Slashdot Mirror
Upside Down Phone Patent
An anonymous reader noted that "A patent has been filed for the "Upside Down Phone", which features the keypad on top and the screen on the bottom. The idea behind the upside down phone is, apparently, to allow faster texting by have a more comfortable position for the thumb to work from. A quick check of this seems to confirm the theory, making this one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" moments."
I bought a Garmin GPS12 back in '98 that had the screen on the bottom. It made for great one-hand used.
I guess adding "cellphone" to a design is just like adding "on the Internet" to a business plan.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
Ericsson did this way back in 1999 with the "Hedvig".
Project was cancelled, one reason being users didn't like the upside down configuration.
What's next, a patent on wearing baseball caps backwards?
As another poster said. my 7 year old Garmin MAP12 handheld GPS had the screen on the bottom and buttons on the top.
not if you hold it right.
I had a job during the summer where I had to do a lot of data entry into phones and I ended up holding the thing upside-down and using it that way because it was easier.
Of course, this was all on a bicycle, so that makes a difference as well.
A blog about stuff.
Here's a phone by B&O that came out in europe two years ago: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/serene-bang- -olufsens-upside-down-cellphone-210756.php
The Serene phone from Samsung/Bang & Olufsen http://www.serenemobile.com/ already does this -- even lets you switch configurations.
Science fiction for grown-ups...
Too bad Bang & Olufsen has done it for a few years now.
p hone-from-samsung-and-bang-olufsen-155610.php
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/serene-cell
You may now rip that patent to pieces.
I've never understood the infatuation with flip-phones
No keyboard locking necessary. I can't count the number of times my wife has forgotten to lock the keyboard on her Nokia, and buttons get pushed on it in her purse.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
One of us *did* think of that.
No jokes, please
>> No keyboard locking necessary.
unless you have a poorly designed flip phone that happened to have 3 buttons on the outside, and one of them was both the keyboard unlock, and the redial last number button... I CONSTANTLY had that phone calling people from my pocket even though it had both the flip closed AND the keyboard locked! (what idiot designs a phone where the keyguard is turned off by one of only 3 buttons that were NOT covered by the flip cover??? (hint: Samsung SCH-3500 ))
I don't know of a single company that both manufactures phones, and sells connectivity. Your point makes no sense.