Friday 29 May 2009

Telephones... of the FUTURE!


Courtesy of the ever-inventive lads down at the GPO.

4 comments:

Neil Russell said...

I wish my monitor was as cool as that picture phone.
Even with all the new phones that deliver data and video, we seem to still be content with audio only conversations, I guess the video phone can be chucked onto the same pile as the flying car.
Camera placement is the biggest problem, despite the way they portray the system working, it would always look like you were peering over the other person's head.

jayessell said...

Would it be possible to put a camera in the center of a monitor without marring the display?

A camera on a arm in front of the display if it's small enough. Auto retract it when the call is over.

Or... put the camera under the display so it looks to the caller like you're looking at his necktie.

Oh wait....

Neil Russell said...

It would likely be cumbersome, but it could be set up like a teleprompter. The image reflects on a one way mirror in front of the camera lens and the camera shoots straight through the back of the mirror and right into the viewer's eyes.

It could probably be scaled down a bit from the studio size ones I remember from the 1980s

jayessell said...

Or... put the camera under the display so it looks to the caller like you're looking at his necktie.

Oh wait....
Oops...
Disreguard that.
It would look like I'm looking at your hat.

The camera on top makes it look like I'm looking at your chest.