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Paper Phones

Posted by michael on from the dog-ate-my-phone dept.

Fuzzy_Damnit! writes: "Whoa! Paper phone!" One of our shorter story write-ups... Anyway, since the reporter said he had a working prototype, it looks like the paper phone is not just paperware after all.

5 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Who's their targetted audience? by NMerriam · · Score: 4

    So anyone who doesn't already own a cellphone because of the expense isn't going to be able to afford this any better. So, they'll have to be selling to people based on its convenience. That means tourists and criminals, and I'm not sure which one is worse

    or people like me. I don't have a cel phone because its way too much money for the amount of time I spend on the phone, and the devices are way too big for the low frequency I would use it. If you told me I could buy a phone to put in my wallet and forget about until I needed it, as long as it wasn't ridiculously expensive I'd buy it.

    As it is if you want a small phone to carry with you you'll have to spend a couple hundred bucks to get something tiny enough to be convenient, and then pay monthly charges (with a contract!) for the privlege. The current disposable/no-contract plans don't have phones that are at all convenient in size.

    And there are plenty of times when i would have liked to have a phone for say, a week. For ten bucks, this is perfect for many of the people on earth who DON'T feel compelled to be available 24 hours a day, but would stil like the occassional convenience.

    The biggest probelem cel companies have right now is that everyone who is obsessively on the phone already has one -- they have to make it much more convenient for the REST of us if they want to grow their customer base at all...

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  2. end of pay phones?!? by mattdm · · Score: 5
    The reporter claims that this will "probably mean the end of pay phones". Yeesh, I hope not -- pay phones are wonderful for when you forget to bring your phone. Unless these things come with magic pills for ending absent-mindedness, I hope the good old quarter-eating things stay around for a good long time.

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  3. Useless by Aggrazel · · Score: 5

    Who wants a paper phone anyway?

    Now a shoe phone... thats a useful thing that I've yet to be able to buy.

    Please some slashdot user point me to where I can buy a shoe phone, I really want one. Just so I can do this one:

    "Would you please hold? I have a call on my other shoe." - Maxwell Smart

  4. I liked the inventor's rationale... by sulli · · Score: 5
    Altschul, talking on her cell phone, lost her connection and became so angry that she wanted to heave the device out the window. She didn't because the phone was too expensive.

    Can we have paper laptops for the same, um, killer app?

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    sulli
    RTFJ.
  5. For More Info... by DetritusX · · Score: 5

    There's an interesting (and simple) explanation of the technology behind this at HowStuffWorks.com:
    http://www.howstuffworks.com/disposable-cell-phone .htm

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