London artist Arthur Schmitt’s cell phone doesn’t have lightning fast 3G. It doesn’t have a an ultraresponsive multitouch display. It doesn’t even have a key pad. What it does have is more awesome than you can shake a discombobulator stick at.
Rarely do steampunk props intended to fill in for modern technology attempt to completely reinvent the way the device it mimics is used, but Schmitt’s concept for a neo-Victorian communications device does exactly that. Operated entirely by paper punchcards, encoded with binary information, the phone is one of the most original steampunk items this blogger has seen in ages.
According to Schmitt’s website:
“The concept reflects the users’ frustration with bloated interfaces, and the desire to be more in touch with the hardware.”
