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Wearable Cell Phones Are Here

Posted by timothy on Tue Jun 22, 2004 01:01 AM
from the disguised-as-a-car dept.
Wireless Networking Communications Hardware Technology
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."
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  • ...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.

    • Re:The last place I'd want it... (Score:5, Funny)

      by zoloto (586738) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:56AM (#9492579)
      Or on my wrist for that matter. It's one thing to get a phone call in the middle of a date and ignore it because it's on vibrate, but if it's on my wrist in my watch it's a little harder to ignore if I'm trying to make a move. Then again, that can't be all bad actually... ... nevermind, carry on.

  • Tin foil hat... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cbrocious (764766) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:05AM (#9492378) Homepage
    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.

  • Yeah (Score:5, Funny)

    by ParticleMan911 (688473) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:06AM (#9492382) Homepage
    My Cellular Thong is already on pre-order.

  • From the article (Score:5, Funny)

    by PaintyThePirate (682047) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:08AM (#9492391) Homepage
    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...
    • When the finger is slipped into the ear canal, those vibrations turn into voice.

      This is actually one of the coolest designs for cell phones I've ever seen, and the worst thing is that they've been reporting [slashdot.org] this for years now (the oldest mention of it I can remember is from before 2000), and still no sign of it on this side of the pacific (or at least not on this side of the ecuador).

      I can't wait for them to arrive here, so I can finally have an excuse to get a cell phone, and join in on the annoyan

    • The technology also would allow users to dial phone numbers or send text messages by tapping their palms in certain ways.

      oh.. *pant* *pant* *pant* sorry.. *pant*pant* wrong number... *click*

      Suchetha

    • Re:From the article (Score:5, Funny)

      by kcorporation (653500) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @03:13AM (#9492833)
      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 (Score:5, Funny)

      by AndroidCat (229562) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @06:38AM (#9493436) Homepage
      "Yes, Bob is here, but no, I won't pass the phone to him."

        • Re:From the article (Score:5, Interesting)

          by ratsnapple tea (686697) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @03:03AM (#9492801)
          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.

  • Star Trek (Score:5, Funny)

    by Entropy248 (588290) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:09AM (#9492397) Journal
    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.)
    • I don't know -- they could be a real improvement.

      The rudest thing about cellphone conversations currently is that the conversation intrudes upon you, but you are excluded from participating because you only hear half the conversation.

      At least with communicator pins you hear both sides and can "contribute" with your own comments...

  • Now I get it (Score:5, Funny)

    by k_killmore (731490) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:09AM (#9492398)
    All those guys on the subway talking to themselves weren't crazy, they were beta testers.

  • Great!!! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Unknown Poltroon (31628) * <unknown_poltroon1sp@myahoo.com> on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:09AM (#9492401)
    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.

  • Beam Me Up Scotty (Score:3, Interesting)

    by keefey (571438) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:09AM (#9492403)
    There were reports on The Register, concerning wearable media: Motorola Showcases Watch Phone [theregister.co.uk] and Unix on a wristwatch [theregister.co.uk]. 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!

    • Re:Beam Me Up Scotty (Score:5, Insightful)

      by isorox (205688) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:21AM (#9492458) Homepage Journal
      where is the privacy?

      HELLO! I'M ON A TRAIN! I'LL BE HOME AT EIGHT!

      Yeah, plenty of privacy nowadays.

      How important is functionality on your arm to the general public? Note, on your arm it becomes useable with only one hand.

      What functionality do you need in a phone. I rarely use my actual phone, my bluetooth earpiece has one button that answers when it rings, hangs up when I'm talking, or activates voice dial when I'm not talking. Say the name of someone and the call connects. One finger to initiate the call, one finger to end the call, just as much privacy as a normal cell phone.

      A phone built into a watch would simply replace the current time with the calling name. Bluetooth means you can program it from your PDA or laptop, or some credit-card-sized keypad you can keep in your wallet.

      Really, what does a phone do? The only major function I use aside from phone calls is SMS, which I'd rather do through my PDA anyway (full keyboard for starters)

      • Re:Beam Me Up Scotty (Score:5, Interesting)

        by obeythefist (719316) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @02:23AM (#9492689) Journal
        I have a smartphone. My PDA is my phone. My web browser is my phone. My camera is my phone. My MP3 player is my phone. One 266MHz device, one battery, all that functionality.

        Remember, the gist of the actual article has little to do with wrist phones per sei, rather that these devices are now small enough to be used in such a way, or in wearable clothing, purely to make them more convenient so you don't have to lug as many gadgets around with you.

        Of course if you use a PDA and a cellphone for sending SMS's, you probably fit into the 80% of people who are going to keep carrying a lot of baggage and a lot of different batteries for every gadget you have. So basically in order to have the same level of functionality you get from a single handset, you're carrying your handset, a bluetooth headset and a PDA?

        Which is fine of course, each to his own, but I'm very happy with the way convergence lets me carry all that functionality in one device.
        • a phoen sucks as a PDA. Aside from the tiny screen, there is no decent way of inputting anything. Compare to a PDA with a built in keyoard (quite small admitably) and handwriting recognition that fits in your shirt pocket.

