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.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
ehem… how is this a novel idea? Bang & Olufsen already have one of these in production.
Hey what a crazy idea – but I like it. Why not create a backup of the numbers stored in your mobile or cell phone at http://www.allmynumbers.co.uk – all for less than the price of a coffee and muffin at Costa Coffee..LOL
Hey – that is a good idea. But even a better one woudl be to visit SMS-Store @ http://www.sms-store.com where you can send SMS messages directly from your web browser.
Hey look I actually thought of this in May of 2005.
http://greedoneverfired.blogspot.com/2005/05/arthritis-relief.html
A start-up named Wildseed shipped a Linux based phone in 2004 with the keypad above the screen. It was manufactured by Curitel. The phone also had other novel features such as replaceable plastic skins with an embedded smart-card chip able to update features on the phone. Wildseed was bought by AOL in 2005. See:
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7002110505.html
Kinda neat, but it easy to really smudge the screen from your palms rubbing on it.
Harrison may have “filed a patent” (read as filed an application for a patent) but this is entirely different than being granted a patent by the uspto. Don’t expect this to be granted with, the prior art is obvious and Harrison has wasted his time and money.
Did an ergonomic study with a upside down phone somewhere in 2003, with a design similar to the above. It turned out to be better when messaging…however, the idea is thus very not new…