Double slide next up from Nokia and Sony Ericsson
November 28, 2007

Sony Ericsson has applied for a patent on a mobile phone that can be opened from several sides, with a keypad on one end and a text keyboard at the other. Nokia has applied for a similar patent, and there are rumours about such mobile from both companies.

Concept model of a possible Sony Ericsson smartphone.

A fresh interesting patent application from Sony Ericsson shows a so-called double slide phone. On the bottom side, it is possible to slide open a numerical keypad. On the long side, a text keyboard is accessible, and the phone can be turned to write text with the screen in a horizontal position. There have been rumours of a mobile with a slide keyboard from Sony Ericsson, said to bear the name P5i.

The new patent application seems to be a trend for more advanced mobiles. Nokia has applied for a patent for a similar solution. But Nokia has also constructed its model so that the keypad can be unfolded next to the keyboard.


Sketch from Sony Ericsson's patent application.

Pasi Kemppinen at Nokia writes in the patent application that the new solution has important benefits compared to the previous form concepts “slide” and “flip”, notably the usability and the increased available user interface space.


Sketch from Nokia's patent application.

When images recently appeared of what was said to be a ”Nokia N99”, with a slide keyboard, many shook their heads. The images seemed to be the work of a happy Nokia fan with some the help of image software Photoshop. Still there is not much information pointing towards any likelihood of the Nokia N99 being real. But the new sketches do show that the company is planning for a mobile that is similar to the alleged “Nokia N99”.


This is the roughly manipulated digital image of the “Nokia N99” that appeared on the Internet just before Nokia's patent application.

By: Linus Brohult, Jonas Kämpe