Mobile phones have really come a long way from when they were first introduced. From the old mobile phone that easily weighed a ton and looked like a brick; to the sleeker and more futuristic models. We have seen quite a number of interesting and sometimes odd mobile phone designs along the way. The future looks as promising for intriguing designs; if these concept phones are to be taken as an indication. Concept Phones are great; as they give you an idea about what designers can do when they don’t have to be concerned about the mundane stuff.

1. Nokia Archive Concept Phone





The concept phone dubbed ‘Archive’ will enable the users to share ideas at ease and pace. Virtual teamwork is made effortless through smart wireless conferencing and remote presentations. Bluetooth audio ensures strong and clear communication. When mobile technology ascends to this level; we will achieve great things together.

2. Sony Ericsson Concept Phone





Though we are not sure whether this cool product is actually in works, I would love to see it get real. All that we know at the moment is its OLED display; a 3.2-megapixel camera, 2GB of storage, and an integrated FM tuner. The ultra-thin phone comes with silver accents and flip-down cover. Well Sony, we can’t wait more. Drop it down.

3. Nokia Aeon concept phone





The Nokia Aeon concept was somehow inspired by Synaptics Onyx. The full surface touchscreen display phone concept is indeed cool and tempting but who knows? Nokia is tight-lipped to make any comments on the phone.

4. NEC Tag concept phone





The concept phone has been made up of flexible material and has been named ‘Tag’. The flexible material used will allow this phone to change its shape according to the mode. So hang them; wear as a wristband or just wrap around the belt, these phones will never say no to a shape.

5. Black Box Concept Phone





The looks of this concept phone from BenQ-Seimens are alluring enough to turn your head. Well, the Black Box changes the control layout according to the functions you use.

6. Onyx Concept Phone





I hope you haven’t forgotten the Onyx concept phone– first keyless touch-screen mobile phone utilizing Synaptics’ Clearpad transparent touch-sensitive capacitive sensor. Well, the Onyx boasts a high-resolution LCD screen and a transparent touch-sensitive capacitive sensor. The video is worth a look to find the tempting keyless touch screen phone of the future in action.

7. Dark Label Retroxis Phone





The Black Label Retroxis phone by designer Lim Sze Tat reflects a retro approach towards design with clean aesthetics, optimum controls and functions. It is sheathed in high genteel polycarbonate prominent for its lightweight and stiffness and the imperceptible OLED display silently hides away when inactive to make your phone look clean and stylish.

8. BenQSiemens Snake phone





I am just thinking of how to operate this snaky phone. These concept phones looks like a snake and you can wrap it around your wrist. The looks are cool and captivating but I doubt the ease with which we will be operating this crazy snaky concept phone.

9. CUin5 Concept Cellphone





CUin5 mobile phone is inspired by the big firm’s designs of a ‘super-practical’ interface with the all-too-typical feature set. Every face of the phone carries a keypad, microphone, and speaker. The part you touch first gets active while all other edges are in lock mode.

10. Bracelet Phone with Built-in MP3 Player





When this Bracelet phone receives any message, it starts vibrating and making or receiving a phone call is just too easy. To read the message, take the bracelet out of your wrist and press the diamond-like keystroke. Whoa, it’s not just another run-of-the-mill concept. Instead, the bracelet phone comes with a built-in MP3 player. With this phone on your wrist, you are definitely going to rock the party and make others green-eyed.

11. Eye Mobile Phone –A

Let’s start with the Eye Mobile Phone –A, these concept phones comes with a see through LCD touch screen and is ultra-lightweight. You can use the phone to take picture in real view and find out how a dress will suit you before you even try it out. Another highlight of the phone is the amazing 3D gaming experience it provides.

12.Dial Phone

Designed by Jung DaeHoon, the Dial Phone is a mobile phone you wear around your wrist like a watch or bracelet. When in use, it projects light beams onto your skin, displaying the numbers on the rotary dial so that you can simply touch the numbers to dial them.

