Siemens looks to the future with concept prototypes at CeBIT 2005

9 March 2005 12:28 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Siemens has shown off a number of “Smart Home” devices at CeBit in Germany as the company outlines its vision of the future in mobile communications.

The devices ranged from a mobile phone with DVB-H television capabilities and a running machine connected to a mobile phone via Bluetooth called the Runster that changed the speed of music you were listening to according to the speed you ran.

The television mobile, which is in the early stages of development allowed you to pick up DVB-H signals to watch streaming footage on. The unit is roughly the same size as a PDA and features a touch screen pad and an dial pad interface. The Concept while interesting is still in the early stages, the unit we were demoed on the stand crashed a number of times and its hard to see when or if we will see this in Europe any time soon.

The “Runster” worked on the idea that the fast you ran the more the tempo of the music you were listening to got, drop of the pace and the music slowed down with you. It's an interesting idea, but I sure after a couple of kilometres on the treadmill the drop in speed and therefore music would become very annoying and is certainly wouldn't be any good for interval training.

Other concept designs on show is a phone for elderly people that doubles up as a safety device. Rather similar to the Silver Phone we looked at recently the phone, this time in a cube allowed users to have the basic functions of a mobile without all the confusing options that come with it. Tying in with the rest of the Siemens brand, the phone can be set up and controlled via any Siemens phone. The initial prototype on display looked to be executed in a far better way to the SilverPhone and one to look out for in the future.