A new HOOK cellphone design breaks from the bar form factor

A new intriguing mobile form factor concept comes from the Brazilian designer Fabio Dabori. The so-called HOOK promises to innovate the keypad locking mechanism and push the future mobile designs to a new direction of smaller, more compact handsets.

The HOOK concept is actually quite simple - a standard bar phone receives a hook (metal or plastic) embedded around its keys. The hook can be either flippable or sliding as shown on the design mock-ups below.

This hook can help and innovate the current technologies in two ways. The first one concerns the keypad lock/unlock mechanism. Instead of pushing at least two buttons for the lock or unlock sequence you will be able to do that with only one flip or slide of the hook.

Next and most important is that manufacturers can put the microphone at the bottom of the hook. This can lead the mobile designs into more compact sizes and even some artistic shapes, because the microphone will still be near the mouth thanks to the flipping/sliding hook.

Of course the HOOK brings one big concern - something protruding out of the handset (especially that thin) is usually easily breakable. So if some day this concept gets a green light, the hook should either be quite solid or it might turn out quite a bummer.

You are welcome to share your thoughts about the HOOK design in the comments.