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back to article Phoney McPhoneface: The thrilling tale of ZTE's crowdsourced mobe

Engineers and designers hate committee-led engineering and design, hence the proverbial joke about the camel. And ZTE's effort to allow passing strangers to design and brand a new mobile device perhaps illustrates why. In August, ZTE announced Project CSX, allowing "the community" to build a new product. The Chinese giant …

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  1. Your alien overlord - fear me

    The polarising screen is in (I think) Jaguars or some other high end car so the driver can look at the GPS map and the front seat passenger can watch a movie.

    I reckon people wanted a waterproof VR headset so they can pretend they're in the waterfall scene in Flashdance !!!!

    2 1 Reply
  2. TheProf
    Happy

    Sticky back

    I can see the value of having a phone with a sticky back.

    No more phone sliding off a slightly inclined surface.

    Can stick it to the dash of my car.

    Stick it to the fridge when I'm cooking in the kitchen.

    Difficult for pickpockets to pickpocket it..

    Helps remove fluff and lint from my coat.

    11 0 Reply
    1. JetSetJim
      Reply Icon

      Re: Sticky back

      > Difficult for pickpockets to pickpocket it..

      Difficult for owners to remove it from pocket...

      6 0 Reply
    2. johnnybee
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: Sticky back

      "These unique features give consumers the opportunity to continue use of their phone and applications in times when one or both hands are otherwise occupied."

      If you can't infer why this feature was proposed, then all I can say is that I envy your innocence...

      9 0 Reply
    3. russell 6
      Reply Icon

      Re: Sticky back

      A bit of Blu-Tack?

      0 0 Reply
    4. Allan George Dyer
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Re: Sticky FRONT

      Attach it permanently to the user's head!

      Alternatively, just use a nail.

      2 0 Reply
  3. Superavi

    Phoney McPhoneface

    I feel a sudden urge to buy a phone with that name - something to do with being cool etc. (Not necessarily with those specifications though) Great marketing idea lost then?

    0 1 Reply
    1. Alistair
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Re: Phoney McPhoneface

      You could set that as your HotSpot SSID the next time you're on an aircraft, preferably just moments before takeoff.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Gene Cash Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Mushroom

        Re: Phoney McPhoneface

        No, my wi-fi hotspot's already named "Samsung Galaxy Note 7_1097"

        7 0 Reply
        1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: Phoney McPhoneface

          That could end in tears...

          http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/23/virgin_america_flight_samsung_note_7/

          1 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Why?

    ", it's only gathered 166 backers who have collectively stumped up just £32,050. "

    Why would you give money for phone to made by a multi-billion pound company? WTF is wrong with people?

    Money and fools?

    6 0 Reply
    1. Dabooka
      Reply Icon

      Re: Why?

      But aren't they just buying a phone? You know, like you would with Apple or Samsung?

      Personally I don't get it either, but it's not like they're purchasing something they could get elsewhere for free

      1 0 Reply
    2. DropBear
      Reply Icon
      Mushroom

      Re: Why?

      Because Kickstarter stopped being about helping things that couldn't otherwise come into existence do just that, and started very much also being nothing more than a convenient free marketing and advertising tool* to just gauge interest and drum up some hype, roughly at the time a filthy rich film studio "kickstarted" a movie on it. Ever since then, it's just one of the motions corporate marketroid parasites routinely go through with any project they're not very sure about.

      * Considering these are the _exact_ people from whose whim KS allegedly hoped to rescue creative people from, I find this trend genuinely ironic and incredibly distasteful. Same also applies to those creative people who quite obviously regard KS as nothing but a springboard (clearly unable to finance their project on its own) towards an eventual corporate publisher / investor they can sell out to as quickly as possible once proof of sufficient public interest exists.

      1 0 Reply
  5. Dabooka
    Joke

    Excellent idea!

    Buy a phone for next year now, before the pound crashes even further!

    6 1 Reply
    1. Cereberus
      Reply Icon
      Devil

      Re: Excellent idea!

