First 'fully accurate' totally voice-controlled phone unveiled You’d probably expect a groundbreaking mobile phone to be developed deep inside Nokia’s HQ or in a military bunker. However, a supposedly super-secure handset described as the world’s first truly hands-free mobile has, in fact, been designed on an industrial estate in Hereford, UK. Can't see the video? Download Flash Player …
Seriously, I know the Reg is just pleased to pass on something pretending it to be news, but this is getting ridiculous. It's a lark, obviously. A "super-secret" factory filled with housewives and soldering irons, developing a state-of-the-art phone? Called the Zumba, which has a website. Called the Zumba Lumpa? Either the Reg is in on this hoax, or they've just proven that they have absolutely no editorial capacity. In which case, I'd like to apply for the job of senior editor please.
It was a funny report not really aimed at anouncing the phone but a bit of a fishing exercise for VC funding, the beeb fell for it hook line & sinker as a 'good news story' in times of the credit crunchy nut cornflake economic missmanagement meltdown. The phone mockup was a couple of bits of styrofoam, not even a half decent photoshop 3d render!
Why steve, well perhaps he'll licence the technology!
what the hell? if you've got the time to speak your voice message into the phone, then why don't you just call them and have a frikken conversation?
and how smart is the software really? can it tell that someone over the age of 20 is dictating a SMS and so dictate their message word for word, but if the voice is more youthful sounded, will it translate on the fly from "Hi, how are you, what's the latest news?" to "how R U? N E new bants? lolz raaarrrr kthxby" ?
"The technology is so top secret, I can't even give you a demonstration of how it works."
Yeah, right. Heard that before. If it works so well, they should be dying to show it in action, as doing so doesn't reveal any technical details about the implementation. This just indicates that it doesn't work as well as their PR would like you to believe.
"If you lose this phone, it's instantly useless to anyone else [blah blah] totally secure."
Yeah, right. How? 100% accurate voiceprint identification? I don't think so. If you have to authenticate yourself in some way, then it's not really any more secure than any existing phone that can be password locked. Indeed I'd be more worried about some website that's not under my control getting hacked than I would about someone going to the trouble of trying to decrypt data on my phone's internal storage.
Plus, this is a British company, and everyone knows we don't do consumer electronics innovation here any more, so this is pretty much guaranteed bullshit.
VAPOUR ALERT!
100% secure = impossible
100% Fully working = erm No
Did you see the workers? cutting 2mm wire? Dont use that in any mobile phone I've owned! Soldering (dear Yanks the L is not silent!) by hand? not in my mobile they arn't!
The size of the track on that PCB was about 3 mm across This thing is sooo FAKE!
that the 1st guy from the company bears more than a passing resemblance to Anton Dubeck from that dancing show the wife watches, what does he know about website security?
On that subject if they have developed a 100% secure web site technology I would guess they could make more from that than any poxy phone?
"If you loose this phone it is instantly useless to anyone else" -Thats right mate. It would probably be useless before I loose it. Because its not really a phone is it. Your just waving about a thin bit of plastic. I'd stick with your ejector seats. Good luck for the floatation.
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