What mobile do you want this year? Balaji Narasimhan checks out some offbeat phones that might interest you
What mobile do you want this year? Balaji Narasimhan checks out some offbeat phones that might interest you
WOODEN LOOK: If you like wood, then here is a concept cell phone that is made of wood. The Maple phone is the creation of a Korean team led by Hyun Jin Yoon and Eun Hak Lee, and it definitely challenges the notion that all our phones must be made of plastic. The phone also has touch sensitive keypads and even features a camera.
TRIPLE PLAY: We all know of mobiles that have one hinge, but two? The iCEphone has two hinges and this three-sectioned phone is actually a four-in-one device. Not only is it a quad band 3G touch screen cell phone, it is also a PDA with a QWERTY keyboard, a games console with a controller pad, and a GPS navigation system.
I WILL SPY: All phones have cameras these days, but the JingPeng E1181 is different. This phone allows the user to completely detach the camera as well as its rechargeable battery and place it up to 30 feet away. Wireless video footage can then be transmitted live from the camera section to the phone portion.
SMALL WONDER: Neoi claims that their 906 series is the world's thinnest QWERTY phone. The phone is just the size of a credit card and the Tri-Band GSM/GPRS phone has a TFT display with 262K colours. The 906 can also record audio, and the camera is capable of recording video footage.
TWO FACED: NTT DoCoMo has introduced a concept cell phone known as the Separate Keitai, which can be split into two parts. Each part is synced with the other via Bluetooth, and can attach and reattach by a simple magnet. The Separate Keitai can attach vertically or horizontally. The vertical attachment brings up a numeric keypad, while the horizontal attachment brings up a QWERTY keyboard.
SHOW SOME STYLE: If you are not one of the chosen few to be affected by the slowdown, buy Motorola's Aura. The display is really the highlight of the Aura, with 16 million colours and 300dpi resolution. The lens itself on the screen is a 1.62 carat sapphire crystal. The keypad is aluminium and the swivel itself uses 130 precision ball bearings.
