14 DAY TRIAL // After the amazing Morph handset, presented by Nokia at the beginning of the year, we now have another shape-shifting concept to bear the Finnish giant manufacturer's logo. Named exactly Nokia ShapeShift, the new concept is not presented by Nokia, as it was the case with Morph, but by Rune Larsen, a designer who is not at his first attempt of this kind.
Unlike Morph, which should be a device that can entirely change its form, Rune Larsen's Nokia is able to change only the shape of its touchscreen display. More exactly, the ShapeShift's display would be made out of two special-plastic layers - the inner one being rigid and the outer one being flexible. Between them, a thin layer of a liquid substance should be able to transform the touchscreen and turn it into an alphanumeric or a QWERTY keypad.
According to Larsen, the nice-looking Nokia ShapeShift would not be heavier than 125 grams and it would measure only 110 x 55 x 12 millimeters. Moreover, its display would be a 4 inch one - larger than any display currently packed in any other mobile device.
Unfortunately, as the Morph, the ShapeShift has little chances to be turned into a real device in the near future. Building such a handset would require the ones who work on it to find solutions to lots of difficult problems. First of all, the issue of the liquid to be used must be solved, as you can't just use water. Also, the handset would need a "system" to efficiently control the liquid and make it morph into the keypads that we talked about.
Although the future technology might allow us to have a Nokia ShapeShift, the handset could actually never be built. That's because it doesn't come from Nokia and the Finnish company will almost surely concentrate on its own projects and concepts, like the Morph. Nevertheless, ShapeShift would make a beautiful and interesting handset and we can still hope that, someday, something similar will indeed hit the market.
