During the Computex trade show in May, Intel laid out its vision for new “Ultrabook” notebooks that will blend the performance of today’s laptops with a tablet-like experience in a thin and light product. While the company originally said that ASUS’ UX21 notebook would be the first such device when it launches in time for this year’s holiday season, a new report from DigiTimes suggests that HP will beat ASUS to the market. Reportedly, the computer manufacturer will use Foxconn Electronics for the production of at least two Ultrabooks, which will run on Intel’s 1.8GHz Core i7-2677M and the 1.7GHz Core i7-2637M platforms. Rumor has it that Foxconn has already started to ship the Ultrabooks to HP, but it’s unclear when the devices will launch.

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We know Nokia loves showing off its wares in movies and music videos but it looks like the Finnish handset slinger may have taken its obsession with film to the next level. Forget brief cameos like The Dark Knight and others — Nokia’s concept handset, the Nokia Aeon, apparently takes center stage as the star of the recently-released Echelon Conspiracy film. Don’t worry, we’ve never heard of it either. An unreleased, unbranded device that looks remarkably like Nokia’s green full-touch concept phone is a key element of the film’s complex plot however, and it looks ridiculously slick. Sure the phone in the film packs a feature or two that you might not find in a release version, but its appearance probably means one of two things: 1) Nokia might actually be thinking of releasing the handset someday. 2) The film called for a crazy concept device that would never reach market and Nokia pitched the Aeon. The later is more likely of course, but it can’t hurt to dream, right? Hit the jump for a shot to remind you what Nokia’s Aeon concept looks like, and then check out the Echelon Conspiracy Trailer. Looks like a nail-biter.

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The odds of us ever seeing this exact form factor in a Nokia handset aren’t great but a recently filed patent illustrates an interesting new take on the candy bar form. When closed and viewed head on as in figure 21 above, the handset looks like a standard QWERTY candy bar reminiscent of the E61i or E71. As figure 22 reveals however, half of the display tucks behind the keypad and pivots open to reveal what would be an amazingly large widescreen. We’re not sure why Nokia took the concept further than this, but figure 25 shows the display swiveling from side to side once open. The only reasoning we can think of for the swivel: Perhaps Nokia envisions the display rotating a full 180° and then folding back down so that the handset can be used as a full touchscreen device with the QWERTY keypad facing away from the user. Whatever the case, if the Finns can manage to plant a kick stand a la N96 on the back of the keypad it would make for some pretty sweet multimedia viewing, that’s for sure. Would you be interested in a swiveling, rotating touchscreen handset with a full QWERTY keyboard?

Thanks, Justin!

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