Cell phones have progressed rapidly in last few years – from the good old Nokia 3310 to the Apple iPhone and then to the recent release of iPhone 4 & Nokia N8. Ever wondered what will the next 5-10 years of mobile phone design bring? We have taken a in-depth look at some futuristic concept phone designs.

Encompassing designs from fans to multi-company collaborations, each one of the concepts we have chosen to feature offers something special, and most exciting of all, each one is totally plausible.

Let us know in the comments which one you liked the most. 🙂

5. Synaptics Fuse

The Synaptics “Fuse” concept is remarkable if for nothing else than for how many companies were involved in its design.

TheAlloy provided product design efforts, the UI was from both TheAlloy and TAT, which also enabled the 3D environment, Immersion added the tactile feedback, and the phone itself is powered by Texas Instrument’s OMAP 3630 processor.

But of course that’s not the only remarkable aspect of the concept or it wouldn’t have made the cut. The Fuse has been designed for single-handed usage, and boasts multi-touch capacitive sensing, haptic feedback, and 3D graphics, as well as force, grip and proximity sensors.

The single-handed control comes via the back of the phone and its touch-sensitive surface. Users can touch to navigate the interface on the display, while grip sensors on the side of the phone control pan and scroll.

A Synaptics VP said of the Fuse as it was revealed:

“The improved sensory experience of Fuse will drive handset innovation to evolve, taking the current generation of touch-based interaction to the next level of human-device interaction.”

4. HTC 1

Andrew Kim’s design for the HTC 1 encompasses both the handset and elements of the user interface in order to “create a harmonized hardware and software design.”

What both elements have in common is a fantastic simplicity, with a smooth, seamless phone design complimented by a much more minimal “mono edition” of HTC’s existing Sense UI.

The wow factor for HTC 1’s design comes in with the simple, yet brilliant idea of offering a twist out kickstand across the entire bottom of the phone, which doesn’t ruin the device’s clean lines when not in use, and provides a useful way to stand the phone up, either for watching media or to set the phone on your nightstand as an alarm clock. The HTC 1’s materials would be premium (glass, machined brass) and its build quality superb.

Kim said, “Like a fine watch or range finder camera, the 1 is made to be in your hands, not the landfill.”

There’s one more design aspect from the Korean-Canadian product design student that any clean freaks might like which is a built-in UV light that shines through the phone’s glass display when it’s charging to kill bacteria lurking onthe surface.

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