June 24th, 2005
Ugly Cell Phones From the Future
Maybe it’s just me, but this phone looks pretty ugly. The gang at Popular Science decided to design their dream phone.
CAMERA MODE
A tiny liquid lens with 3x optical zoom and auto-focus will give handsets true digital-camera functionality. An oil-and-water solution between two glass plates changes shape and thus focal length when electric current is applied. Varioptic has shown a version of this lens that can focus on objects as close as five centimeters. The autofocus component will be in Samsung phones this year.
VIDEO MODE
Tune in a local TV broadcast with the phone’s radio anywhere you travel, or stream pay-per-view movies from the Web. This year Nokia begins trials on Crown Castle’s terrestrial TV network, which broadcasts a Digital Video BroadcastñHandheld (DVB-H) signal for cellphones equipped with a 1,670-megahertz receiver and DVB-H tuner. Streaming TV-quality video over cellphone networks is a few years out, as carriers finish building out their high-speed data networks and application developers iron out content deals. Source: Popular Science
Our Verdict: Sounds neat but keep your day jobs boys! The thing looks like a $5 pocket calculator.
And for a real-life puzzler, check out the Nokia’s baffling 7280. We still can’t figure it out.
Russ says:
Do you want a phone or fashion accessory? I’d much rather have an ugly but full function, easy to use phone than some of the odd looking stuff that looks like it fell out of Star Trek with it odd looking key layouts.
June 25th, 2005 at 8:30 pm
Proto says:
I want portable HDTV. Even in an ugly, tiny box.
June 28th, 2005 at 9:44 am