Design Concepts: Making the iPhone Work for Us

by Matthew Zuras on July 1, 2010 at 02:00 PM

The Web is teeming with the unrealized ideas of both students and established designers who set out to produce astonishing renderings and prototypes for unusual products. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, money, or technology, many of those products never progress from the planning stages to the mass market. But that doesn't mean we can't salivate over them, nevertheless.

We thought that this week we would focus on concepts for cell phones. We've seen plenty in the past, but, as we were scouring the Interwebs for student work, we realized that there's a veritable dearth of innovative mobile phone designs out there. On the one hand, this should come as no surprise; real-life cell phones are designed by committee nowadays, and the iPhone has so dominated the market (or at least the minds of designers) that no one is really putting forth ideas to challenge its stranglehold. If we've submitted to the idea that the iPhone is not simply a phone but an entirely new digital medium, then designers can start to modify and streamline the device (within the draconian constraints that Apple has in place, of course). So, farewell to alternative phone designs, as we embrace creative monopoly with these updates for the ubiquitous hand-held Apple gadget.

IMPACT Appliances and App, by Carbon Design Group and Impact Design

One thing that we may begin to see more in the near future is major appliance manufactures building their products with the iPhone in mind. We've seen apps that can start your car and pilot your toys, but Carbon Design Group and Impact Design have a vision of the future in which you can control and monitor the energy use of your entire kitchen from your iPhone. A fridge, dishwasher and clock are fitted with iPhone-compatible sensors that relay information from your appliances straight to the palm of your hand. A dedicated app then lets you know how much your fridge's freezing thermostat is costing you, or if it would be more helpful to run the dishwasher's pots-and-pans cycle later in the evening.

iPhone RFID: Object-Based Media, by Touch

Touch, the research organization behind this brilliant visualization of wireless space, also came up with another concept we love: iPhone Radio-frequency identification (RFID) reading capability. RFID is becoming more commonplace in cell phones, but Apple (to the best of our knowledge) hasn't rolled out anything involving RFID tags just yet. Touch's concept revolves around RFID tag-embedded objects with which the phone can interact. For example, a toy fitted with an RFID tag could, when placed near the phone, begin to play media content specific to the toy, itself. Just imagine if your 'Toy Story 3' Happy Meal goodies set off a series of Randy Newman tracks on your iPhone? Maybe that's a bad example, but check out a brilliant demo video of Touch's concept here.

3rd Party Keyboard, by Matt Brady

Oldsters and amputees complain that the touchscreen keyboard on the iPhone is difficult to use, and we recently saw an external keyboard for sale that was nearly quadruple the size of the iPhone itself, which just seems silly. Designer Matt Brady saw an obvious solution to the problem of tiny touch keys, and designed his 3rd Party Keyboard, a case that allows fold-down typing. Aesthetically it makes us recall the hideous Sidekick beloved by tweens; but, if you're having serious problems with the touchscreen, then you're probably not an Apple purist anyway.

Flexible Speaker for iPhone, by Chun-Chieh Yang

Anyone who's tried to watch a video, or use the speakerphone function on an iPhone knows that, if you're in a room more substantial than a 3-by-3-foot cardboard box fitted with acoustic panels, barely a sound can be heard. But how can you annoy commuters with the new Ke$ha track? May we suggest Chun-Chieh Yang's Flexible Speaker, which is not only ultra-thin but a pretty piece of hardware to boot. Geometric and compact, the Flexible Speaker also sports a unique interface; if you want to increase the volume, just unfold another triangle.

iPhonekiller by Ronen Kadushin

Let's say that you've grown weary of your slavish reliance on your phone, and you'd like an iPhone-ready accessory to help you peel yourself away. Designer Ronen Kadushin was inspired by our industry's preference for calling every new mobile an "iPhone Killer," and whimsically thought up just such an object. His 3.5-pound mallet is made from laser-cut steel (better to mash your soon-to-be-dead gizmo), and takes its silhouette straight from the iPhone itself. But, unlike Apple's products, Kadushin's design is open-source, so you can freely download the specs if you feel like taking a trip to the steel forge. Kadushin notes, "The iPhonekiller is compatible with all iPhone models, also the future ones, and with iPads."

