Toolbox
  • User rankingRating: 3.9
  • Add to favoritesBookmark
  • Save as PDFSave as PDF
  • PrintPrint
  • EmailEmail
  • Blog ItBlog It
  • Stumble ItStumble It!
Digg It Reddit del.icio.us Save to Yahoo! bookmarks Save to Windows live Share on facebook Save to MySpace Slashdot it science news feed Add to google
- size +

Softphone is a Squeezable Concept

Qian Jiangs Softphone can be opened to display a full keyboard.
Qian Jiang´s Softphone can be opened to display a full keyboard.

At first glance, Qian Jiang's Softphone looks more like a mini trampoline than a cell phone. It doesn´t flip or slide to open, but rather it has that nerf type of appeal that just begs to be squeezed - which is just what you´re supposed to do.
From the outside, the Softphone is made of two materials: the "screen" of the phone is an electronic cellulose fabric, which is stretched on the inside of three wire-like loops of silica gel. A clip is attached to the loops, which contains all the hard components: the micro-electronics, micro-battery, antenna, speaker, and even a camera. The entire clip is about as large as a thumbnail.

The fabric is the interactive part, which reads mechanical deformations as input. In other words, squeezing the phone can answer a call or hang up. Squeezing really hard when the phone rings means refusing the call. The fibers are optically transparent, allowing light to pass through the fabric to create a display with a number touchpad. By unclipping the silica gel coils, you can unravel an entire QWERTY keyboard, with tiny letters and a unique circular shape.

The Softphone also includes wireless Bluetooth earphones made of rubber. Each earphone has a small slit in its side so they can be slid onto the phone´s lanyard near the clip, where they charge via electromagnetic induction technology.

The Softphone is just a concept, with no plans for manufacturing any time soon. But the technology it uses is within our reach, or already known. If the soft concept proves to offer practical advantages, it may be a glimpse into the future of cell phones.

via: Yanko Design
» Next Article in Electronic Devices - Consumer & Gadgets: Review: Chumby, the Internet Beanbag

would you recommend this story?

 

User Rating

3.9 out of 5 after 14 total votes
  • not at all
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • highly

Leave a Comment or

Rank filter

Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.
Posted by zevkirsh 02/28/08 15:06
Rank: 1/5 after 2 votes
keep this crappo off physorg. not a science post...just marketing.
Posted by Ty1 02/28/08 17:36
Not rated yet.
Don't think it's marketing at all. Just an innovative approach to an old idea.