It seems like ages since we’ve had a concept phone on these pages, so lets muster up some congratulations for Ukraine designer Shkinder Maxim who has just won third place in the Tancher Electronic Design competition with his twisty, projector-toting ‘Transformer’ handset.  Consisting of three main sections that pivot 360 degrees around a central pivot, Maxim envisages the Transformer as comprising five key functions: cellphone, photo/video recorder, media player, projector and holographic projector/3D scanner.  Different modes are activated by positioning the handset into particular shapes; for instance, when working as a projector the cellphone stands upright in a Y-shape. 

The 3D scanner is an interesting idea; apparently you would pass an object through the central area and the Transformer would create a virtual model of it which you could then either convert into a flat image or manipulate in virtual 3D space.  More traditionally connected to cellphone functionality, the Transformer concept describes a voice-monitoring lie detector, which gauges caller’s truthfulness and displays it onscreen, and which can be repurposed to monitor your own mood and send details on whether you’re happy, sad or pensive to others

Obviously this isn’t going to be going into production any time soon, but congratulations all the same, Shkinder!

[via core77]