Friday roundup: The unusual use edition
on Aug 3
Some crafty people have been using their mobiles for purposes very different to the usual four: Phoning, texting, mobile browsing and taking pictures. We thought we’d compile a few of the more interesting ones!
- Mobile phone illumination allowed doctors to continue a surgery in a power blackout.
- Steve Garfield and Nina Simonds record together on an N95 a videocast called Spices of Life, in which they talk about good food and healthy living. [via NSeries WOM World]
- Texty singletons can find love around the corner through mobile dating services. Beep beep, time for a drink with a stranger?
- Ever wondered what your neighbourhood looked like from up above? Ricky from Symbian-Guru did too, so he attempted to send his Nokia N95 onto a maiden flight aboard a Wal-Mart $3 kite. The results weren’t as glowing as one may have hoped, but Eirik, who attempted the same experiment, succeeded in getting some great aerial shots of the area.
- In the Friday “Give me one of those!” vein, the Sony Ericsson Car-100 comes high on the list. It’s a Bluetooth-controlled car, which plugs into older Sony Ericsson phones to charge up, and can then be controlled via the keypad. Coolest gadget or what?
- Phones come with more features than ever. Not this one. It doesn’t even come with voice, sms or a camera. It’s a M:ssage “phone”, which reacts to text messages by vibrating accordingly. It’s produced by phone | not phone and we can’t figure out whether it’s a real product or a design project for a Dundee University student. Well, it’s certainly unusual! [via TechDigest]
- And finally, the Finns have embraced the mobile phone culture to its full extent, include a yearly Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship, hosted by the town of Savonlinna. Nothing quite says “time for an upgrade” as seeing how far your old phone will fly. See the photos of past competitions in their full glory. [Thanks for the links, Tom]
What are some of the more bizarre uses of mobile phones you’ve seen in the past?
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August 6th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
There is only one handset in the world that is warranted to be able to work both before and after being thrown – that’s the new XP1 from Sonim – eat your heart out Nokia! Take a look at http://www.sonimtech.com/features_xp1.html
August 6th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
how about chucking your IT equipment over a cliff? You quickly discover that this stuff doesn’t fly very well!
http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-54691.html?tag=nl.e099.dl080107
August 6th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Thanks so much for linking our website, http://www.spicesoflife.com to yours. We love our mobile N93 and couldn’t believe how many different uses you point out on your website.
Here’s to mobile phones, which I intermittently bless and curse.
Nina Simonds
August 7th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Peter: The XP1 does look like one sturdy monster – certainly more than the average consumer phone!
Paul: Shame the owner didn’t choose to refurbish it slightly and offer it to a charity group, but interesting to see how well the case coped with the crashes.
Nina: Agreed that mobile phones can be a blessing or a curse, but it looks like you’re making great use of the occasionally quirky N93. Long live your videocasts!