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One of my pet peeves with the iPhone (and similar smartphones) is that you need to cover the screen with your digits for gaming. Controls usually overlay the game itself, taking up a large portion of the screen real estate. I know it’s not a deal-breaker for many, but often times it’s a compromise for both the game and the person playing it.

With Apple’s well-known aversion to buttons in mind, I thought I’d come up with this simple design: the addition of two low-resolution quartz screens (think Game Boy, sans sickly green color) adjacent to the LCD screen. These screens would be home to any input need imaginable when called upon. Keyboards, game controls, etc. I’ve written some functions in this diagram:

D'oh! That should say 'Low-Res'. You get the idea.

These low-res quartz screens would only be active when an app or OS function calls for their use, making them energy-efficient. An ideal alternative to expanding the size of the power-hungry LCD screen to accommodate more User input.

Best of all, any UI layout can be created to compliment apps. Want to make a FPS shooter with two analog controls? Or a fighting game with 6 buttons? A steering wheel and pedals for a racing game? You can make whatever controls you want and place them in the side screens.

I should have used an HD game for the screenshot, but I love this game. Super Metroid rocks.

These screens can also be an extension of the game HUD, with High Scores and Health Meters parked here.

The trick would be to make the quartz screens seamless with the rest of the faceplate that surrounds the main screen. Because these screens have a silver appearance, the rest of the plate would need to match in color. There are quartz screens that are inverse (black with white graphics), so other colors for the overall phone is possible. It would be ideal to keep the displayed quartz graphics to a single color, but I can see these screens taking a Game Boy Color approach - would be nice for art programs to have palette dockers.

I know it’s like fusing a Game Boy with an iPhone, but I would love to get a phone with this kind of versatility - not just for gaming, but everyday use. I also believe app designers would love to have the option to move the overlay controls to the side screens.