These days, anyone with Photoshop and a fanboy bent can come up with fake (or, as they are known, “concept”) product design. To achieve smart, desirable simplicity, though, requires some talent. Mac Funamizu has it, as we saw with his transparent tablet computer, which overlays the internet on the real world.

Now he has theoretically embedded e-ink into simple plastic block to make a smart phone. Based on the Nokia Aeon (another concept), the Nanokia has no buttons. The interface is configured on-the-fly, like the iPhone, but the e-ink makes you forget there is a screen involved. The planned haptic interface furthers the illusion of real, solid buttons. Using a nondescript tactile feedback technology, its surface adapts to different purposes while the e-ink screen envelops the phone in graphics and information.

I love it. Especially the slide-out-screen configuration. It’s one step closer to something that was already perfected 11 years ago. The Psion Series 5.