      <

      Excellent idea!

      Buy a phone for next year now, before the pound crashes even further!

      >

      I can't wait to get an article which doesn't at some stage have a comment about either Brexit and how the pound will die, or Trump included somewhere regardless of how tenuous a link there is, and how it will spell doom, Doom I tell you, DOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!.

      6 5 Reply
      1. Dabooka
        Reply Icon

        Re: Excellent idea!

        So..... you missed the joke icon then?

        1 0 Reply
  6. Velv
    Headmaster

    Hawkeye

    The community (and ZTE) can dub it Hawkeye if they like but I suspect they're very quickly going to fall foul of several existing trademarks for technology.

    0 0 Reply
  7. Dan 55 Silver badge

    Very disappointed

    The perfect opportunity to mention Homer Simpson's car (episode titled Oh Brother Where Art Thou?) was passed over.

    6 0 Reply
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Talking of crowd funding. The anti-Snoopers Charter appeal by Liberty has now reached the £50k mark in five days. No doubt that the El Reg mention made quite a bit of the first £10k.

    That still leaves some 198,231 people who signed the petition but have not yet got round to it.

    0 0 Reply
  9. GingerOne
    FAIL

    It's now only got 163 backers and $31,453

    1 0 Reply
  10. Mikel

    Oh

    Thought this was about the Windows Phone that only got a handful of backers.

    0 1 Reply
  11. GruntyMcPugh Silver badge

    So they've raised $32,000 to give a phone a feature (the sticky case back) that you can buy from eBay for a few quid?

    Surely eye tracking is just an App? There are eye tracking Apps already.

    3 0 Reply
  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That joke proves committees are good, right?

    Either that, or that people who mindlessly repeat nonsensical proverbs are happy to be ignorant and stay that way.

    The camel, hump and all, has been used for thousands of years to transport goods where horses would simply be unable to survive. I'm sure ZTE would be happy to have any of their model be as successful as the animal.

    I had never heard of that so-called joke before today, and I had to read the explanation carefully to understand what it was supposed to mean. And then I shook my head at its stupidity.

    2 6 Reply
  13. CAPS LOCK

    "A camel is a horse designed by a committee"...

    If only a small fraction of committee decisions were as successful as a camel.

    11 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "A camel is a horse designed by a committee"...

      "A camel is a horse designed by a committee"...

      Someone's blog has several variants on those sorts of comparisons - together with probable origins and dates. Think mouse, elephant, or giraffe.

      http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/an_elephant_is_a_mouse_built_to_government_specifications

      0 0 Reply
  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Now you know

    There is no wisdom in crowds. Crowdy McCrowdface is not helpful or relevant.

    0 0 Reply
  15. mad_dr

    Is it just me or does the first photo look like she's trying to feed cereal to her phone..?

    3 0 Reply
    1. Captain DaFt
      Reply Icon

      Didn't see it that way, but now it's the only way I see it.

      Gee, thanks.

      1 0 Reply
  16. M man

    You REALLY want this?

    yep..

    Im going to have spend millions spinnning up production..are you sure?

    yep..

    And you will buy it?

    yep...

    Ok that will be £500.

    Wha...I have to actully pay for it....I mean if it was free id defo have one...but PAY for it!

    ..........

    Thats why KS works....it full off amazing ideas that i would back...if only i didnt have to risk any money.

    0 0 Reply
  17. GruntyMcPugh Silver badge

    It's DEAD I tell you! DEAD!!!!!!!

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39003962

    So, another month on, and they managed to bilk a few more grand out of some suckers, bringing the sum pledged to $36,000,... some way off the $500,000 they were looking for.

    Damn, I really wanted to be able to scroll with my eyes. Oh, no, wait,... no, no I don't. I really wanted to stick my phone to the bathroom mirror, so it could slowly peel off and land in the sink. Oh, again,... no. Ah, got it, I thought a phone with a sticky back would help clean the lint out of my coat pockets. This one works!

    0 0 Reply

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