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Tags: app, apple, appliances, carbon design group, CarbonDesignGroup, chun-chieh yang, Chun-chiehYang, concepts, design, DesignConcepts, features, flexible speaker, FlexibleSpeaker, impact design, ImpactDesign, iphone, iphone keyboard, iphone killer, IphoneKeyboard, IphoneKiller, matt brady, MattBrady, rfid, ronen kadushin, RonenKadushin, top, touch

Comments

leolux10Jul 2nd 2010 6:12PM

Neutral

The flexible speaker is a definite go. The keyboard makes me go: "WTF was he thinking?????". =/

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dickn2000bJul 2nd 2010 6:49PM

Neutral

Your comments: The teaser headline read: "What Future iPhones may look like". I read the article, looked at the photos and read and saw nothing that would suggest that future iphones would look substantially different from present iphones. AND, that iphone killer hammer is just plain stupid. Any designer will tell you that "form follows function." The cell phone has reached a point in its design that renders it almost design change proof, much like other inventions such as the automobile which hasn't changed its basic design in over 100 years. And in case you wish to argue with that comparison just think about it. Todays autos, like those of yesterday have an internal combustion engines, four wheels, a steering wheel, front seats, and in some cases back seats, headlights, etc. Nothing has changed substantially.

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MikeJul 2nd 2010 7:25PM

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Well, you're a bit naive or closed minded if you think the cell phone has reached its design format plateau. What about integration into watches? Glasses? What about a phone made from carbon fiber and nano-batteries which would be as thin as a credit card and fit in your wallet? I'm not saying these things WILL happen, but they could, and it'd be like your automobile getting wings...

To your first point, I agree completely. There were NO design changes in this article and it was largely not worth reading...

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dickn2000bJul 2nd 2010 8:18PM

Neutral

Mike, you're both correct and incorrect. And I am neither naive nor closed minded. I am a retired electrical engineer with a Ph.D. And a goodly portion of my career was spent designing electronic devices such as heart pacemakers. I also worked on such programs as tactical guided missiles and the space shuttle. My reference to reaching design limits for the cell phone referred to "conventional" concepts; features such as a speaker, and mouthpiece, an alphanumeric dialing system. I, like you, see devices meant for universal communication moving to voice command for operation, replacing the touchtone dial. My personal vision is for the device to be implanted with a transducer implanted behind the mastiod for hearing and speaking. If,as you have said, the phone winds up in a watch or glasses, they too, will be operated by voice command, not conventional dialing. But bear in mind, these changes make the device a totally different animal compared to the current cell phone, much like those wings on an automobile.

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K. GtrahamJul 2nd 2010 11:17PM

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No room to improve the cell phone. Well two years ago the Japanese total threw that concept to the world and produced a prototype cellphone that is nothing like we have now. It was the size of a very small wrist watch. The antennae for this cell phone was the index finger above the wrist phone. The wrist phone had no speaker or mic. The index finger was placed next to or in the ear ( which helped reception) and when you spoke. The simpathetic vibrations of your voice was passed along to the ear cannal to the finger tip and down the finger to the wrist and converted to language. The replys went the opposite direction and the wrist phone was said to have better than average to excellent voice and speaking reception. So I believe we are going to see new and smaller and greater ideas for cellular communications coming in the next decade or two. To those who wear ear rings, Men or Women. Look out for the future coming to your ear lobes.
So what happened to this idea? I would guess there was a sanitary or infection debate that stopped the development of this idea. If you wanted your girlfriend to hear what their friends were saying. Do you really want someone seeing you stick your finger in her ear? Then deal with comments like "you don't know where that finger has been". Imagine al the jokes and jibes on that one. You all get the idea here. So here's to the future of the cell phone. The human body is wide open to all new concepts. Hope this reply made everyone stop for a minute or two and think about it. Thanks for reading this.

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