"Rotary Mechanical" Cell Phone Concept Isn't Practical, But It Looks Great

Now, I’m as tired of steampunk as the next guy (unless the next guy works at BoingBoing), but that doesn’t mean I’m going to pretend something like this Rotary Mechanical concept isn’t cool. Steampunk got cool because of stuff like this, not people gluing brass fittings onto their top hats.

It is of course just a concept, but the idea is a modular, metal-and-wood object with interchangeable plates for different tasks. Not sure when the rotary dial will really be helpful, but hey, it’ll be nice to spin something.

I’m not sure it’ll fly with that weak old Symbian OS, though. Put Android on there with a custom skin, maybe, and have a cool copper trackball or something. I don’t know. At any rate, it’s a beautiful little (theoretical) object.