New iPhone Design Concept from Matt Brady and Jesus Diaz: iClamshell Anyone?

I’ve got another new iPhone concept for you today! Last week we all took a look at the iPhone Pro and iPhone Elite concepts, both of these having a slider form factor that some loved, and others hated. I had to admit both concepts made me a bit giddy. This new one has me smiling as well.

The new concept (as designed by Matt Brady, with some retouching by Jesus Diaz of Giz) is another offering for us to ponder… And yes, these are the same 2 designers that were responsible for the iPhone Pro/Elite mockups. Great work guys! This new design concept looks to be a clamshell (er, ‘iClamshell’?) that would allow the iPhone user to ‘add on’ different accessories. In this case, a snap-on keyboard. Interesting. This would certainly open up the door for Apple and a lot of 3rd party accessory manufacturers to go nuts with add-ons for the device.

But enough about that, what the heck do you think of this concept? Would it fly? Is it something you’d be interested in? Or does it look just plain terrible to you? Tell me what you think in the comments.

One thing is for certain… These concepts are great, and they certainly get you thinking about what you want in your next gen iPhone… But the real important thing is what does Apple think you want in your next gen iPhone!? We’ll find out shortly at Macworld. Going to be lots of good stuff to talk about following the keynote, that’s for sure!

[TiPB via Gizmodo]

About The Author

James Falconer

James was born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada. Almost 15 years ago he started out in the 'real world' as a web and graphic designer. Through the years he has finely tuned his skills in SEO, internet marketing, conversion strategy, and project management. To date, he runs his own successful consulting business where he advises companies all over the globe. A co-founder of www.crackberry.com, and sole proprietor of www.mactropolis.com, James in recent years has become very active in the tech blogosphere. Online community building and strategy is fast becoming one of his passions. Watch for James' no frills attitude, unique perspective and to-the-point comments here on IntoMobile!

gary

fantastic idea….hope apple is pondering this concept.
SkratchBoard.com

Yup, great concept We’d love to see the iPhone sport a hardware keyboard. Here are some of our other wishes:

1. Faster processor and more memory. Many iPhone users have been reporting that their iPhones have been increasingly sluggish with more apps installed. A faster processor and more memory should fix it.

2. Better Battery Life. One day of use is hardly good these days. 5 day of normal usage with a single charge like the Nokia E71 would be awesome.

3. Higher Resolution Camera. What’s with that whimpy camera? Add a 5 Megapixel+ camera so I don’t need to carry a separate point-and-shoot camera.

4. Video Capture. Oh, of course the camera needs to support video capture as well. 720p at a minimum and super easy upload to YouTube.

5. Flash Support. What kind of web browser doesn’t have Flash support these days?

6. WiMax Support. Forget 3G, add WiMax support to the iPhone for ultra fast wide area wireless network at peak rate of 40MBps.

7. Seamless data tethering. It would be so sweet to be able to use the iPhone as a wireless modem for my laptop. Apple, why do you have to forbid 3rd party developers like NullRiver to give this to us?

8. Hardware Slideout Keyboard. This one may cause a religious debate, but many still think a hardware keyboard is more usable. Add a slideout hardware keyboard for easier typing. But we want it without making the iPhone any thicker.

9. Bigger Screen. Increase screen size to 4″, maybe add a foldable OLED display. This would make web browsing so much better.

10. Make iPhone a True Open Platform. Apple, please stop policing the 3rd party ecosystem and rejecting software that you don’t want other people to compete with you, like the Opera iPhone Web Browser.
Dan

Terrible idea. Impossible to use one handed, no external screen, it’s overall completely wrong. Whoever designed (and I’m using the term very loosely here) this never thought of the usability factor.
Tracy

I just hope it’s not any thicker than the G3 is right now. I’ve always had slimmer, lighter phones over the years. The iPhone was “chunkier” than I would normally prefer, but I DO LOVE MY iPHONE nonetheless.

It definitely needs a video capture, seems silly to not have a feature like that with a phone like the iPhone. But I always knew that was part of the marketing strategy … keeps people coming back for the next generation. Now, I do wish AT&T would get their service issues together. I lose too many calls everyday due to connection problems. I used to think it was the iPhone, I don’t think that anymore.
sinaus

i can’t believe somebody can come up with just a useless design. honestly it looks bad not usability is big thumbs down!!
brendan

I fully agree with dan, I like to use my iphone one handed. I also think a faster processor and more memory would be great along with a massive better battery life and a Higher Resolution Camera is a must…