Nokia developing first side-sliding phone?

Nokia has developed a unique technology that may signal its entry into the world of smartphones with lateral slide-out keyboards, according to a freshly discovered patent filing. Called a "turn and slide concept," the patent would include a rotating point that would lift and tilt the phone's screen away from the main body, revealing a keyboard while locking the display to a comfortable angle with a built-in hinge. Such design would make it easy to access the keyboard without having a keyboard that covers the entire bottom of the device.

Although few other details of the patent leave clues as to a possible production version, the example drawings show a front face without buttons, suggesting a possible touchscreen model. A camera is also present on the side opposite the rotating component of the handset.

Nokia has previously said it was developing a touchscreen phone whose concepts have only been partially revealed to the public but which should be available sometime in 2008. Whether or not the newly-found patent is connected is uncertain, though any released device is expected to join the N series of media phones. [via Unwired View]