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Wearable Cell Phones Are Here
An anonymous reader writes "BusinessWeek Online just ran an article on wearable cell phones. A cell phone in a powder case? In a wrist watch? Inside your earring? Sure, why not. And these phones could make it into the U.S. in the next year."
...is in my ear. I hate telemarketers enough as-is, but to have them that close to me 24/7? I'll stick with my normal phone, thank you.
You gotta wonder if these will be small enough to be able to be given to people as presents to spy on them. "Wow, these are beautiful earrings! Thank You!" "No, thank YOU!"
Perhaps a privacy concern for the future.
Disconnect and self-destruct, one bullet at a time.
My Cellular Thong is already on pre-order.
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That could change soon. NTT DoCoMo, a pioneer in wireless services, is developing a technology called FingerWhisper that uses a hand's bone structure to make a wrist watch phone easier to manage and operate. Here's how it works: When a call arrives, the phone sends vibrations through the bones in the index finger. When the finger is slipped into the ear canal, those vibrations turn into voice. The technology also would allow users to dial phone numbers or send text messages by tapping their palms in certain ways. And the technology doesn't seem to pose any health risks, says a DoCoMo spokesperson.
And you thought the taco-shaped side-talking N-Gage was embarassing...
eclecti.cc
Aw shit... Here come those damned communicator pins. On the show, they seemed really cool. In an age with cellphones with speaker phone (or even worse, the dreaded BLEEP walkie talkies), they now seem like the rudest invention of all time. I've always thought the best compromise was an in-ear implant, but I suspect we're years away from those. Plus the three tone error message would officially hurt like hell. (We're sorry, the number you have reached has been disconnected. But, you won't hear this message because you're now deaf.)
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All those guys on the subway talking to themselves weren't crazy, they were beta testers.
Now, how about some decent service? I mean, having a phone in an earring is great, but it would be nice if the damn thing worked half the time. Maybe if they spent some money on the damned plans and cell towers, instead of on the latest new candy coated pice of crap phone id be impressed.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
There were reports on The Register, concerning wearable media: Motorola Showcases Watch Phone and Unix on a wristwatch. How important is functionality on your arm to the general public? Note, on your arm it becomes useable with only one hand. How much info could realistically be displayed, and how functional would a phone in a watch actually be?
All those sci-fi shows show people talking at them in the style of a video - where is the privacy? It's all well and good when you're on Omnicron-8, but on the train, heading towards Slough, it's going to be a bit of a piss-take.
Gimme the 6600 any day, I don't care if it is a brick, I can get my fist-like fingers to press the buttons!
Thieves may now start ripping off peoples' earrings hoping to nab a cellphone.
"Better to be vulgar than non-existent" -Bev Henson
I think it was only in the future queue which is viewable by subscribers...
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Now only if they could make wearable clothes...
Just wondering, because I've seen bumper stickers like this:
"Would you drive any better if i shoved that cell phone up your ass?"
John Kerry is a Joke!
"Can I borrow your phone? I need to make a really important call!"
"Sure!"
*Removes phone from ear*
"Uh.... never mind..."
"I think everyone is an agnostic but just doesn't know" - Frazz
Just what I need, more people making those stupid thumb in the ear "I'll call you" signs.
The author has evidently little knowledge of Star Trek!
From the article..."A phone stitched into clothing or wrapped around a wrist could allow women to forego a purse."
That must be some damn good phone for a woman not to need her purse...I guess it also holds tampons, 5 lipsticks, lube, etc.
Like we don't have enough moving hazards out there on the streets as it is. Now we're going to have women putting on makeup AND talking on the phone at the same time? Lord have mercy on us all.
Doesn't this strike anyone else as pretty, well..useless?
Cellphone in a wrist-watch? How do I dial a number when I want to make a call? Or did someone suddenly decide the caclulator digital watch was a good model to follow?
Or is there some attachable keypad you use to dial the number? Wait. You mean like a current phone and some handsfree earpieces, a speakerphone, or even a bluetooth headset?
