I was writing earlier about the Nokia 888 concept phone, that got me thinking. It would be interesting to take a look at the direction mobile phones are heading so I searched around the Web and here’s what I’ve found.

What you see above is just a concept phone designed by Tao Ma, but it just might be the future also. As you can see the phone has no display so no text messages or internet access, but it does have a integrated MP3 player. The way I see it phones like this will be created in the future, as science evolves.

Electronic devices become more specialized and for ladies such phones that can double for a bracelet could be the perfect choice. Also businessmen would choose a device able to perform their daily tasks, as Internet connection, performing office tasks, etc. On the other hand young people would enjoy phones with functions similar to PSP or other portable gaming devices. The way I see it, the future has a phone for each of us.

Yes, it is cool, despite the fact that it doesn’t rely on gadgets, and stuff that we seem to rely on nowadays. The only bad thing is that it’s not real, yet. It is the product of an ingenious designer called Rune Larsen. If the name rings a bell, he is the same person that designed the Tiny phone - the one not much larger than a toothpick. But, despite the earlier version, this is much more realistic when it comes to building it. There’s much more room for the battery, microphone, antenna, and the other essential stuff you can find inside a phone.

According to the inventor, the phone is equipped like a 1996 one (I wish I had one of these back in 1996). It is 5.5 centimeters tall closed, and 9 centimeters open.

In a world dominated by the arrival of the iPhone, I must say that, given the choice, I’d buy one of these in a heartbeat, just for the fun of having it. Here are some other photos of the older phone (Tiny Phone), and the Eclipse Phone. (click to enlarge).

By analyzing the iPhone issue a bit you will most certainly notice that no one knew any 100% valid information until the launch event. There were all rumors. It’s time to put ourselves in the same position again, by concentrating on a potential Google phone. What you see here in the left is a leaked out photo of it. The phone is supposed to be the brainstorming result of Google’s partnership with Samsung. The two companies already have experience of working together in providing phones integrated with Google services, so there could be a bit of truth in this one.

But wait, another rumor said that Google was supposed to release the GooglePhone in partnership with HTC and Orange. Who knows?

No one knows if the photo you’re seeing now is for real or is another creation of Internet’s Photoshop masters. I will not go into details and review what can actually be seen from a small photo, but I’ll limit myself into mentioning that this would be the third phone with a huge touchscreen and no keys (idea that seems brilliant to me).

If a Google Phone will ever be developed, I’m expecting full integration of Google’s Web Services, from the plain simple Gmail, all the way up to Calendar and Documents.

And of course, we’re expecting some mock-ups of the future phone very soon.

It’s nice to see that the mobile phone market is developing as each day passes by. However, this is something unique, something that I haven’t seen so far. The picture on the left shows a cell phone phone whose keys can be re-arranged, as in a puzzle game.

It’s called GMEA and it’s being described as “the first ever real game phone” (GMEA are the initials of that phrase in Russian). It’s not barely close to N-Gage or a Nintendo DS, but the base idea is very innovative. Let’s talk about the slogan for a few. Upon reading, you would expect some fantastic games with terrific gameplay inside. Wrong. It’s not the phone that has the games, it’s the actual phone that IS the game, and let me tell you why.

The concept is quite simple. The phone’s keypad is interactive and the buttons are extremely movable. It’s just like in that little logic game, where you had a square full of random numbers and you had to put them in order, by sliding one number square at a time into the empty space. Just so that you don’t forget where each key’s right spot is, the right positions are marked underneath so that you can move them back to their original place. Apart from this special ‘ability’ this phone has that can probably keep you busy for hours and hours, it comes in a slim case and looks pretty good too.

It’s creator is a Russian designer called Dima Komissarov, and the project will be only a concept for quite a while, most likely.

Isn’t it cute? Now, let me tell you a few things about it. First of all, it’s not real, or at least not yet. The “Nokia Open” would be a cell phone that opens like a fan with a “scrollable touch screen,” which seems to be an essential-yet-nonexistent item that would need to be invented in order for this to work. Quite of a paradox, ain’t it?

With the push of the button, the phone would open up allowing you to navigate and use its functions. This really is futuristic, but not really that far away as flexible displays via e-paper will be implemented in the next decade among the electronic equipments.