Monday, September 27, 2010

Seabird Shows the Near Future of the Mobile?

Where would you expect to see the future of the mobile? Some would say Apple, others Google, some HTC, or Samsung, or LG, or Motorola, but today we have a concept mobile which certainly captures the imagination and says ‘yes’ and ‘why not?’and doesn't come from any of the above.



Seabird was created by Billy May, a member of Mozilla Labs community in his spare time. Seabird is not a Mozilla or Mozilla Labs project but part of the Mozilla Labs Concept Series and like Pranav Mistry, May has looked at how we interact with technology and frustration we all have with smartphones today.

Seabird has two pico projectors which enable them to project onto a nearby screen for easier viewing and a full size virtual keyboard on to the table on which the device is docked. The users merely then users the virtual keyboard and is in many ways very similar in its virtual keyboard concept to that shown by Mistry. When the dock isn’t used the pico projectors can provide a split virtual keyboard on each side of the device.

We love the small Bluetooth dongle that slots into the back of the phone and the immediate loss of those white wires. However, the dongle does much more and can be used to control the cursor, select and zoom. Everyone would also love the concept of wireless charging and no charger.

The concept is built on Android and is shaped like a teardrop with a bulge protruding from the top at the back which is used to elevate the projector lenses.

While Mozilla says it has no intention of developing a phone like it, the technologies in it are only one step away from being packaged today and someone is bound to follow up. We want one!

No comments: