Water-resistant mobile phones: a reality

London, Feb 26 (UNI) Ever imagined a phone that is water-resistant, can be wrapped around the little finger and able to sense their surroundings.

Nokia has made this possible, leading the way in the next generation of mobile technology.

With the looks of a thinner version of the 1980s Rubik's Magic Puzzle toy, it could be used as a keyboard when laid flat. While folded either lengthways or widthways, it turns into a very thin mobile phone or into a bracelet that can be worn and connected wirelessly to a headset.

''All the elements of the phone are reflected in real projects that are going on here,'' The Guardian quoted Professor Mark Welland, head of the nanoscience group at Cambridge University and director of the Nokia collaboration as saying.

Regarding the device's flexibility the professor said, ''We have a project on flexible electronics and, can take a piece of electronics, wrap it around your little finger and it still operates.'' Altering materials at their most basic atomic level can create devices that never get wet - because they repel water so effectively - or can sense their surroundings. This ability to sense surroundings is the next leap for mobile phones, explained Mr Welland.

The Morph phone has been developed by the Finnish mobile phone company and nanotechnology experts at Cambridge University, and was recently unveiled at New York's Museum of Modern Art as part of the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition.

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