Conduit mobile phone concept is about 40 years early

As much as we adore this concept, we're not even remotely hopeful something like this will become a reality within the next score or so. That said, we'd love to be proven wrong, as the Conduit is quite possibly the most fantastic phone design to ever be conceived. With a hint of steampunk, a dash of Star Trek and a splash of ergonomic appreciation, this here mobile can be collapsed into a pocket-friendly form or expanded into a bona fide video phone. Hit up the read link for a few more looks, and feel free to give these designers a chunk of capital to make our dreams come true.

[Via kanYeWestBlog]

[nimer_55 @ Feb 22nd 2009 1:38AM]

looks intense..


i wouldnt say 40 years.../

20 max.. considering those huge horrible cellphones came out less then 20 years ago, and now we have these nice ass smart phones, i dont think 20 years is hard to beleive for that concept.


those cellphones were HUGE, did nothing but phone calls, and the battery lasted 30 mins.

now we have phones that do everything, (exept work as a universal remote, im still waiting for that, o and garage door opener, and be used to unlock the doors, and turn on my car.) i mean we have the technologie, it would only have to be made mm's bigger, but it would be off the hook.

[00ガンダム @ Feb 22nd 2009 1:43AM]

Moore's Law doesn't disappoint.

[blizzerpwnd @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:34AM]

Waste of time. The world ends in 2012!

Thanks Mayans! :D

[lu1de @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:21AM]

@ nimer_55

Some smartphones do work as a remote

You can control iTunes, Keynote, VLC, and your desktop.

You can guess which phone i'm referring to.

[Kamokazi @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:30AM]

@nimer and lu1de

WinMo and Palm smartphones with IR ports have universal remote apps that work just great for your TVs and other equipment. Or other people's TVs >:-)

[Dave Chappelle @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:47AM]

@ lu1de

would i be wrong if i mentioned my two year old Sony Ericsson K800i?? it actually does more than just utilise VLC the middle button acts as a mouse pointer.

[Kevlar @ Feb 22nd 2009 5:28AM]

@blizzerpwnd -- Actually, there are no indications that the Mayans thought the world would end in 2012. It's just that their calendar ends in 2012. It's a lot more probable that they didn't think their calendaring system would be in use for that long.

So no... you can scream your doomsday prophecies from the roof of your house (or keyboard), but that doesn't make it any more true.

[Dado @ Feb 22nd 2009 6:51AM]

These should be along in 5 years. In 40 I would hope that communication would be done with implants and we could forgo stuff in our pockets.

[lu1de @ Feb 22nd 2009 8:14AM]

@ Dado

you do have a communication implant right now, it's called "mouth". What more could you want, wow....

[lu1de @ Feb 22nd 2009 8:14AM]

@ Dado

you do have a communication implant right now, it's called a "mouth". What more could you want, wow....

[Jay @ Feb 22nd 2009 10:35AM]

@Kevlar
And you can scream your protests, doesn't make the prophecies less true.

[JS @ Feb 22nd 2009 9:50AM]

Actually it's not that intense.

i think this phone would not offer the convenience improvement people think. i believe an HTC Pro2 with its adjustable screen tilt or even many of the existing phone form factors are better than this one. My touchscreen phone fits in my pocket just fine and i done see how carrying that pen like form factor would offer me much improvement.

I could see the concept better used for laptops or MIDs (which could double as phones). They'd need to make it foldable with a hingeor something with the screen on one side and the laptop on the other that can then be separated out like the above to reveal the top touchscreen and the lower half of course a touchscreen that may be used as a keyboard.

[Hackettman @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:47PM]

I think it could work as a phone and headset that unfolded. If they could simply make it wearable and if you want to do vid calls you can take it off your ear and do the whole thing. Im not saying thats what this was intended for but if they worked with the form factor it could work. Maybe make it foldable and workable to be both handset and wearable.

[GodCentMe @ Feb 22nd 2009 1:43AM]

Is Apple going to be manufacturing this? If not when can we expect them to steal it?

[Oli D @ Feb 22nd 2009 4:40AM]

It appears to be running OS X, just look at the bar on the top

[??? @ Feb 22nd 2009 6:06AM]

@Oli D: Ummm...no. It's a freaking mock-up UI. Not supposed to mean anything other than a proof of concept. (and seriously, that "top bar" thing? Many Unix-based and Unix-like OSes have that in their UI/environment. Not everything runs on Windows or Mac, sucka!)

Hatemonger all you like, but this is the wrong tree to bark up.

[HB @ Feb 22nd 2009 9:04AM]

The only person who'd want to manufacture this is Ming the Merciless - looks like it's come straight off the set of Flash Gordon, lol.

[zmjjmz @ Feb 22nd 2009 1:45AM]

The only problem I could see with it (considering Sony's bendy OLEDs, touchscreens, etc.) is that the handles aren't exactly chipset friendly.
You couldn't fit much of a board in there, the shape is just awkward...

