LG has announced the winners of their 3rd Annual Design the Future Competition, which asked entrants to "define the future of mobile communication" via a design for a cell phone. Oddly, the press release does not include images of the winning design (done by Virginia Tech ID students Zack Filbert, Chris Carpenter, James Connors, and Kees Luyendijk) but does include runners up:

The second place winning entry - titled Premium - is a mobile phone with 3D interface that connects the phone and the car together to adjust in-car climate, control the infotainment system, select seat memory, check tire pressure, gauge the fuel amount, etc. It should come as no surprise that the winner, Nouphone Bansasine, is a professional car designer.

This year's competition marked the first-ever Prop Mater's Choice Award which was given to Dua Xiong for his cutting-edge design titled the Flutter. A smartphone that fans open to reveal a beautiful flexible OLED touch screen that scrolls radially, the Flutter has won the opportunity to be featured in future blockbuster film.

Participants submitted a wide range of ideas including accessories and concepts for the disabled. For example, an honorable mention - titled Atlas - is a smartphone that docks into a base which projected the pages, so you can view multiple applications simultaneously. The dock features a tracking system which senses your hand gestures, so you can spin the pages in a loop and zoom in and out.

Another honourable mention - titled Surface - is a watch phone for the blind and features a Braille keypad and a unique shape, so you can distinguish orientation of the phone by feel.
Comments
The flutter looks very the same as an old Catia contest winner, http://www.core77.com/reactor/catia/
Is design about being less creative but more computer skilled? Is showing the idea more important than the idea itself?
I don't see much creativity in contest lately...
Just an impression... not judging intentions or accusing no one...
Its incredible how u close te door for fresh ideas all of them have inspiration of actual references an u close the contests just for the US i tried to enter but i cant because im Mexican not really fair
The Flutter is really cool looking, it reminds me of one of those shaving blades from the old days, seen mostly in westerns.
If they ever produced it, I'd definitely think about buying it.
I think it make sense, the competition is to design a phone that is 2-3 years from now. The Premium looks duable. But the Flutter is more sci-fi which is why they decided as a prop for a sci-movie. I'm sure if this were a blue sky design competition there would be more creativity. Pretty sure the contestants had some kind of guidlines or hard points that they had met.