Nokia and Cambridge Uni launch nanophones art

Nokia has announced the Morph concept, a joint nanotechnology project between the Nokia Research Center (NRC) and the

University of Cambridge

.

Morph was launched today alongside the 'Design and the Elastic Mind' exhibition, which is on view from 24 February to 12 May at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

According to Nokia, Morph concept technologies might create the following types of opportunities for mobile devices:

• Newly-enabled flexible and transparent materials to blend more seamlessly with the way we live
• Devices to become self-cleaning and self-preserving
• Transparent electronics to offer an entirely new aesthetic dimension
• Built-in solar absorption might charge a device, whilst batteries become smaller, longer lasting and faster to charge
• Integrated sensors might allow us to learn more about the environment around us, empowering us to make better choices

Artistically inspirational and agenda setting

Professor Mark Welland, head of the Department of Engineering's Nanoscience Group at the University of Cambridge and university director of Nokia-Cambridge collaboration, added: "Developing the Morph concept with Nokia has provided us with a focus that is both artistically inspirational but, more importantly, sets the technology agenda for our joint nanoscience research that will stimulate our future work together."

Nokia gave a number of examples of Morph phone designs including a wrist phone.

TechRadar reported last week that over two-thirds of Americans in a recent survey admitted to finding nanotechnology ‘morally unacceptable’. We wonder if this fear of miniaturised tech extends to Nokia’s rather quirky mobile phone concepts being developed as part of the Morph project…

For more on the 'Design and the Elastic Mind' exhibition check out the website.