Introducing the futuristic mobile phone that can buy your clothes for you

Nokia is currently developing the device which lets you buy clothes, furniture or holidays in the High Street - without going into a store.

Buyers can now avoid queuing at the checkout and even buy clothes simlpy by looking through a shop window and taking a photo of the window display.

The phone then uses image recognition software to find the same object on the Internet.

Within seconds, the phone's browser loads the shop's Internet store, allowing consumers to buy the item online.

The items can then be delivered to your front door within 24 hours.

James Waterworth from the Nokia Research Centre said: "This is one of the concepts we have developed and it's called "augmented reality".

"The concept is to take a picture then send the information to the internet."

Ordering food from a menu written in a foreign language is now set to become a whole lot easier too.

The phone will also have an application which scans a menu and automatically translates thousands of food-related words in seconds.

It means that the days of restaurant humiliation for linguistically-challenged Britons will soon be over.

Although the application is currently being developed to cope with Japanese and Chinese characters, other languages are likely to be added before it appears in the shops at the end of next year.

Nokia claimed yesterday that the software is so discreet that your fellow diners need never realise you aren't au fait with Cantonese delicacies.

The firm has developed the application for its "smart phones", New Scientist magazine reports today.

Mark Squires, from Nokia, said: "Although some menus have English translations, not all do - particularly in places like Japan or China.

"So we've added text recognition and translation software to one of our cameras.

"The idea is that it will be available in the near future."

To use the software, the diner simply takes a picture of the part of the menu he or she wants to translate.

The phone comes back with an English translation within seconds.

The software is a version of barcode reading applications which are already found on many mobiles.

These allow owners to use the phone's camera to scan barcodes which appear on billboards or in newspaper adverts.

The codes direct the phone's Internet browser to a website, video clip or competition run by the advertiser.

"The barcode application has been really popular, so we have been looking at new ways of using the same technology," said Mr Squires.

"It's not just going to be useful for restaurants - there is potential for a host of other applications.

"You could use it to read road signs, or street names, in Japanese or Chinese characters.

"And there are also safety implications. If an Italian tanker full of chemicals is involved in an accident, you could very quickly find out exactly what was in it."

The prototype application is able to scan and translate 9,000 Chinese words and 600 Japanese words.

Other languages - such as Korean, French, Italian and Polish - are expected to follow soon.

The software is likely to be added to one of Nokia's top-of-the-range camera phones such as the N95.

The model currently comes with its own satellite navigation system, along with a music player and Internet browser.