Mobile gets cuddly with the concept Soft Phone : Tech Digest

When Motorola first released the RAZR, there was much talk about its metallic-sheen and laser-etched keypad. But metal is SO 2005 when it comes to mobile handsets. The hot new thing in the mobile arena is electronic fabric. Well, it is if you ask designer Qian Jiang.

They've come up with something called the Soft Phone, a concept handset made from electronic fabric. So instead of jabbing buttons, you squeeze it to end a call, and stroke it to register inputs (for example selecting menu functions).

Meanwhile, all the hard bits - antenna, battery, camera etc - are housed in a clip made from squeezy silica, which hangs off the phone. It is regrettably unclear whether you can stick this in the washing machine at 40 degrees when it gets grubby, but hopefully there'll be a symbol on its label explaining that sort of thing.

(via Yanko Design)