Finnish handset giant Nokia introduced a concept device they dubbed ?The Morph.? The Morph, still very much a concept device with no intended plans to manufacture or release, takes mobile smartphone devices miles beyond what is currently available on the market today. The Morph would take advantage of nanotechnology to incorporate a wide variety of uses into one device; from the standard features of voice, and data to the more whimsical features of being able to analyze the air quality and possible contaminants on the food you are about to eat. The Morph would not just be a unique device capable of a large variety of functions; it would also serve as a unique and stylish accessory. The Morph's design would make it capable of being physically manipulated to change its form factor. It could be stretched out into a device with a full sized QWERTY keyboard, making it easier to communicate. It could be folded up into the size of a credit card for easy storage; and it could even be folded to be worn on your wrist as a watch. As already mentioned, this device is very much a concept phone. Nokia, currently, has no plans in the works to develop this concept into a viable marketable device. However, several of the features discussed in the concept will be slowly incorporated into devices that will be developed over the next few years.



Other handset developers, like NEC and BenQ have released information about their own pliable concept phones; their concepts do not incorporate all of the same technology the Nokia Morph has, but they're still very interesting designs.

With the release of the Apple iPhone several other handset developers have followed with their own touch screen smart phones capable of providing users with the same features and technology they'd expect from the popular iPhone. With upcoming handset releases users can expect to see more touch screen technology integrated along with the continued ability to use mobile phones for more than just phone calls. As more functionality is incorporated into the devices, users can expect to see dramatic changes in the designs of the phones; larger screens, fold out keyboards, and a move towards handsets without buttons.

As consumers feel the urge to ?Go Green?, mobile phone developers are going to take this into account and start changing the way they build their handsets. The elimination of toxic components is the first start towards going green with the inclusion of more recycled components into the handsets. The plastic casing of mobile phones can be made, in large part, from recycled and renewable materials. Developers are also going to start to make the move towards increasing the battery life of phones while developing phones that use less energy to gain a full charge. Nokia has already built into their phones an alert that will let users know when their phone is fully charged, urging them to disconnect their phones.

There are so many directions the mobile phone industry can take us in it is hard to pinpoint exactly where the technology is going to take us. However, what is certain is that the future of mobile phone technology is a bright one full of possibilities as innovative handset makers and wireless carriers take steps to not only make our lives easier with better communication devices, but take the steps needed to ensure the technologies keep up with our demands.