Nokia's Phone Of The Future: How Would It 'Morph' Handheld Content?

The latest on the visionary front ... Nokia (NYSE: NOK), along with researchers at the University of Cambridge in England, has created an animated video describing a vision for bendable and highly intelligent mobile devices. The new concept phone is part of a display presented in conjunction with the "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Based on several reviews of the video yesterday, the xBox neon-green device looks pretty slick. It's about the size of an index card and is as flat as a piece of paper, but allows you to type messages, fold it and hold it up to your ear to make a call, or refold it, so it can become a bracelet, a watch or an earring, according to the Washington Post.

In the animated video, a woman drops a bit of honey on the device and it slides off without leaving residue behind. She then snaps a photo of her purse, and when she folds the device around her wrist, the same pattern as her purse appears as the new wallpaper. The device can also recommend washing an apple before its eaten because it can sense tiny particles falling off of it. Nokia said elements of Morph might be available to integrate into handheld devices within 7 years, though initially only at the high-end. In general, it believes nanotechnology may one day lead to low cost manufacturing solutions. Release.

It's interesting to imagine how technologies such as these could influence the way people consume content. The Motley Fool asks what it would be like if a screen could be stretched so that a movie can be watched more easily, or what if Amazon's (NSDQ: AMZN) Kindle reader could be rolled up like a newspaper and tucked away in a pocket? With Nokia's recent emphasis on software and applications, they must be thinking about this, too.

For a tongue-and-cheek list of things you can do with Nokia's Morph, check out Wired's: "7 Jobs That Nokia's Phone of the Future Will be Good For."