The Gorillamobile is ideal for mobile phones, PDAs, MP3 players, portable gaming devices, GPS units, mini video cameras, pocket projectors and almost any other mobile device a consumer might want to utilize in a hands-free manner. The Gorillamobile pack includes a custom-engineered suction cup mounting system, two removable high-bond adhesive clips and the traditional universal camera adapter to ensure maximum compatibility. Whether the user needs a temporary hold or prefers something more permanent, the adapters provide the solution.

“The Gorillamobile will satisfy the overwhelming demand we’ve had to develop a portable and delightful product for the person seeking a tripod and flexible mounting system for all his mobile devices,” said Joby COO Forrest Baringer-Jones. “The Gorillamobile truly creates endless possibilities and is sure to become a ‘can’t leave home without it’ product.”

The Gorillamobile weighs under 2 ounces, is just under 6-inches tall and has a MSRP of $34.95. The product will ship in late summer and will be available globally.

Features include:

• four interchangeable quick‐release adapters
• flexible leg joints with rubberized grips
• secure locking mechanism and travel friendly design

The new iPhone 3Gs will be available in 2 version. It will be sold in US (AT&T), Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and UK from June 19th, with 16GB version priced at $199 and 32GB version priced at $299. By August, the new iPhone will eventually be available in 80 countries. As for the current iPhone users, the iPhone OS 3.0 software will be released on June 17 through the iTunes 8.2 or later.

Apple® today introduced the new iPhone™ 3G S, the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including improved speed and performance—up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G—with longer battery life, a high-quality 3 megapixel autofocus camera, easy to use video recording and hands free voice control. iPhone 3G S includes the new iPhone OS 3.0, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 100 new features such as Cut, Copy and Paste, MMS*, Spotlight Search, landscape keyboard and more. iPhone 3G S customers get access to more than 50,000 applications from Apple’s revolutionary App Store, the largest application store in the world where customers have already downloaded over one billion apps. iPhone 3G S offers twice the capacity for the same price with a 16GB model for just $199 and a new 32GB model for just $299.** And beginning today, iPhone 3G is available at the breakthrough price of just $99 for the 8GB model—a huge milestone for the high end smartphone market.

“iPhone 3G S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet and we think people will love the incredible new features including autofocus camera, video recording and the freedom of voice control,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of WorldWide Product Marketing. “And with a breakthrough price of $99, we are thrilled to get iPhone 3G into the hands of even more users who want them.”

iPhone 3G S offers incredible speed and performance, on average up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G, so you can render web pages quicker and launch applications faster. iPhone 3G S takes advantage of the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard for stunning high-quality 3D graphics, making mobile gaming and other graphic intense applications better than ever. iPhone 3G S is not only faster, but with longer battery life you can watch more videos, listen to more music, browse the Internet or keep using your favorite apps even longer. The new iPhone 3G S also supports 7.2 Mbps HSDPA for faster networking speeds.***

iPhone 3G S features a new 3 megapixel autofocus camera that takes amazing pictures and video, making it easier than ever to capture, edit and share those moments instantly with family and friends. The new autofocus camera adjusts focus, exposure, color and contrast for the best possible image and includes an automatic macro focus for extra close up shots. With the new “tap to focus” feature, you simply touch the display to select an object or area of interest and the camera automatically re-adjusts focus and exposure. You can record incredible high-quality video clips and edit them right on your iPhone 3G S by simply trimming the start and stop points. With iPhone 3G S you can send photos and video by email or MMS and post them to MobileMe™ or YouTube with just one tap.

The voice control feature in iPhone 3G S offers hands free operation for both iPhone and iPod® functions. Simply speak the appropriate commands into the built-in microphone or headset microphone to dial by name or number. With voice control you can play your favorite music by artist, album or playlist and activate the Genius feature by saying “play more songs like this.” You can also tell iPhone to pause the music, play the next track, turn on shuffle or ask, “What’s playing right now?”

iPhone 3G S features a new built-in digital compass for instant navigation.**** The Compass app shows you which way you are headed and rotates as you change direction. You can orient yourself to true north or magnetic north, and iPhone’s built-in GPS automatically displays the coordinates of your current location. The new built-in digital compass is also integrated within Maps, so it automatically orients any map to the direction you are facing.

iPhone 3G S provides new accessibility features including VoiceOver, a screen reader that speaks what appears on the iPhone 3G S display, enabling visually impaired users to make calls, read email, browse web pages, play music and run applications. The new universal Zoom function magnifies the entire screen, and the White on Black feature reverses the colors on screen to provide higher contrast for people with low vision. iPhone 3G S also supports Mono Audio which combines left and right audio channels so that they can be heard in both earbuds for those with hearing loss in one ear.

iPhone 3G S includes the new iPhone OS 3.0 software with more than 100 new features including: Cut, Copy and Paste; MMS; Spotlight Search to search across iPhone or within Mail, Contacts, Calendar and iPod; landscape keyboard for Mail, Messages, Notes and Safari®; expanded parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store; and the ability to capture and send audio recordings on the go with the new Voice Memo app. iPhone 3.0 software also includes a new Find My iPhone feature that works together with MobileMe so you can locate your lost iPhone on a map, send a message that will appear on the screen or play a sound to help you find it even if your phone is set to silent. If you cannot find your iPhone, you can erase all data and content on your iPhone with the new Remote Wipe feature. New iTunes® features available with iPhone 3.0 software include wirelessly downloading movies, TV and audio programs as well as iTunes U so students can download learning materials on the go.