Inside ear-rings? Sorry, but I've seen the photos of that corporate executive lady who spent three or four hours on her cell every day. Nice cancerous ring around the ear section of the skull.
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The last digit of pi is four.
I think the subject line is kinda all I had to say.
Other wearable technologies coming soon: *Thigh mounted popcorn popper *Foldable stomach mounted TFT screen for my ass mounted, slim line nix box. *Bicep Juicer
... because the F*cking Communications Commission would have to approve it. We all know it takes forever for that to happen. I can already hear them screaming - NO YOU CAN'T!!! YOU'LL BE CLOGGING UP THE EARWAVES!!!
Anyone else bored with designers trying to sell us their "visions"? What happened to asking people what they want and then making that cheaply and well?
(I guess this would eliminate 75% of the mobile phone industry at a stroke, no more 3G, WAP, MMS, UMTS,... just free SMS and cheap voice)
Mobile phones...? OK, here is what _I_ would like to see:
1. Cheap, cheap, cheap. The damn things get lost and stolen too easily. If they cost $25 that'd be OK.
2. Pretty in pink. Make them colored, even better, make it possible to print phone sheaths on an inkjet. Why the boring grey?
3. Standardised: one single battery standard for all phones. One single micro plug for all phones. One single power supply for all phones. One single range of car kits, etc. Let's see Nokia and Sony-Ericsson and Siemens define a new standard "base" that frees us from having to keep separate chargers for each and every phone we buy. (Nokia has done this for its own phones, but that's not enough)
4. Extensible rather than overpackaged. If I want a digital camera, MP3 player, PDA, let me add this to the phone. It'd be a lot easier if mobile phones had standard connections and some kind of docking system.
Let me propose a new, radical design for mobile phones. First replace SIM cards with "core" modules that are the size of a phone battery pack. These cores conform to an industry standard and have the SIM card embedded in them, along with the bulk of the GSM electronics.
The core can then be "sheathed" with anything from a $2.50 cover that provides just a keypad and headset jack, to a $2500 cover covered with diamonds.
The development of a standard core will allow the cost to come way down and spawn an entire industry of add-on manufacturers, which is where the mobuile phone industry will make money again.
Now if I, a simple Slashdotter, can come up with a plan to revolutionize the mobile phone industry, either I'm a genius, or the experts reviewed in this article are bumbling idiots, or both.
Now I need another coffee. Make way!
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The idea of putting a finger in your ear would improve audio quality, would it not? I mean, when you plug your ear with your finger, it blocks out everything but low frequency sounds for the most part. Couldn't that make conversations, even in loud places, quite feasible?
Just a little sidenote: what answer is that stupid guy expecting to his question? "Nope, can't hear you now." That's like saying "Whoever's not here, raise your hand." or "Are you asleep?"
-Dizzle
"I most likely AM so interested in myself."
I think somebody already has prior art:
Wearable cell phone
With all of these tiny cell phones and people broadcasting their lives to the world as they talk, I'll have to wear my iPod all of the time just to be polite and respect their privacy! Oh well, at least I won't be able to hear the panhandlers...
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
The FCC needs to require all cellular carriers to activate any phone that meets the technical standards for their network.
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oh.. *pant* *pant* *pant* sorry.. *pant*pant* wrong number... *click*
Suchethalearn from yesterday, plan for tomorrow, party tonight
or one out of three ain't bad
There are few benefits of middle aged deafness, but this is one of them.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
This is a MAJOR problem with privacy, these things are so small you could slip them into a handbag or wallet even and record an entire conversation, and if they have the SUPA COOL video FONE then the Ped's will go ballistic. Screw small phones, i lose mine enough as is. Respec.
