Microsoft Surface Phone

It feels very derivative, there are lots of good ideas but they’re all pulled from other products like Google Tango, Samsung Dex, etc. There are already devices with depth cameras built in for an example of form factor https://get.google.com/tango/

As a pure sculptural/ID exercise it feels under developed, a bit like the almost pure rectangle nextbit Robin phone (https://www.nextbit.com/) but without some of the playful elements. It feels sharp and cold in an era where most manufacturers are moving towards rounding everything (the UI, the screen, the phone itself).

Details like the cover which just comes off as a pure white brick without material…rather than seeming soft and protective it just comes off as a brittle block of plastic, the design aesthetic doesn’t seem to match it’s function (compared to most smart covers which are soft, felt, padded, etc). Theres also no indication of how the kickstand mechanism would work. Most phone/tablet cases that use that type of folding feature use the case itself to act as the kickstand, since the hinge needs to be curved to open.

Your presentation is well done, and all this tech is basically feasible today. But you come at it from an approach of “Combine all this tech into a singular product” and it seems to take away from who the ideal user of this phone might be. Just for the uber designer/engineering professional? Your grandma? The instagram trendsetter?

The mobile hardware space is tough, we’re at a point where the technology has probably peaked and we’re sitting waiting for the next technology inflection point to really open up new opportunities.