People who create concept designs for future technology always have the luxury that their ideas don’t have to be practical or possible now, just cool enough to get people excited about what might be created one day.
Rimino, a project by Amid Moradganjeh from the Umeå Institute of Design at Umeå University in Sweden, is a look at what mobile phones might become in the future.
Noting that mobile operating systems have become increasingly complicated in recent years, this is an attempt to simplify everything down into an e-paper-based mobile device with a user interface inspired by print posters. The idea is that the technology gets out of the way, creating a ‘human’ experience that doesn’t force us to adapt to technology.
The most interesting part of of the concept is the way it can display different information or functions based on factors like location; time; temperature; light; moisture and air flow. Simply bend the device slightly, and all this data will be captured, helping Rimino work out what you want to do. You can even enter text by holding it like a pen and ‘writing’ onto a flat surface with one of its corners.
To be frank, Rimino is so completely out there that it’s almost impossible to describe. The best thing to do it is to read through the detailed concept document, or just watch the video below for a flavour of what it can do.