Mobiles that send a tingle down your spine when a friend passes by, or phones that can send a massage rather than a message are the devices of the future. That's according to the latest concept mobiles from students at Dundee's College of Arts, Science and Engineering.
Six concept designs of phones that give 'sensory delights' rather than focusing on regular text and voice are part of a display at Dundee University. Second year students on the Interactive Media Design and Innovative Product Design Courses have come up with the novel designs for new generation phones. The aim of the "Phone | Not Phone" concept collection is to put "intimacy and sensuality" at the forefront of the design.
The tingling Aware concept phone is built into a necklace, which sends a vibration down your spine when someone you know passes close. Meanwhile, the M:ssage hits the right spot by sending a massage rather than a text to another M:ssage user.
The Hive design has LEDs that flash when other Hive phones are sensed in the vicinity. The alternative Boom Tube music mobile is a phone designed to allow people to play music with each other over the mobile network.
The Aurora enables users to send indicators of emotions via an LED array with touch-controlled light patterns reflecting senders' emotions. Finally, the wooden box-contained Eo Una sends liquid ripples to another Eo Una device by tilting a liquid inside.
Next generation
"We are aiming to showcase a new direction for the mobile phone. The designers involved believe that since the meteoric rise of the mobile telephone, most of us have been guilty of over-looking the part of mobile communication that is almost magical; sending and receiving messages to and from the people that we care about," explained student Ian Shiels.
"These new phone/ not phones celebrate the essence of communication without drowning the user in rich media. This exhibition is a revival in back to basics telecommunications, in a new, never seen before form."
