Nokia is bent on creating the “ultimate concept device,” and it enlisted the help of a very dedicated group of supporters – the internet nerds! The Finnish company’s latest project, called “Design By Community,” is aimed to ask cellphone users to help them create a smartphone device for the future.
The problem with the current system is that phones are designed by a committee and there’s no feedback from the users during the design process if they like the phone’s features or not. Design by Community aims to fix just that. Cellphone users can vote on the following criteria:
Display and user interface – voting opens March 15
How much does size actually matter? If you want a big screen, do you also want a QWERTY keyboard? Compromises need to be made here, so choose wisely. At every point of the design process, all sorts of considerations need to be made. If you add a sliding form factor (to fit that QWERTY keyboard and a big screen) then you’re going to have a big impact on the depth of the device.Size and shape – voting opens March 22
This will be heavily influenced by the decisions you made with the display and user interface, particularly the depth of the device. Added to that you have the choice of clamshell, tilt ‘n’ slide or monoblock, each of which will have a huge influence on depth.Materials – voting opens March 29
What about a device toting Kevlar? We’re not there yet, but who knows what will kind of materials our devices will use in the future. As manufacturing techniques improve, so do the opportunities to create seamless designs. Nokia designers work as hard at understanding manufacturing as they do creating new devices. Keep this in mind when making your decisions.Operating system – voting opens April 5
This is a straight run thing – should this device of the future have Symbian or MeeGo? The choice is yours.Connectivity – voting opens April 12
We don’t like wires, do you? Of course wireless electricity hasn’t hit us yet, and wireless HD video transfer is still a way off for mobile devices. What do you see as being most important when it comes to connectivity?Camera – voting opens April 19
The camera has become a staple part of Nokia mobile devices as the phone itself. But where next? More megapixels? Faster speed? Better zoom? Hi-def video recording? You decide.Enhancements – voting opens April 26
It’s bolt-on time. Adding curious features and functions to the device to make it more interesting, useful and in some cases, more entertaining. We’ve got a couple of gems lined up for you here. What would you have?
What do you think of Design By Community?