iPhone 3G S gives users access to the revolutionary App Store, the largest application store in the world with more than 50,000 applications. The App Store allows developers to reach tens of millions of iPhone and iPod touch® users around the world. To date, customers have downloaded more than one billion apps from the App Store. And with more than 1,000 new APIs available with the iPhone SDK, developers can create even more innovative applications using In-App Purchases, a new Maps API and Push Notifications.

iPhone 3G S also features built-in Nike + iPod support making it an incredible workout companion. Users simply place the optional Nike + iPod sensor ($19) in their Nike + shoe to seamlessly connect with iPhone 3G S to track miles run or sync with the latest generation gym equipment.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone 3G S will be available in the US on June 19 for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and just $299 (US) for the new 32GB model in both Apple and AT&T’s retail and online stores, Best Buy and Wal-Mart stores. iPhone 3G S requires a new two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. iPhone OS 3.0 software will be available on June 17 as a free software update via iTunes 8.2 or later for all iPhone customers. iPod touch customers will be able to purchase a software update for $9.95 (US). Beginning June 8, iPhone 3G will be available for just $99 (US) for the 8GB model. New MobileMe features for iPhone require iPhone OS 3.0. MobileMe is available for an annual subscription price of $99 (US).

iPhone 3G S will also be available in more than 80 countries in the coming weeks.

Apple’s iPhone addresses this issue by using a touch screen user interface. The touch screen can be configured to display images of virtual user interfaces. Touch screens allow for a wide variety of different virtual user interfaces. However, touch screens do not provide any tactile feedback to users. With touchscreens, users cannot distinguish virtual user interface elements by touch. For some types of interfaces, this does not matter very much. However, the lack of tactile feedback makes it difficult to type. When the keys are small and grouped closely together, it is hard to precisely apply pressure to the right key without being able to feel the keys. Apple is including text prediction in the iPhone to automatically correct for typing errors for this reason. Moreover, many experienced thumb typists can often touch type with minimal visual reference, primarily relying instead on their sense of touch to locate buttons. With touch screens, users must look at the touch screen to interact with the virtual interface.

Nalu is a concept mobile phone, portable media player, and text messaging / e-mail device. (Nalu is the Hawaiian word for wave, which fits with the design’s wave-like shape.)

Nalu has a double hinged case to provide three different physical user interfaces: a telephone keypad, a scroll wheel, and a thumb keyboard. Users fold or unfold the design to reveal one interface and hide the other two.

When the phone is closed, it has the typical mobile phone keypad and a small display screen. By opening the phone on the left side, the design unfolds to a widescreen media player with a scroll wheel. By opening the phone on the right side, the design unfolds thumb keyboard for texting and e-mail. In the phone configuration, the other two interfaces are folded within the device and hidden.
This video shows how the folding works.

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In the media player configuration, the scroll wheel interface is visible to the user and the thumb keyboard is folded inside the device and hidden.

In the e-mail device configuration, the thumb keyboard interface is visible to the user and the scroll wheel interface is folded inside the device and hidden.

When the device is folded closed, it has a tall and narrow form. In this form, the device is 52mm wide, approximately the same width as the Motorola Razr. In this form, the phone is small enough to hold up to your face to talk or to store in a pocket or purse. When the device is opened to the media player or the text messaging interface, the screen is 104mm wide, or slightly larger than the wide screen lcd on the Sony PSP. By portable device standards, this screen is enormous, making it superb for watching videos.

The curvature of the top and bottom surfaces of the phone enhance usability. In the phone configuration, the design fits in the user’s closed hand. When opened to the media player configuration, the profile of the design includes a concave depression on the left side of the back surface to help the design rest flat in the user’s open hand. In the text entry configuration, the profile of the design has a concave depression in the center of the back surface to help users grip the device with both hands while typing with their thumbs.

In the closed phone configuration, the plane of the right side surface fits with the user’s right thumb. The large groove includes a touch pad for vertically scrolling through menus and address books. The groove also provides traction for opening and unfolding the design with one hand to access the other interfaces.

There is a camera on the back side of the phone as well.

This drawing explains how Nalu hides multiple interfaces.

Slider and clamshell phone designs are made of two parts connected with a hinge or sliding joint. Nalu is comprised of three modules: a top module, a center module, and a bottom module. The top and bottom modules are the same size. The center module is smaller in length than the other two modules. The center module has one flat surface and one convex surface. The flat surface of the center module has the left side of the keyboard. The right side of the keyboard is on the bottom module. The convex surface of the center module has the left side of the scroll wheel. The right side of the scroll wheel is on the top module.

The top module has a concave depression. The center module can fit inside this concave depression when the design is folded along the first hinge.

The top and bottom modules are folded around both hinges to close the design into the phone configuration:

Magnets are used to hold the pieces of the design together in the various configurations. This allows for a clean appearance with no unsightly protrusions.

My special thanks to Jon Hollander for taking the time to write this piece for My iPhone. -Vincent Nguyen