13. Chamelephone

You may not be enthusiastic about this design if you tend to keep your phone somewhere and forget about it only to turn the entire house upside down at regular intervals. The Chamelephone actually has the ability to take on the texture and color of the surface it is placed on, becoming totally invisible save for the green button at the bottom left hand corner of the phone. We shudder to think what would happen if the makers had decided against placing that button there.

14. LG Flutter Concept Phone

The Flutter concept phone was an entry to LG’s Design the Future contest. The designers probably took a cue from all those futuristic Hollywood movies. The Flutter Concept Phone looks like any other normal mobile phone at first. However, press a button and voila, it opens up like a hand held fan to reveal the flexible OLED touch screen that has the ability to scroll radically.

15. Cryptex Mobile

Maybe something that was designed after one of those treasure hunt movies filled with clues and puzzles, the Cryptex Mobile looks like well, a cryptex, sans any display or buttons. What you have instead are a bunch of numbers which you would need to twist and turn in order to access the phone and dial a number. While the absence of a screen may deter some users from buying it, others who get a kick out of deciphering puzzles would have a blast with this mobile design.

16. The Morph Concept

The Morph phone concept is a bit revolutionary. Nokia Research Center (NRC) in association with the Cambridge Nanoscience Center (UK) has developed the Morph concept using nanosclae technologies. The concept is meant to abridge the gap between advanced technologies and potential benefits to end-users. The Morph concept has several stunning benefits, indeed.

Thanks to the new flexible and transparent technologies and materials, the device will blend more seamlessly. It has self-preserving and self-cleaning options. The advanced transparent technology provides a new aesthetic dimension. With built-in solar panels, charging becomes easy and integrated sensors will help you learn more about the environment around you.

17. Nokia HumanForm

At Nokia World expo last month, the Finnish mobile maker showcased many incredible concepts of what should be the phones in future. According to Nokia, beyond touchscreens and voice communications, an invisible and intuitive technology is to take over the mobile industry in future. One such key concept from Nokia is Nokia HumanForm. The idea for the concept is, of course, from the Nokia Research Center. The concept, which was demoed as images, is meant to have a new mobile phone experience. There are no physical screens and buttons; instead it has a ubiquitous and everywhere screens and controls on its jelly-type form. The phone concept will suit each everyone’s requirements.

18. Nokia Kinetic Device

The Kinetic Device is another future phone concept Nokia put on display at Nokia World 2011. The new concept is named so because it is highly flexible and bendable. You can navigate through the functions of the phone by just twisting and turning it with your hands. The device is built of plastic and with a flexible AMOLED display. The prototype doesn’t contain hardware required for a phone. It is just without any phone functionalities like calls, photo capturing and others. Nokia just exhibited it to show the world what it brews in its labs. Zooming into images can be done by turning sides back and middle into the front; and zooming out into images can be done by twisting just opposite.

19. Nokia Aki

Nokia Aki is yet another brilliant Nokia future phone concept. Aki is not a phone, indeed; it is a wristband meant to use programmed self-expression tool to cue some specific postures and moves. The device propels your smartphone to act in accordance with the moves you make. Nokia notes an example for the functioning of Aki. If you shake your hands to express your mood in hanging out with your friends in a party, Aki will capture the mood and trigger your phone to do an action. This way, your phone can send preset SMSs or emails to all your buddies in the party.

20. 360 Folding Mobile Phone

The new concept mobile phone, visualized by creatives at SADI design School, comes with multiple touch screens that can be hinged together to simulate a tablet like feel or folded to make the device easy to hold and carry. It is an attempt to bridge the distance between multi utility of a tablet and portability/compactness of a handset. Designed by BaekKil Hyun, the phone can be used in three modes, “standing mode”, where it can be propped to view the main screen, “multitasking mode”, when all the three screens are in use and “open mode”, when only the main screen is used.

