See Fabian Hemmert and his amazing, shape-shifting cellphone prototype (video)
Cellphones, whether they be smart or dumb, are pretty amazing things -- but they're pretty lifeless things, too. Design researcher Fabian Hemmert thinks that our gadgets could move us a little more if only they could, well, move. As part of his TEDxBerlin talk late last year he shows off some prototype phones, including one that can get thicker on any of its four corners, and another that can shift its center of gravity similarly (shown above). The possibilities are intriguing, like a status bar that could get physically hefty as it gets weighed down with icons, but we're not sucking down all of Hemmert's Kool-Aid. His idea of devices giving off a heartbeat and changing shape like they're breathing in your pocket is just a little creepy, and more practically we have a hard enough time holding onto our handsets as it is -- imagine all the suddenly top-heavy cellphones leaping out of hands and to their doom.