could be interesting if it's pretty cheap and if they succeed to fit a battery inside. i like my cellphones with batteries.

Is there a real one anywhere?

That's pretty cool if they can pull it off.

Somehow the thing will be priced at over $400

it would be terrible for text and text messages are basic functionality in my book.

I can do without text functionality but I do like having a phonebook. Is there room for a SIM card?

Make it just a tad bigger. Change the display to roll out like a scroll so you have a normal size screen, and add bluetooth. Soon enough there will be laser keyboards to text with it, and jeez, who wants to take that thing out of their pocket? I mean, thats way to much effort.

So, which button do you push when you've punched in the number and want to make the call? ;)

This phone would be easier to smuggle into prison. You know what I'm saying ;)

If I could stick my SIM card in it, and it were reasonably priced, I would buy one in a heartbeat. Oops. It would need Bluetooth so I could use it in the car. Besides, looking at its form factor, it really needs to be used with a wireless headset.

The pull out digital display? Awesome.

I wouldn't mind trying that out...I mean I don't use any of the advance features of my cell besides the alarm features which I could subsitute with my watch or an alarm clock...

If it had a shirt-pocket clip, like a pen, this would be perfect.

It looks like it would be a little bit hard to hold--slippery, even, if it weren't properly rubberized--and when it comes to razors, str8 or not, I wouldn't want it to slip from my fingers and make me into a modern-day Van Gogh.

However, with that spring-loaded LCD in mind, it's really just one short step from 'very small phone' to 'very small phone that's also a swiss army knife.' I know, I know-- "it was supposed to be simple!" you're probably saying. With a form factor like that, I say... why shouldn't it have an emory board and corkscrew?

Who needs keys? With advanced voice dialing, you just need to speak the name or number. Just make it a tiny box with a screen, Bluetooth and USB (for charging and wired sync if Bluetooth isn't available) and include a Bluetooth headset that clips to it.

Jeez... Bluetooth, SIM cards, TXT messaging, phone book, larger display, laser keyboards... guess you guys are missing the SIMPLER part of the title.

And what button do you use for erasing incorrectly entered numbers?

gotsmart..

Those features don't always work properly. Granted some work great, but what if you need to call someone but you need to whisper on the phone...I don't know if they could understand your whisper.

And you probably just push that number dialer back in when you want to hang up the phone. Swings out when you call, swings in when you hang up.

this is the phone i've been waiting for!!!!!!! no camera, no other BS. just phone. small small phone.

unfortunately, verizon would never pick this phone up, the bastards, so i'm screwed.

glamorous design, where invisibility meets unusability. http://www.accessonmainstreet.net/2006/12/13/the-ultimate-...

It's a nice design, and after all we see many concepts. For basic system with voice (note gotsmart's comment) Nokia released the 4.49 inch 7380. True it's aimed at women, but it has voice calling, camera and bluetooth. It even has a screen apparently (behind the mirrored glass)

I can see the appeal though. I've got a Sony Ericsson K610, and I never use the radio (don't need it), audio ability (I have an mp3 player, don't intend to waste my phone's battery), wap (got broadband so why bother), video calling (costly and poor quality - rather just use it as a phone...). I'm sure loads of people don't even use the applications or calendar features, and some don't even use their camera's. Most of the extra features can be quite daunting to people who aren't tech savy or just don't want them.

Providers give these phones at cut down prices intending to gain back the costs through the use of services such as WAP and 3g. A phone as simple as this that doesn't cost much would reduce expected overheads and offer many customers exactly what they want - a simple phone that can make and receive calls - without all the extras they'll never use.

I look forward to more innovative simple designs rather than units aimed at making providers more money.

@warkrismagic: http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/

I don't like "innovative designs" like this. The dialing never works as well as it needs to.

I agree with TVGenius. For a "basic phone" suddenly you guys are asking for a lot of features.

What we need is to bring back cell phones circa 1995. All they did was make calls. Just make them smaller, and reception better.

idk about u guys but i have no clue how u know u would know who is calling. i have no clue what anyones # is. let alone my own home # any more...
besides where is the talk button on this thing.

This would be perfect for the bars. I hate carring my 8525 around at night. TO big. THis is what the fifth pocked is for. I want the Haier BlackPearl or this!

Its small size notwithstanding, I wonder if it has a vibrate mode.

having bluetooth is still a reasonable thing to ask for. in new york it is illegal to be on the phone without a hands free device while driving.

it's illegal in the UK too, they just don't bother trying to catch the twits who do it. If you're in stationary traffic, who gives if you're using a phone, you're stationary! It's when you're driving down too fast erratically while on one you should be shot

I think it might be time for a gasoline fight... and orange mocha frappuccinos

Didn't anyone catch that? 3.14 inches, easy as Pi? Or is it simply not worth commenting on. Maybe everyone is afraid to get executed... Go ahead Giz, put me down like the rabid dog I am.

BTW, love the concept: Phone, just a phone, nothing but a phone.

Yup, no way to sneak THAT into prison

This will never fly. The phone companies won't be able to extort you with their "value added" features. How would they get your phone bill over $100 if you are only making phone calls?

if it were cheap, i would SO buy it.

Nice little designs like this always make people go 'Oooh', then the real world kicks in and its; more buttons, more features = crapped up design.

But thats life.

try a bottom rung 3rd world Nokia for the 'Phone that Phones' people thing, i've a Nokia 1100 and it's been the best, most indestructable, long lasting and cheapest phone i've ever owned.

If only I owned it through choice........

This would be cool if I could then connect it to my ear like a bluetooth headset.

Better still would be if my phone was completley voice activated and then still be able to wear it on my ear like a bluetooth headset.

Now that would be cool.

(perhaps) extending bruceb17's line of thinking, if motorola made it, they could call it the DLDO ...

Paging Derek Zoolander...

Buttons that require explanations to use them? Doesn't sound simple at all! Less buttons doesn't equal simplicity.

I remember another small simple phone by a company called Whereify (www.whereify.com). Its GPS enabled (with internet tracking) but I think it has limited preprogrammed numbers.

The Willcome R9 phone has a very different and interesting design. Good stuff.

Another tiny phone is the Whereifone. It does have GPS and I think it can only place a few calls (i.e. 3-10 present or programmed numbers). They sell it as a device for kids to wear.

i like the Idea but i often use txt messaging more then I use the actual talk feature on the phone I have a V710 and i think ive used the MP3 once, the video camera ive never used, the camera rarely and the internet never! I do like the idea of making it clip onto your ear, no need to actually equip a bluetooth headset but I also think i would loose this thing REALLY fast!
If i was to expand on this model I would add a small GPS locator where you can logon to the providers site and find the units general area. But I would like a small display for a phonebook/txt msging because those are the only features that i used alot on a daily basis.. with the size of flash memory now it wouldnt have to be to much bigger.. and even if the screen slid out the side, the unit would just have to be maybe another inch wider and maybe half a inch taller. But Phonebook and txt are all I need!

I would LOVE to be at the pitch meeting.
Phone company executive;" So let me get this straight now. What you're saying is - It's a phone - and it makes calls. (Long Pause) No, I'm still not getting it. Give it to me again."

mugczar
LOL

I would add... with turbo vibrate mode.

The design is a study in 3D modeling and was posted at a norwegian creative forum.

http://www.storedyret.com/cgi/ikonboard.cgi?s=c52f2c4c51c0...

Very cool to see it getting some recognition.

AKIRA

Who will ever buy a phone without a phonebook? Does anybody actually know anybody's phone number anymore? You can keep a physical phonebook at home, but carrying one and looking it up sort of defeats the purpose of this device.

I could give a damn if a phone company wants it. Just put it on the market and I'll buy it unlocked. The bottom could flip up/out to accommodate the SIM card.

Looks like the speaker is in the top, and the microphone at the bottom. No headset needed. Don't care if it has a phonebook, either. I can print out a business card sized list of numbers for my wallet.

Is there a place I can go to input my cell phone company and primary requirement of a cell phone and get a list of phones that would best meet those needs?

Biggest problem is that there are only eight digits on the display while (dutch) phonenumbers consist of (up to) 10 digits.

I'd add a phonebook feature, which makes this thing simpler to use, which is the point.

@Bhoyo_83: Hear, hear! VCR Manufacturers, take note.

Looks like a great way to hide a cell phone in case of kidnapping. Now I expect follow up posts to explain the location for hiding. ;^)

Seriously, if they make that unit waterproof it could be very useful in many situations.

awesome design for people like me who love to travel light on occasions, but most people who want low-featured phones would rather go with a more familiar design.

but this with a 'talk' and 'end' button would be amazing, too bad MOTOFONE is going to be cheaper.

Wow, thats tiny! I think small is sexy too, but, how much smaller can we go before these tiny devices become too difficult to work with? - both egonomically and from the overall user experience perspective.

I would definitely buy this phone if someone made it. They BETTER not sell this at a price over $100.

What kind of battery can fit there? It's so simple it'll probably run on cell batteries. (Bad joke) I think the front where the keys are at should flip open to put in a SIM card and a battery. That looks reasonable.