RIM and Nokia battle over crazy keyboards

The US Patent office has recently published a couple of patent applications for new keyboard designs. One by RIM the maker of Blackberry, and one by Nokia. RIM’s patent application consists of a standard 9 key keypad that that expands to a qwerty keyboard at the touch of a button. This is achieved with the use of flip-out wings on either side of the phone. It is an interesting concept, but it looks like using this phone with its qwerty keyboard out will require a little bit of thumb gymnastics. Details on Nokia’s application after the break

Nokia’s patent application is for a hybrid form factor device, that combines a communicator form factor with a clamshell design. This effect is achieved with an array of hinges, and angular components, plus a folding display that probably doesn’t exist yet. I like the idea, but it seems unnecessarily complicated, and fills a need that doesn’t really exist.
While these patent applications don’t depict designs that look particularly ergonomic or even practical, the innovation shown here is encouraging.