Nokia's concept makes light work of shopping

Your phone as a personal retail assistant

14 December 2007 10:23 GMT / By Katie Scott

A phone to take the hassle out of shopping is in development by Nokia.

The new concept, which is in development at the Nokia Research Centre in Helsinki, will allow shoppers to buy an item by taking an image of it on their mobile phone.

Dubbed "Point and Find", it will use special recognition software to identify the item that the shopper has captured on camera.

The phone will recognise an item, order it using its online capabilities (finding the best deal) and then, says Nokia, you could have your item delivered to your door within 24 hours.

Nokia added that the same technology could also be used by holidaymakers struggling to understand a menu in a restaurant abroad.

Nokia says that diners can take a photo of the menu and then, again using the Internet, the phone will produce an English translation.

The phone will be able to translate 9000 Chinese and 600 Japanese food-related words. And other versions of the software are planned for additional languages.

James Waterworth, of the Nokia Research Centre, added in an interview with The Sun that the phone concept could also help muddled tourists looking for a top attraction:

"You could be standing next to the leaning tower of Pisa, take a picture, and then your phone would search for information about it, which you would view on screen."

The project has been ongoing for five years but the phone, unfortunately, will not be a reality for at least another three years.