21. Roll-a-call foldable cellphone concept

Designed by talented Sudhanwa Chavan, Roll-a-Call is an OLED based handset, which has touch screens that are divided into three dedicated areas for performing three major functions, as defined by the user. With separate areas for keypad, main phone menu and browsing unit, the handset avoids cluttering and offers great user interaction.

22. Concept Folding phone

The Concept Folding phone has 1080p screen, edge to edge display and a thickness of 7.5 mm. Designer Max has managed to create a unique curve instead of hinges that allows the screen to bend in circle. When closed, display is completely protected as it moves into the gap and it never bends below a radius of 5mm. The screen space makes it easy to make and disconnect a call through virtual keys. The designer says the idea is to protect the screen from scratches.

23. LG Flutter Concept Phone

Flutter was an entrant at LG’s Design the Future contest that invited the consumers to submit concept designs. This design was not the winner, but it managed to grab the Prop Master’s Choice Award. The candy bar style handset blossoms when you press the LG logo to reveal a touch screen running S-class user interface. Looking at it, one can clearly guess the inspiration behind it that can be a butterfly or boomerang. This is not a practical design because it is not possible to use all the features of the phone single handedly.

24. Kyocera’s Kinetic Flexible OLED Cell Phone





Designed by Susan McKinney, this concept handset known as EOS phone, comprises a semi-rigid, soft polymer skin surrounded by an energy efficient OLED display. Charting the future of cell phones, this phone has the ability to fold like a wallet and to grab attention of anyone who looks at it.

25. Packet: Foldable Concept Mobile Phone





This fabulous foldable handset won the first prize at Instanbul Design Week 2007 and ensured a long list of jobs for its designer Emir Rifat. Christened as Packet, the concept phone can be easily held like a 5cm x 5cm flat square box. Once you open the keypad, you can flip it towards right and left hand side. In the center, you will have the joystick. Back of the handset has a large digital clock on its exterior surface. All the four sides can be opened and again compiled as a square container.

26. Wild Fold: Future Foldable Mobile Phone Concept





Dubbed as Wild Fold, the foldable mobile phone concept takes its inspiration from Samsung’s Flexible OLED. Designed by Mac Funamizu, the impressive handset will be very compact, easy to carry and fun to operate.

27. LG folding phone





This advanced, hi-tech concept offers its users a whole new way of using mobile phones, like a headset. Inner part of the headphone, oh! sorry, handset makes space for two speakers and the outer part works as a touch screen. You can wrap it around your head to enjoy the music or attend the call while moving around.

28. Gabler concept





Created by Paz Brouk, this cell phone, named as Gabler, ignores the appearance of a traditional handset. This concept phone takes its design inspiration from the edges of a woman’s purse or a man’s pocket. To hang up on the edges, the phone folds in a diagonal line in the middle because both of its outer shell and screen are flexible. Apart from that, it includes all the features of a standard mobile phone.

29. Plica Concept Phone





Designed by James Piatt, this hot looking concept phone has two touch screens to offer a comfortable and bigger interface when compared to the one on iPhone. You can also use one screen as a keyboard and other for viewing things. These screens fold both the ways, so that you can use it as a regular phone. For connectivity, there is a USB port and 3.5 mm audio jack.

30. Multimedia concept phone: Does everything, almost!

Nowadays, multimedia-rich concept phones are popping out like anything. The latest here with us is a multimedia concept phone designed by Jakub Lekeš. The slider phone has a huge touchscreen display and even the back-lit keypad is touch-sensitive. One side of the phones shows a number of ports, including the memory card slot, audio jack and the USB connector. A sliding touch QWERTY keyboard is concealed under the display and there is a 4.3 megapixel autofocus camera with digital zoom support on the back. The most interesting feature is the side of the phone that shows the running track. The multihued lighting adds to the overall beauty of the device. We are sucker for large displays and QWERTY keyboards, so we are all praise for this concept design. More shots of the multimedia concept phone after the jump.

Summary



Mobile concept phones are increasingly creative and range from outrageous to incredible ideas. The 5 mobile phones mentioned above continue to be the most unusual mobile phone designs we have come across so far.