Prototype BlackBerry wows with stunning design
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - 12:22:39
A BlackBerry smartphone, which was designed as part of a competition run by manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM), has made its first public debut and although it may never hit the market, it is certainly an exciting look at what might be possible in the future.
Known as the BlackBerry Empathy, this handset is not just nattily named but also claims to be able to detect the emotions of the user and also relay details about how contacts are feeling at any given time.
This is not some kind of mystic ability but rather one that makes use of cold, hard tech in the form of biometric sensors embedded in a separate ring, which the user must wear when using the device. Since this is just a prototype, the actual reading of the user's emotions is not currently a reality, but the idea that mobiles of the future will reflect our moods is certainly intriguing.
The look of the BlackBerry Empathy is suitably futuristic without losing the classic feel of RIM devices. As such, it has what looks to be a full QWERTY keypad and a display with a square aspect ratio, but when you realise that this is a secondary display and interface on the rear of the device and that there is a large touchscreen on the front, things really get weird.
It seems that the creators of the BlackBerry Empathy from the Art Centre College of Design want to meld the old BlackBerry style with something that is thoroughly modern. RIM's own attempt at doing this was the recently launched BlackBerry Storm, but that handset looks really rather tame compared to this.
Since the BlackBerry Empathy is not going into production, talking about its features might be moot, but anything which indicates where the next generation of designers might take mobile phones is worth examining.
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