One of the main issues of the Apple vs Samsung patent war has been the similarity between their phone designs. A rectangle with rounded corners and a large touch screen. The design of a smartphone, the look and the feel of the device, is responsible for attracting the consumers at first sight. From flip phones to slide phones to the current large touchscreen smartphone, mobile devices have had several significant turns in their looks over the past decade or so. Recently, smartphones all have become so similar that people were thinking we have reached the acme of phone design that companies like Apple and Samsung would fight over the credit.
However, Blackberry has just filed a patent for a very interesting new design with a 180-degree hinge. From the first look it may seem quirky and may not seem like the most attractive design, but this just may be the newest revolutionary look of our future phones. Honestly, I think this is a nice refreshing move from Blackberry who's just re-entering the smartphone market with its new BB10 OS. We will have to wait and see if Blackberry will introduce this model anytime soon.
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/02/blackberry-files-patent-for-a-180-degree-hinge/
Interesting. Yeah, it really seems like every smartphone looks the same. Before we all get bored, hopefully we will start seeing some different designs soon.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I would have never thought something like this could be possible. I'm also not sure how popular this feature would be with consumers, but it's definitely a new, fresh step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteI'm not crazy about the design at first glance, but you're right that it would be interesting to see whether such a radically different design could enter the market. That said, unfortunately I don't think we'll ever get to see this become a reality because Blackberry is pretty much done for.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty radical design. I don't think it would be that popular because adding 'mechanical' complexity to a product like that probably makes it more expensive and less reliable - especially when compared to a more traditional 'bar' smartphone.
ReplyDeleteI feel like many companies are just patenting everything they think of in the hopes it works out, seems like you don't lose from filing potentially meaningless patents.
ReplyDelete