[wat up!!! @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:17AM]

This is where the 40 yrs comes in!
Most likely in the future they silicon is going to be super thin to the point of being flexible to a certain extent without damaging the circuit, or the technology used on that phone is far superior and flexible than the silicon we use today.

[subigo @ Feb 22nd 2009 1:47AM]

Kanye West's site... really guys?

[Jarhead2012 @ Feb 22nd 2009 1:53AM]

But on his site, it said via another blog. We could keep going further and further down, I guess this is just the first place they discovered it.

[praz @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:00AM]

Great ideas but..

Which pocket is that shovel shape supposed to slip into?

[you @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:03AM]

good news! it's a suppository.

[Steve @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:07AM]

No thanks, I'll keep my iPhone if it's all the same to you.

[Ayman @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:51AM]

The iphone so 2008 :P

[Boards of Canada @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:08AM]

I personally prefer the phone in the background next to the coffee. The one with the croissant shape.

[James @ Feb 22nd 2009 6:14AM]

Yeah that one looks tasty!

[Mobius_1 @ Feb 22nd 2009 7:24AM]

You sure? The one in the shape of a cup of coffee looks quite good to me as well.

[cwj @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:14AM]

Crysis, yes
Blend, no (but it will stir).

[Jash Sayani @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:18AM]

Yeah, I went to 2049 in the TimeMachine (Shipped with Mac OS Leopard) and got the designs to the present, and then they got stolen....

[G Scott J @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:20AM]

You guys know that when Lincoln said "four score and seven years ago," he meant "(four score and seven) years ago," and not "(four score) and (seven years) ago," and that a score is not a length of time, right?
Juuust being my regular old pedantic dick of a self :-)

[Steve @ Feb 22nd 2009 4:32PM]

Four score is a length of time; it's 80 years.

[G Scott J @ Feb 22nd 2009 4:39PM]

No no. A score is an amount, not a length of time. Four score years is 80 years; four score is 80. Look it up.

[Shoeb Khan @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:22AM]

Aeoon Flux anyone?

[tacomanmcjhonny @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:27AM]

how would this work in the pocket?

[gadgety @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:28AM]

Disregarding the exact shape of the handles, I believe this type of phone/MID could be much closer to reality than 40 years out. Just check out the Readius which already has foldable screen and is already available today.

[Yopladas @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:32AM]

Also once in 40 years: KanYe West Blog comes up with anything anyone cares about. Too bad it'll never happen.

[Venge @ Mar 11th 2009 1:10AM]

Oh hey, look, its the future.

[danvesma @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:53AM]

lolling hard... it's running OS-X 10.4 - they need to update to leopard... and I doubt apple would be happy having 'SKY's logo in the top bar.

[ethana2 @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:46AM]

I'm sticking to 10.4 on my G4, I should think for a cell phone you'd either do the same or wait for 10.6..

[Niks @ Feb 22nd 2009 2:59AM]

I think after 40 years this will look like funny toy !

[Peter @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:02AM]

The day when bendy OLED screens become a reality is when phone will be changed forever. We won't have to have the tradeoff of big screen = big phone!

[Gerusz @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:20AM]

Well... remember, how LG crammed a full 3G circuitry into a watch? Flexible touchscreen... well, that might be a problem. But there is that pen which could easily be used instead. OK, multitouch wouldn't be a feature, but smartphones don't have to be iPhones. So basically:
* Folding OLED screen (check)
*+small 3G circuitry (check)
*+a pen shaped laser mouse (check)
I wouldn't say 20 or 40 years. If this concept is to be realized, it will be in the next 5 years or so.

[TareX @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:33AM]

Easily less than 5 years.

[TT @ Feb 22nd 2009 7:06AM]

Also remember that people are working on OLED touchscreens.
So that flexible touchscreen might not be far away...
Here's an example with regular leds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kzIHMpOt20

[fischju @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:23AM]

PopSci made a similar mockup a couple of years ago, it doesn't seem so far fetched. Spring and roll system with the screen on one side, processor on the other.. 5-7 years.

[steviedee @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:25AM]

Future Torah..

[Atanas Boev @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:27AM]

Looks ugly for my European taste, even though they tried so hard with the coffee and croissant on the table :)

[Muadib @ Feb 22nd 2009 3:35AM]

this is the future? A gold piece of crap you roll up in your pocket? If this is the future, kill me now!!!

[darthoinker @ Feb 22nd 2009 4:10AM]

Star Trek.... pish, you wanna be.

Try "Earth: Final Conflict."

http://macbigot.com/media/Global300x200.jpg

There was at least one manufacturer working on this tech at least 2 years ago. At the very least you should be able to think of e-Ink as being similar and that has been out for a few years now.

http://www.universaldisplay.com/