          One battery is great, but I'd rather know my phone will last 3 days then have a PDA-cum-phone-cum-mp3 player that lasts 12 hours.

          I typically carry 3 gadgets with me at any one time, phone (with built in camera, calander etc, none of which I use - I used the camera 4 times when I first go
        • Although some functionality is nice, these watches seem geared towards people who just use cells to talk. I have played with SMS, but personally I find it annoying and an invasion of my privacy. In the last two weeks I have got Porn and "Find out dirty secrets about your Friends" text messages. I bought a phone so that I could get a hold of people when I wanted to. And the thing has proved its value. But at the same time I haven't used my "vision enabled" crap. No need to. The thing that I have wanted for a

  • In a suppository? (Score:5, Funny)

    by john_smith_45678 (607592) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:18AM (#9492447) Journal
    Just wondering, because I've seen bumper stickers like this:

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

  • Can I... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Myrmi (730278) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:27AM (#9492476)
    "Can I borrow your phone? I need to make a really important call!"
    "Sure!"
    *Removes phone from ear*
    "Uh.... never mind..."

  • Big on the inside (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:48AM (#9492557)
    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.

  • Just what we need... (Score:3, Funny)

    by penginkun (585807) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:49AM (#9492562)
    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.

  • Uh... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SinaSa (709393) <sina@sa.gmail@com> on Tuesday June 22 2004, @02:00AM (#9492593) Homepage
    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.

  • A Powder Case Is Wearable? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jameth (664111) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @02:00AM (#9492596)
    I think the subject line is kinda all I had to say.

  • That boring "vision thing" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ites (600337) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @02:16AM (#9492660) Journal
    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!
    • 1. Well, cheapest phones cost around 50$ new here, unsubsidized.

      2. Done, Nokia 3200 has that, you can print your own cover.

      4. Done, look at all the various accessories for nokia/ericsson. They even have RC Cars
    • In Europe, at least, most of your wishes seem to be coming true.

      1. Cheap, cheap, cheap. The damn things get lost and stolen too easily. If they cost $25 that'd be OK.

      Yes, but only as long as you don't want MMS, UMTS, Bluetooth, etc. See below.

      2. Pretty in pink. Make them colored, even better, make it possible to print phone sheaths on an inkjet. Why the boring grey?

      Most phones can be bought in a range of colors and/or have interchangeable skins.

      3. Standardised: one single battery standard for all

  • Seems like a good idea (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Dizzle (781717) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @02:21AM (#9492681) Journal
    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?"

  • A New Age of Etiquette (Score:3, Funny)

    by blueZhift (652272) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @02:34AM (#9492722) Homepage Journal

    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...

  • Free and Competitive Markets (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Detritus (11846) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @02:38AM (#9492735) Homepage
    It doesn't matter how cool or technically advanced a cell phone is, the wireless carriers in the United States have a chokehold on the market. They want to force their subscribers to buy their phones only from the carrier's limited list of "approved" phones. This gives the carrier's marketing drones vast power over what phones and features are available. You don't buy a phone with the features that you want, you buy a phone that may have been crippled so that it fits in with the carrier's marketing strategy.

    The FCC needs to require all cellular carriers to activate any phone that meets the technical standards for their network.

  • Part way there already (Score:5, Interesting)

    by panurge (573432) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @03:20AM (#9492857)
    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.

  • Evil Phones!! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by iR-Corp (790386) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @03:23AM (#9492873)
    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.
  • 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 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"

  • Maxwell Smart was ahead of his time (Score:3)

    by cervo (626632) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @07:30AM (#9493668)
    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.

  • Borrow the phone (Score:3, Funny)

    by $exyNerdie (683214) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @07:45AM (#9493766) Homepage Journal

    *Can I borrow your phone?*

    *Uh Yeah, here you go* ::Sticks his finger in her ear::

  • Like on Knight Rider! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Random BedHead Ed (602081) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @08:54AM (#9494331) Homepage Journal
    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!"
  • 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.

  • Do people really use this stuff? (Score:3, Funny)

    by SIGALRM (784769) * on Tuesday June 22 2004, @11:25AM (#9496053) Journal
    ...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

    "No, I'm not flipping you off, my phone is ringing..."

    ..U.S. consumers, always behind the Old World in most things wireless, have been left out.

    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?

  • Dear citizen - (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tandoori Haggis (662404) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @12:15PM (#9496704)
    We trust that you have been enjoying the benefits of your Eartrans 5.2 implant. You will no doubt have received a message from OCS Non-industrial requesting backpayment for use of patents without permission.

    We wish to assure you that we will continue to fight these claims so that you may avoid the surgery required for a firmware downgrade.

    Faithfully

    B. L. Owngasket (acting chairman)

    P.S. Please contact us if you would like to take advantage of a special offer on our new 5.6 beta
    implant. This device offers similar performance with reduced running costs, subsidised by irregular broadcasts from our new sponsors:

    Igo Tcha marketing - a subsidiary of OCS Non-industrial.

    Be seeing you!

  • Is this really any better than bluetooth headsets? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Simon Spero (10945) on Tuesday June 22 2004, @01:52PM (#9497927)
    I've had people mistake my Motorola HS810 [motorola.com] headset for jewlery before

    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

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