We’ve seen - well, technically heard - simulated surround sound setups for mobiles before but the results aren’t all that realistic. A new research project has managed to create a proper mobile surround system for phones. The only downside is you need four handsets to get it to work.

The idea is a simple, if a slightly strange, one - place one phone in each corner of the room and then use some nifty programming magic to control the audio coming from each one via Wi-Fi. The result is a fully fledged surround system that can be manipulated from a PC.

Judging from the video below, currently it’s mostly useful for fooling unsuspecting guests there’s a bee in the room. However, it is available under an open source licence, so it could be extended for more useful applications.