The Origami phone handset has arrived, the latest in a trend towards unusual -- yet innovative -- phone designs.
Wei was inspired to create the recyclable handset after taking apart a standard telephone headset and realizing just how simple its construction was. The designer was also mindful that new phones come to market on a weekly basis, but don't demonstrate much in the way of design changes.
The concept phone does away with the plastic and over-sized circuitry to make a paper phone with a few spare electronics, and joins a few others in leading innovation in mobile devices, with a particular emphasis on stripping down phones' form to its essentials.
The "Paper Phone," a thin piece of translucent film similar to a conference badge was recently announced by a Canadian research team. The prototype features a touch-sensitive bendable surface that may one day replace today's standard flat touch screen. One benefit of this type of innovation is its ability to be embedded in clothing.
And, taking the "paper-thin" lesson one step further, other researchers havedeveloped an invisible phone, whose prototype can serve as a shortcut to free hands from the necessity of having to actually retrieve the physical phone to communicate.
While there are obstacles to overcome with this idea, researchers hope that one day, for example, a person can just press a finger on their palm to silence a call's ring, rather than have their activity be interrupted by having to attend to the device.
Developers and innovators are constantly looking at new ways users can interact with their devices, and the Origami phone is an example of one very artful, elegant possibility.
