Sony Ericsson patents detachable phone screens

A newly revealed Sony Ericsson patent has unveiled an interesting concept in mobile phone design.

As laid out in a patent application called "Detachable Housings for a Wireless Communication Device", future Sony Ericsson mobile phones could offer two detachable screen housings.

This means a phone could offer a full feature set and yet keep relatively slimline proportions thanks to the swappable units.

For example, one unit could hold the camera, GPS functionality, etc, while the the other could have a different set of features, letting the users swap in the unit they want to use at the time.

The patent explains that when separated both housings could communicate with each other via Bluetooth.

Sounds like a neat idea in theory - but with one main problem that we could see - the units would be very easy to lose...