Talk to the hand -- literally. Users of a new prototype for a mobile phone must talk to their hand to make a call.
Glove One, created by artist Bryan Cera as part of his masters' thesis project, is a mobile phone worn as a mechanical glove. The iron-man-like device allows users to dial out using buttons (located on the underside of the finger attachments) and speak to callers through the receiver on the pinkie.
How do you speak into the receiver, you may be wondering? By making a Y-shape with your hand: Fist clenched, thumb and pinkie outstretched; it's the widely recognized hand sign for "phone."
In the video above, Cera demonstrates how to use the prototype, from inserting a sim card to successfully dialing out.
Cera created the device out of parts from a 3D printer for his thesis project, "Gadgets for Remembering the Future," for the University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts. He explained the motivation behind Glove One on his website:
Glove One is a wearable mobile communication device. It presents a futile and fragile technology with which to augment ourselves. A cell phone which, in order to use, one must sacrifice their hand. It is both the literalization of Sherry Turkle’s notion of technology as a “phantom limb”, in how we augment ourselves through an ambivalent reliance on it, as well as a celebration of the freedom we seek in our devices. Emotional investment becomes physical, as the functionality of the device depends on the dysfunctionality of the wearer. While we enjoy the fantasies they offer, we rethink the technologies we construct and reflect on how they construct us.
Glove One is not an exercise in innovation, but rather this project asks the question "What are we willing to sacrifice in order to participate in technology and social media?"
Cera's glove is not currently in production, but interested users can sign up on his website to receive updates on how to make their own. That's only if you want to turn your entire hand into a mobile phone without all the useful smart phone apps.
Glove One is the latest in a long line of wearable tech options. Google's Project Glass prototype, which made waves in April, is arguably the most highly-anticipated concept in development. Other geeky gadgets range from Android-powered watches tricked out with apps to smart clothing and wristbands that monitor health stats.
Check out the gallery below to see some other wearable tech options.
