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."

Comments

The last place I'd want it...

[ScytheBlade1]

...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.

Tin foil hat...

[cbrocious]

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.

Re:Tin foil hat...

[ParticleMan911]

To spy on them it'd take a lot of anytime minutes. Better have it set to spy on Nights and Weekends only.

Yeah

[ParticleMan911]

My Cellular Thong is already on pre-order.

From the article

[PaintyThePirate]

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...

Re:From the article

[ratsnapple tea]

Yeah, I'm Japanese (born and raised) and my parents taught me to use those beveled wooden sticks to clean my ears. I don't know whether it's safe, but it feels really good. Almost as good as sex.

Of course, my people are also known for their other weirdnesses, such as a religion that believes the spirits of our dead ancestors haunt the streets picking up the shit of the living and eating it. I am not kidding.

Re:From the article

[kcorporation]

When the finger is slipped into the ear canal, those vibrations turn into voice

I think I speak for all of us when I say, "Go, go, Gadget Phone!"

Re:From the article

[AndroidCat]

"Yes, Bob is here, but no, I won't pass the phone to him."

Now I get it

[k_killmore]

All those guys on the subway talking to themselves weren't crazy, they were beta testers.

In a suppository?

[john_smith_45678]

Just wondering, because I've seen bumper stickers like this:

"Would you drive any better if i shoved that cell phone up your ass?"

That boring "vision thing"

[ites]

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!

Part way there already

[panurge]

I have artilleryman's ear, and I use an in-ear hearing aid. I use a neck microphone (under my shirt) on my cell phone with an inductive loop, so phone speech comes directly into my ear. Unlike a Bluetooth unit, the battery life is weeks. Because the hearing aid is music grade, the sound quality is vastly better than you get with the tiny speakers on cell phones. The result is that I can answer the phone and talk with no visible phone at all. I still derive minor pleasure from the shock of some people watching this madman talking to himself, but the fact is, it works extremely well. The microphone is shielded and has good noise rejection, and on the T setting I can block out external sounds and hear perfectly in very noisy environments. The one thing I would really like is an external keypad I could velcro to a jacket, or a better voice dialing system than the (frankly crappy) Nokia 6310 the company provides.

There are few benefits of middle aged deafness, but this is one of them.