Original story

SatWeb 14.12.2007

Rumours of Nokia’s new VT Communicator -full-sized PC from pocket micro?

According to so far anonymous sources within the industry, the Finnish mobile phone and IT giant Nokia may have perfected a radically new palm-micro.

A beta-tester, who wished to remain unnamed, reports that despite its apparent miniature size, Nokia’s new Communicator model in fact contains a full-sized videophone and PC. Nokia has thus far refused to confirm or deny the rumours.

According to our source, the new device is relatively bulky for a pocket computer, but can still be squeezed into a breast pocket. What is truly revolutionary is that the equipment has no keyboard or display whatsoever - at least not in the conventional sense. These have both been replaced by the camera and projectors used in the videophone. In use, a thin-film plastic sheet spreads out in front of the device, onto which is projected a full-sized keyboard. Correspondingly, a second projector creates a colour display on another sheet of film behind the main unit. The traditional mouse control has been replaced by ocular control, apparently based on earlier Microsoft technology, and the Communicator is also programmed to respond to audio prompts for certain basic commands. Apparently, Nokia engineers are already engaged on trials of a version in which the thin-film plastic sheets are replaced by a microthin nitrogen jet film.

Not surprisingly, representatives of Ericsson and Motorola were reluctant to comment on the possible new breakthrough in Finland. However, both companies reported that their own research was centred on the use of hologram technology in similar applications.

Amur Schein, Chief Technical Officer at the EU’s Test Laboratory in Montpellier, had grave doubts that a device like the new Nokia model would find a market in its present form, since users are too attached to the traditional feel of the keyboard. He suggested that it might at some stage be possible to replicate that “touch” by adding a sense of feel to the keyboard interface through infrasound, but that this was still some way off.

The rumours have in any event boosted Nokia share prices, as the company’s stock rose sharply in early trading in Beijing and Tokyo.

Hannula I. & Linturi R. 1998: 100 Phenomena. Yritysmikrot Oy, Helsinki 1998. Copyright notices ISBN 952-9508-18-2

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