It’s amazing that it has taken about 63 years for the design of the UK electric plug to be so radically improved but that is just what a student of the Royal College of Arts has done. Min-Kyu Choi showcased his design at the college’s graduate show and seems to have been a deserved “show-stopper”. The main attraction to this design I believe is how it manages to compress the plug into a very sleek and compact component without losing any functionality. When folded, the plug measures as just 10mm in width. To unfold it, the two live pins swivel 90 degrees, and the plastic surround folds back around the pins so the face of the plug looks the same as a standard UK plug. Perhaps even more brilliant is Choi’s expansion of the idea into another pleasant looking and very practically multi-plug adaptor. More pictures follow. You can also read more about this from Icon Eye magazine where I first saw it.

I even stuck with my Nokia E61 and painfully resisted an upgrade to the sleek E71 just until I was sure which network will carry the N97 and at what price. Now that Vodafone has officially confirmed a July date, it appears my days with 3 mobile are sadly over. I had high hopes that 3 would have the N97 because they are a great network, but after all these months waiting and seeing mouth-watering reviews and product demos of the N97, I’m throwing loyalty out of the window.

Now, it’s just to hope Vodafone has a good pocket friendly deal.

Update (2 Sept 2009): Here’s a  review post describing my experience with the phone after two months