Increasingly it seems the latest smartphones to hit the market follow a strikingly similar design. Sleek edges, expansive screen, lightweight body and compact size are all familiar characteristics. However, designer Richard Clarkson has unveiled a striking rotary mechanical concept which is more like a piece of industrial machinery rather than the latest mobile advancement.
However, Clarkson’s concept still manages to combine the newest technology seen in today's smartphones with mechanical systems from a by-gone era. Rather than just a gimic, Clarkson believes his design is a stronger reflection of an individual’s personality as opposed to generic mobile handsets which provide little originality.
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The phone's simplistic design and industrial features are a tribute to both minimalism and steampunk, a sub-genre era or world where steam power is still widely used.
Clarkson says: “I have looked at where industrial design has come from, and where it might be going to, and by doing so have tried to create an object that is true to both, a harmonious combination of mechanical parts and digital technologies. Rotary mechanical is a question not only about the ever increasing ‘digital take-over’ of everything in our lives but also what is lost when this happens.”
The phone features two interchangeable brass dials, a true rotary dial and a button dial, much like changing the lens of a camera. The body is electroplated copper which has been painted and designed to look better with age. Not getting too carried away with the phone's aesthetic beauty, the device is also designed to have its electronics modularly replaced to help 'reduce or even eliminate digital rot'.
