Apparently the Neonode N2 is the smallest phone at the 3GSM conference this week although its certainly not the thinnest.

Neonode have included finger stroke navigation (like the iPhone) as well as net radio stream capturing software in a handset only 3 inches tall.

The gesture control system means there are no buttons to spoil the design and the N2 runs on open source software so it should be popular with the blogosphere.

Gizmodo believes that the N2 is built on a Windows platform but this is unconfirmed.

More information at Gizmodo

A new invention from India allows Valishetty Narendra to ring his water pump whenever he needs to water his crops. Previously the journey involved a long walk dodging dangerous snakes to restart the pump whenever the water stopped flowing.

Now he has connected a cell phone to the pump and just gives it a call from the safety of his farm.

“We farmers have to worry about the water supply at odd hours. Now with mobile phones, things will change for the better at the farm,” said Narendra.

With minimal investment other local farmers are now able to benefit and the long

night time trips are a thing of the past.

Narendra is aiming to patent his design and hopes to help lots more farmers in the future.

Lost your remote? Ring your TV

In a report from Uberphones we are told that a new range of cell phones in Korea can work as a remote control for your TV or video/DVD recorder. It is not clear how this would work, I know my DVD player isn’t connected to the phone line, but it would be a good idea nonetheless.

Imagine making a quick call from your sofa to change the channel on your TV, pretty cool idea?

Cell phone watering from Coolest Gadgets and remote control phone from Uberphones

Despite the huge variety of mobile phones on the market there is one design trend that has always remained the same – the screen has always been above the keypad.

According to Anthony Harrison, who has filed a patent for a phone with the screen below the keypad, conventional mobiles are not very easy to use.

Having the screen above the keypad offers users a clear view of the screen while texting but is awkward and results in the phone being held in your fingertips rather than in the palm of your hand. The thumb is restricted in movement and texting is slowed down.

The new design repositions the keypad above the screen and ensures that most of the handset rests in the palm of the hand for improved support and control.

As well as the improved grip, the thumb rests in a comfortable position directly above the buttons of the keypad. The improved angle for the thumb makes it unnecessary to shift the mobile phone around in the hand while typing text.

Whether people really need to be able to text faster is debatable but its always great to see innovation in mobile phone design.

Via IOL found at textually

Telecom Italia, the leading network in Italy, have partnered with Polymer Vision to launch the world’s first mobile device with a rollable display.

The handset, which will be presented to the industry at 3GSM next week, uses a rollable display technology allowing a screen much larger than the handset to be stored internally and unrolled when it needs to be used.

Readability is similar to printed paper thanks to 16 grey levels and high contrast and the device is smaller than a typical phone despite the display measuring 5 inches. Future developments include colour images and a display capable of showing moving pictures.

The display allows users to read full newspapers as well as downloadable books which can be bought via the TIM network. Storage is 4GB so plenty of content can be stored. TIM has integrated a number of services such as RSS and email to allow users to make full use of the large screen.

A touch sensitive interface operates the phone and LED indicators make it look great as well. One of the best features is the low power consumption of the display – it will last for 10 days between charges.

Via Mobile Mag

Concept phones are always a fun way to see what the mobile manufacturers are trying and what direction phone design might be moving towards in the future.

Benq Siemens have produced some amazing concept phones in the past and these are no different.

The first seems to be some kind of wrap around phone to be worn on your wrist. More like a fashion accessory than a phone really.

Via Portable Gadgets found at CrunchGear

An interesting smartphone has been announced today by OKWAP in Taiwan.

The S868 uses the keypad to create an iPod style scroll wheel rather than using the popular joystick that most phones rely on. Whether this interface works as well as a joystick or the iPod wheel is subject to some debate and until we can test the S868 its not easy to comment.

The phone uses Windows Mobile 5.0 and includes a stylus and keypad in quite a small 106 x 51 x 18mm, 122 grams) package. The touch sensitive screen is 2.4 inches and the camera is 2 mega pixels with autofocus.

Apparently the virtual scroll wheel allows users to slide pictures from folder to folder using the scroll wheel.

Expect the S868 to be released during February in Taiwan only.

Via Gear Fuse

After yesterdays announcement of the Prada phone and previous stories about D&G and McLaren it seems Tag Heuer are about to produce an upmarket mobile phone.

Paris based designers ModeLabs are charged with designing the phone and mock ups are circulating already. Check the image below carefully, the screen shows how it can be used to make a call.

Making a watch shaped mobile phone is clearly not going to be Tag Heuers plan. We have seen how successful Sony Ericsson have been with premium branded phones and there can be no doubt that the LG Prada phone will follow suit.

We expect that Tag will create a stunning phone similar to the LG Prada and rely on branding rather than amazing features to make it sell. Certainly in todays climate its quite easy to create a phone with 3 mega pixel camera and MP3 player.

PVR (Personal Video Recording) is about to move into the mobile sector according to a demonstration by Texas Instruments in Amsterdam.

New technology will allow people to record a television show onto a mobile phone and watch it at a later date. Apparently picture in picture capabilities will also be included so you can watch two shows at once on the train to work.

PVR technology will be found in some high end phones by 2007 and we expect the main manufacturers pushing TV phones at the moment will be interested in adding a video recording facility.

With TV on mobiles struggling to take off maybe more features and usability is needed to take the technology into the mainstream.