Here's a picture of a watch phone being sold in India, Ugly if you ask me
.ACMD setaloiv siht gnidaeR
when will you tech boys learn? I have dozens of pairs of earrings! Now supposing I switch to the earring phone: this means I have to buy dozens of phones! And they'll still be dodgy looking if current phone design is anything to go by. So when I go out, I wear my ordinary earrings, and now I have to carry a phone anyway. More phones! Any wearable technology suffers from this limitation: I have 3 watches, 7 handbags and even a couple of wallets. Oddly enough, since I practically live in my Mary Janes, perhaps a shoe phone is in order...? "Hello.. Chief?"
*#*#*#*#*#******* I love peanut butter sandwiches!
Maybe now I won't feel so weird about using my Sports Illustrated shoe phone.
http://www.commaecho.com
You should check out Xelibri
Reliance Infocomm a CDMA cellular provider from India has introduced one such wearable CDMA based mobile phone Telson TWC 1150. This mobile is also supported by Supports unique RUIM Card that can be used in a GSM handset for International Roaming.
He had a shoe phone all those years ago and people could always tell him as "the agent with the shoe phone". Well now everyone has shoe phones so all the agents will have them. It just took all these years to catch on, he was a man ahead of his time :)
So all of you go watch reruns of Get Smart again keeping in mind that you too can have a shoe phone just like Agent 86. I don't think it was a cell phone though, but it was the first wearable phone I ever saw and it was pretty cool for coming so early.
I wonder what other technologies dreamed up as fiction in the old days are reality today that we take for granted.
*Can I borrow your phone?*
*Uh Yeah, here you go*
Wow, I've been waiting for this since the 1980s. Just pull my left wrist up toward my chin and speak loudly into my watch: "KITT, I'm in trouble!"
Owning a cell phone != being reachable 24/7. For a long time I felt the same way you did and avoided purchasing a cell phone, eventually we changed on call procedures at work which required having a company provided phone while you were on your on-call shift. The upside of this is that we were allowed to use the phones for personal use as well since they had a generous number of minutes on them. I realized a couple of things after having the phone for a while...
The convenience of a cell phone is amazing. Cell phones can be very, very handy when you are meeting people on the go or want to do something spontaneously. They are great to have with you on long drives in case of emergencies, and for staying in touch while traveling.
There is no rule that you always have to keep your phone with you, that you always have to keep it on, or that you always have to answer it. It is really no different than your normal phone except now you have the OPTION to take it with you. I have not once encountered someone that expected me to answer just because I have a cell phone. That is, after all, what voice mail is for.
Not wanting a cell phone is fine, land lines in most areas are still preferable for some uses (if you have the line for DSL already, if your area does not have enhanced 911... etc.) and if you do not talk to others often then it may not be worth the cost to pay for two phone services. But honestly the argument "I do not want to be connected 24/7" is rather silly when you think about it.
Have you thought for yourself today?
Look, I just stopped wearing a wristwatch because my cell phone has a clock in it. Now you want me to stop wearing a cell phone because my wristwatch is going to have a phone in it. Make up your damn minds.
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I actually know quite a few girls who have bought new cellphones because the old one is, well, older, and not as cute as the new design. No, the reception isn't better, and they don't use any of the bazillion extra features, but they wanted a cuter phone.
Cellphones are part of a fashion trend... I know the parent was a joke but it wouldn't be unheard of for people to buy newer phones that are "in fashion"
...uses a hand's bone structure to make a wrist watch phone easier to manage and operate. Here's how it works: When a call arrives, the phone sends vibrations through the bones in the index finger. When the finger is slipped into the ear canal, those vibrations turn into voice
..U.S. consumers, always behind the Old World in most things wireless, have been left out.
"No, I'm not flipping you off, my phone is ringing..."
The mental image cracks me up. I can't imagine walking by someone talking with a finger in their ear and not chuckling to myself. Do people actually use this stuff?
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Leaving aside a few bugs in Motorola's bluetooth implementation, it seems to me that there's not much difference between a true wearable and a phone that you never have to take out of your pocket.
Simon
of course, I wear a lot of cargo pants, and I only got the V600 because my nokia 9290 died and I couldn't get hold of a 9500, so I'm probably not a good test case