Two examples is not enough to call it a trend, but we've recently spotted a pair of designs, both from London, with simple but interesting kinetic abilities.
Jeremy Innes-Hopkins' Nokia Kinetic concept is for a cell phone with a weighted electromagnet in the rounded base. When a call comes in, the phone, if laying flat on a surface, rises up to a standing position.
Creative agency Chalmers Judd's Floppy Legs uses one technology that's obsolete--a 3.5-inch floppy disc drive--and one that is not: Spill a drink near it and watch what happens.
Floppy Legs Portable Hard Drive from James Chambers on Vimeo.
What we'd like to see next: Combining the two technologies to make a phone that, when on your person and ringing, demands attention by physically fighting its way out of your pocket or purse.