearly a market for more than one model out there and no such thing as the ‘perfect’ design: even when the required specification meant they’re not radically different from each other. Also, they are all handsome in their own way. As Adam F said in the comments, “All three look good, let’s make ‘em!”.

A lot of people commented – quite rightly – that the designs resemble existing or announced product lines. The design team told us that they’d used the existing “design language” of Nokia’s devices to produce the sketches. This means that they are all identifiably Nokia phones. They were also cautious about releasing “spoilers” of device designs that may or may not appear in the future.

A number of people said that they still wanted keys, either in the form of an Eseries-style candybar or hidden away like the Nokia N97. Unfortunately, though, that vote took place in March and more people voted for a touchscreen. We’re sympathetic at the same time – and fortunately, in real life, there will always be a variety of models to choose from.

And finally, it became abundantly clear that making everyone happy isn’t going to happen. Here are two comments from the Chinese blog that perhaps demonstrate this best:

hillguy said: I like Sketch Two, because I love the two green lines.
toyawork said: I like Sketch Two, except for the two green lines.

Ah well. There were always going to be winners and losers from the start. But on to the next stage. We’ll take the winning design back to the team for them to model and render. Look out for more updates in the near future.

[Concept Art] HTC HD3 running WP7 & HTC Sense 3 (2010-07-31)

This is my second HD3 Concept. I made the first one (link) in February 2010 - back then people didn't knew much about Windows Phone 7. I thought it's going to be similar to 6.5.x and that - at some point - we'll be able to flash it on our current devices.

That's why I came up with a phone running Windows Mobile 7 and which looked like a kitchen knife (and what's with that huge weather animation?! ).

The Concept got some attention and was mentioned on several websites and blogs all over the world. That's when I learned that Google Translate has no problems translating "What an ugly phone!" from Russian and Turkish to English. Although I designed it for my graphic novel which takes place in 2015, my futuristic HD3 specifications were taken seriously so I was heavily criticized for the hardware.

Now, a few months later, I present to you my latest HD3 Concept.

Since everyone would like to see different specs I've decided to give you guys a chance of writing your own. I will update the threat with realistic specifications written by someone who knows what he/she's talking about.

As you can see, my new HD3 has two Build-in Speakers on both sides of the screen (I really liked that about my previous concept), a front facing Camera, HDMI output and a Micro-USB port. There are 6 hardware buttons (Power, Volume Up and Down and 3 WP7 buttons). You can come up with the rest.

I decided to make WP7 more customizable so I skinned it with Sense 3 (do you REALLY think HTC would release a phone without Sense? I know Microsoft claims that all WP7 devices should use Metro, but Sense is HTC's trademark). Of course you could still change the wallpaper:



Finally, before you start complaining about the hardware buttons, he's an alternative version with buttons that would give actual feedback (though I think they make the phone look ugly):

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Phone Support For Beauty

You got to agree that the skeletal system is a genius of design; it protects the delicate organs inside while giving support to our lustrous skin. If we were to apply the same design for our mobile phones then it’s quite possible to wipe out the peripheral “phone covers and cases” industry. I’m talking about the LG Exo Smartphone Concept. The key feature in this concept is a high strength polymer exoskeleton for protecting the delicate internal components while supporting its external rubber skin.

The end result is a good-looking phone that does not require any protective case that mars its beauty. You get to enjoy the phone in its intended avatar! The reason why I relate to this concept is that my gorgeous iPhone lies hidden beneath this hideous cover, lest it falls down and cracks!





Designer: Benjamin Lotte

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What are you expecting from Nokia’s MeeGo phone in order for it to become successful?

A lot of hopes are resting on MeeGo phone to be instrumental in Nokia’s reclamation of the high end smartphone arena.

There’s the N8, and other rumoured Symbian^3 devices which are awesome in their own right. But some would argue that they are high-mid and not completely and convincingly all high end.

It seems for the best of the very best Nokia will have to offer, the responsibility lies of MeeGo Phone.

What are you expecting from the Nokia MeeGo Phone in order for it to become successful?

I could mention precise hardware specifications/expectations from the OS, but I’ll leave that for the comments. Is there anything in particular that MeeGo phone cannot do without?

I’ll blanket statement with,

“MeeGo phone must be exceptional. Anything other than being an over achiever is a ‘fail’. There isn’t any room for compromises any more now that all eyes are on Nokia to deliver a class leading flagship. One that deserves the flagship name in not just being the best out of your own portfolio but sets the bar for your competition. There can’t be any penny pinching, no leaving out of features to place into a future handset. It must at the very least, be as good as the best currently out there and then some. Don’t just be a jack of all trades master of none, but similarly, you can’t do with only having one strong facet. MeeGo phone should be Nokia’s opportunity to show the rest of the world exactly everything their capable of, strengthen their brand image and justify their position as the number one phone manufacturer in the world”

If MeeGo phone doesn’t deliver to expectations, it’s unfortunately too late for any changes to happen, what with Nokia World 2010 just over a month to go.

Even if Nokia’s MeeGo phone turns out to be amazing, some may still find other excuses as to why it would suck, such as the ecosystem. That in itself would be another post. (As is the possibility of Nokia’s own MeeGo phone being outclassed by another manufacturer)

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