Cryptex Mobile: Feel the code

Opus Dei has been needing a mobile phone to call their very own since the demise of the Knights Templar. If only designer Marc Schömann was catholic and lived 600 years ago, this baton style mobile phone might have saved them from a Dan Brown style disaster. This phone called “_______” (yup, it has no name) uses haptic technology to provide physical feedback for making a call. To turn it on…twist a section, to dial a number…twist a bunch of sections, to make an international call…break your wrist! There is no display and no buttons. The vibrate feature should prove popular with 50% of the world’s population.

Designer: Marc Schömann

Texts from the designer:

You turn the dial of every element to the desired cipher. If you entered the number you turn the first segment “to phone” (green LED). If you want to hang up the call you turn the first segment to “hang up” (red LED). The phone works without buttons and without a display and based on the old dial phones.

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62 Comments »

Comment by Lim
2008-07-18 08:20:20

 

Lame……

Comment by Harold
2008-07-22 08:38:55

 

I will buy one now. What’s the rush in dialing people anyway? I hate talking on the phone. This is the perfect thing for me.

 
Comment by Vic
2008-07-27 05:15:11

 

Lame, true, but funny…

I could buy it. Is different :)

 
 
Comment by zippyflounder
2008-07-18 10:35:17

 

I like the comment “The vibrate feature should prove popular with 50% of the world’s population.” goes to show even crap has uses………….

 
Comment by seth
2008-07-18 11:28:43

 

I love it. I would buy it right now. It is so cool!

 
Comment by eric
2008-07-18 11:56:01

 

dumb dadumb dumb dumb

 
Comment by E. Michael Martin
2008-07-18 14:26:14

 

WAY too much work to dial a number. Especially these days, when the phone remembers and can dial for you based on the name you tell it to call.

Totally outdated.

 
Comment by marc schömann
2008-07-19 04:09:09

 

hey guis you forget… its a concept, not real.
it should merely show that there is something else than buttons, and it still works.

ps: its a just a telephone not a mobile phone.

 
Comment by marc schömann
2008-07-19 06:40:52

 

shure this phone is
not functionable or usable,
but it doesn´t have to!

the clothes wich are presented on
fashion shows are not wearable.
just parts of it will be used later
in “normal” collection.

and with this phone its the same,
i use parts of it, ideas of it,
the pros later. on a phone wich
is usable and wich is functionable.

so on marc schömann

Comment by TH
2008-07-21 03:46:42

 

Always great to have designers join in the discussion.

Could you give us examples of what you’d “use” from this concept, what’s your take home message from it?

Personally, I have to admit, the good old round dial seems handy and fast compared to this.

A phone I’d like to see would work based on names, not numbers. It would be linked to the social networks of my choice to keep people’s contact info up to date and to online directories to be able to dig up phone numbers of companies and people outside my network. It would use either VoIP or regular phone depending on whether the person I’m trying to call is online (e.g. logged on in Skype) or not.

The devices and media (email, IM, voicemail, paging, phone…) are less and less relevant, connectivity is the key. Systems need to be able to operate across platforms, and use whatever line of communication is open and available. Phone is a computer and a computer is a phone, and this blurring will continue.

Also, speed dialing and mobiles already killed our memory of phone numbers a decade or two ago - how many phone numbers of your friends do you remember by heart? Social networks and systems that use them (plus more advanced address books on computers) and handheld devices are doing the same to email addresses. Rightly so, name is much more important than having to remember whether it’s john_doe@yahoo.com or jdoe@gmail.com or johnny@doe.org, or whether he has switched operators or changed phone numbers since I last updated my phone book.

So much going on in this sector, that having a stick where you turn sections of it to form phone numbers seems a bit of a dead end concept to me.

Comment by marc schömann
2008-07-22 02:19:12

 

thanks for this really good post!
i agree with that what you say.

in this case it is a concept without buttons,
i make the same with buttons like other companys with dials.
i use them for the wrong function.

buttons are good to dial, but they are bad for example to
choose a mode.

with rotary switch is it much easier to select a mode.

that was my idea of this phone.

(and note this is NOT a moile phone its just a telephone)

 
 
 
Comment by johnny
2008-07-20 05:24:20

 

it’s interesting but… it is not functional !

 
Comment by Here_we_go
2008-07-20 09:22:17

 

I realize that they are making this phone to look pleasing and be a talking point but it needs to be somewhat practical for it’s use. I can’t imagine holding a stick to my head for a long period of time. It looks uncomfortable.

 
Comment by Justin Vines
2008-07-20 18:37:55

 

You all are crazy! It looks sexy!! No, I wouldn’t use it as my every day mobile phone but hell, it is interesting and very creative… I’d put it up for decoration to say the least!

 
Comment by MayR
2008-07-21 16:01:50

 

It’s crazy. This design might work for reality shows where you’re stuck in an island and you need to crack a code to be able to call a rescue team to get you outta there alive. But in real life, i won’t recommend this phone for daily use.

 
Comment by Paul Hueter
2008-07-22 07:12:14

 

AWESOME! Thank god there are still creative minds out there.

 
Comment by jin_woo_han
2008-07-26 22:55:21

 

Looks good but feel uncomfortable

 
Comment by Sylus
2008-08-01 03:20:34

 

Lol ,it’s antique.

 
Comment by powaz
2008-08-01 16:06:07

 

Neat design exercise. The vibrate comment was pretty funny.

 
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