Cell Phone Glove

glove_phone

Sometimes you find yourself thinking “this cell phone is far to compact and unobtrusive.” [Trotmaster] had this thought and did something about it. Ok, well actually he’s trying to have some fun and build a glove phone, inspector gadget style.  There really doesn’t seem to be a good reason to do this other than it would be cool, so we’ll proceed on those grounds. He has disassembled the phone and extended all the buttons. When wearing the glove, you can dial by pressing the finger tip buttons with your thumb. The screen is located on the back of the hand and can be lifted and rotated for easy viewing. Can anyone think of an application where this would be a beneficial layout, assuming you refined it a bit?

[via instructables]

36 thoughts on “Cell Phone Glove

  1. “Can anyone think of an application where this would be a beneficial layout,…?”

    OK, maybe, right until the time you reach for the TP. After that, not so much.

  2. Fat fingers… remember that episode of the simsons where he has a mumu and can’t dial the phone? this would solve all those problems… as long as it was a really big glove.

  3. cops, if their “superior trained brains” can be allowed to use cell phones while driving (not using a hands free device) in washington state while the rest of us suckers can’t they should have to look goofy while doing so.

  4. might be cool if you could make a cell phone hat! with drop down screen on the brim. then you could have the buttons on the back of the glove and on the other hand speaker in the thumb and mic in the pinky. now that would be a cell phone!

  5. But did he put the mic on the end of the pinky finger and the speaker on the end of the thumb? If you’re gonna talk on the GlovePhone, you had better have the “Call Me” orientation working. And while you’re at it, the Answer/Hangup button should be accessible with a tap to the palm by one or more of the remaining three fingers. A Bluetooth headset would work, but not be as cool.

  6. @jager – I built (pre-bluetooth) a phone headset into a pair of gloves (one really) with a detachable cord that I ran thru my sleeve to the phone. The earbud was in the thumb and the mic in the pinky as you described. Worked great in the winter in Chicago.

    Looked just like it sounds and was great for getting double-takes as I walked on the street talking into my hand in the universal “call me” position. I probably still have it and I should build a new bluetooth version.

  7. He should put a single metal contact (ground) in the thumb, and seperate contact for each button.
    That way you wouldn’t need to put huge buttons on the all-important fingers.

  8. To all the people saying the mic should be in the pinky and the speaker in the thumb…

    FTA: “The mic and speaker have been added to the base of the thumb and the end of the pinkie.”

    However, the speaker is broken apparently so it only sorta works with the “call me” motion.

  9. 2nd on powerglove. it’ll give me an excuse to wear it in public (although the skirt and panties are another story) and won’t be so obtrusive. also, infrared information sharing via laser beams activated by buttons

  10. ya know, blue tooth and wifi were originally developed to eliminate this kind of mess, and now people are frankensteining a perfectly good cell phone (which is cordless i might add) into an unruly bundle of wires. seems like a step backwards to me, i hope he at least learned something from the experience.

  11. Woohoo for wires! who needs blue teeth anyway? also, woohoo for the “call me” sign… im gonna need a small radio antenna that pulls outta the tip of the thumb though, it just wouldnt feel right without it. screw you carpal tunnel, we got cancer now!

  12. As I know trotmaster I shall defend his honour! (yea thats right I’m English honour, colour FTW) the speaker in the thumb was broken in the teardown unfortunately, but it is still pretty cool to make the call me sign and it kinda works. As for aesthetics the wires and chunky buttons were a first attempt at making it look a bit steampunk. The next itteration will have hidden wires, or at least thinner, and a housing for the screen with aesthetis gearing inside. I didsiggest to trot that he used thinner wires, nut he has already soldered the thing once, and it got damaged enough that time round!

  13. What about rock climbers?

    Im a free climber, and this would make a great addition to my kit, if you moved the buttons around so they didnt get damaged while climbing.
    Imagine falling, and hurting yourself badly (which I have done) and be able to call for help with one hand?

    WOuld be great.

  14. I’ve been working on a similar concept, instead of it being a glove I wanted a step between a PDA sleeve, and a bulky watch. Calling I’ve just been handling via a bluetooth headset. Right now I’ve just been mainly tearing apart old blackberries. Keeping the primary components of the blackberry on the underside of the wrist, and moving just the keyboard/LCD onto the top of the wrist.

  15. Guys, this has potential to be a wonderful interface for texting from your phone. Same with web browsing. I would say this is a great first step towards a portable keyboard you might be able to wear all the time. Keep it up Trotmaster, and let me know when I can get a bluetooth version for my phone! :)

  16. If the phone was made as a pair of glasses with the screen on a lens, then the glove could be the buttons attached by bluetooth. If all of the wires were then disguised well so that it just looked like you had gloves and glasses on, it would be a very discreet way of using a phone. Your hand would just be fidgeting a lot. Would probably end up being a big issue with cheating in schools though.

  17. ” Can anyone think of an application where this would be a beneficial layout, assuming you refined it a bit?”

    how abouts if you only have one hand, and cant type and hold the phone at the same time?

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