Man builds smartphone dock into arm

You'd think being born without a forearm would be limiting for a smartphone user. Not for catering manager Trevor Prideaux, who flipped his handicap on its head and turned his prosthetic limb into a dock for his Nokia C7, The Telegraph reports. Trevor Prideaux's prosthetic smartphone arm Source: SWNS Prideaux came up with …

[Tim Greenwood]

Apple were probably right

You have to think that if Apple had developed a prosthetic arm with a dock for the iphone there would have been some people insisting on surgery just so they could have one fitted.

[Naughtyhorse]

plus

everyone else in the world who already has a prosthetic arm getting sued by apples developers... i mean lawyers for infringing the basic concept of the iArm, which is, of course, apple proprietary kit.

[Anonymous Coward]

They wont be the first people going through unnecessary surgery in order to get an iPhone

[Adrian Jones]

Phew!

I thought that was going to be the latest publicity seeking from Captain Cyborg.

[Simon Buttress]

"With the company apparently unwilling to lend a hand"

LOL

[Inventor of the Marmite Laser]

Just a bit of armless fun

[James 51]

obivous next step

Is to have the phone act as control/diagnostic device for arm. Bound to be a number of other ways it could be used.

[hplasm]

Futuraramarm;

Inspired by Leela...

[Lockwood]

Does he have to uncradle it to talk, or walk around with his arm against his ear?

Serious question. That is an epic bit of kit, but the logistics of it intrigue me.

[Marvin the Martian]

eh... just reach up with the arm. Your forearm is within reach of your ear, try it sometime.

[Boothy]

Or use a wireless headset!

[JB]

Bluetooth headset?

[Anomalous Cowturd]

Velcro?

Cheaper, and works for ANY phone, MP3 player or what have you.

Cheques to the usual address please.

^_^

[Darryl]

Duct tape!

[dotdavid]

Case

Good idea. But surely cutting a couple of holes in an off-the-shelf phone case and threading a strap through it that could be attached to his limb by means of velcro or a buckle would be cheaper and just as functional?

[IR]

Nokia?

With a hook like that, shouldn't he use an Arrrr-Phone?

[Olafthemighty]

That's all well and good

But will it blend?

[Big O]

That is excellent!

[NoneSuch]

Nice work Sir.

Imaginative and practical design.

[JDX]

Silly Apple...

There's not an app for that.

[Anonymous Coward 101]

At first I thought...

...this would be about that dick from Reading Uni, whatever his name is. But this actually seems like a good idea for someone with only one arm.

[Tom 7]

Is the one for the iPhone

near the back pocket?

[AbortRetryFail]

Arrrrrrrrrrr

Be that legal software on 'is phone?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd

give my right arm for that...

[Scott Broukell]

Customer Care

Need I say more. Well all right then - it's those little moments, or a pretty big one for the individual concerned in this case, that make the world of difference to just one customer. One in millions, but that matters and should matter to all of us. I'm surprised that Apple didn't take the same approach as Nokia - it is just a little thing and then again so is a customer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "I'm surprised that Apple didn't take the same approach as Nokia.."

I'm surprised that you are surprised. If you are not famous or influential Apple don't give a fuck - they never give away free stuff to 'nobodies'.

[Adam Foxton]

You're surprised at Apple?

They're the company that made infamous "you're holding it wrong". How do you think they'd react to a person wanting to have it mounted in their arm?!

[NogginTheNog]

How would they react?

They'd probably insist it was white only.

[a well wisher]

Captain Cyborg (Kevin Warwick) will be devastated

That this guy beat him to it

[deains]

Missing the important part

This guy has a hook for a hand. A hook for a hand! I mean, that's just awesome.

[Mondo the Magnificent]

So...

Does this docking device limb use an ARM processor?

[LaeMing]

Dang

you beat me.

[CraPo]

@lockwood

It looks like he's got the earpiece cradled towards the crook (and conversely the microphone towards the "wrist") so even if he could comfortably raise his left forearm to his right ear, the phone would be "upside down". Unless he just cradled it that way for the pictures. Is the form factor symetric?

[Snowy]

Looks like it is symetical the phone in the bottom picture is the other around to the top one.

[Fryerman]

The real reason Apple dropped outj

The dock was better suited to a device with an ARM chip.

[LaeMing]

The A4 processor used in iPhones is an ARM device.

[Bad Beaver]

Nice

And the Nokia is just sugar on top. Send the man an N9!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm more interested in

The attachment at the end of his arm. It looks like it could brew up a cuppa. Very handy.

[TeeCee]

Not quite so handy for scratching your balls though.......

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not quite so handy for scratching your balls though.......

True, but wouldn't you prefer to keep the cuppa-brewing and ball-scratching functions separate?

[Adam Foxton]

I guess that's

running an ARM processor?

[Eddy Ito]

Useful & novel

That probably explains why Apple wasn't interested, besides they didn't see any gestures to patent.

[andreas koch]

Barast technology?

This reminds me of the 'companion' implants in Robert J. Sawyers Neanderthal Parallax trilogy. Those used something like Siri, though. I guess Sawyer stole the idea from Apple and just published the book earlier to try and get away with it.

Oh, and @ CraPo: either the speakerphone or a BT headset would take care of that.

[sazzle]

HELLZ YEAH

pppfffttt...who wants an iphone anyway!!! Apple are a-holes.

Good on him, looks très AWESOME!

wish I had a hook hand sometimes.....

[Richard 20]

When I saw headline I assumed said man was Kevin Warwick

Surprised to see it was not the case…

[Guido Esperanto]

incorrect apple response.

Apple did actually offer to help, but advised they only provided an all-in-one prothesis which cost 50% more than comparable types but the phone and dock were non-replaceable parts.

All Apple required was a fingerprint from each han....err.....

"We are unable to help"

[stucs201]

If he replaces the hook with a hand

Then he can go for the correct way to mount a phone in an artificial arm: mic in the end of the little finger, speaker in the end of the thumb.

[nichobe]

Man + Motorola Droid Bionic = Bionic Man

Truly awesome!

[NogginTheNog]

Imagine the conversation come upgrade time

"Yeah, a new handset would be great, but will it fit my arm..??"

[Daniel B.]

ARM powered

Now that's a one true ARM-powered smartphone!

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple - rotten to the core

Apparently people with missing limbs are not cool enough to own Apple products.

[pullenuk]

Cooooool

So when he holds the phone up to his ear, the poor kid behind is never going to watch Peter Pan again......

Gotta admit that isn't a bad idea. Since apple won't do it, he best put a patent on it!

[Lord Elpuss]

Missed chance

Can't believe he didn't go for an Android.

[Studley]

All he needs now...

...is to lose a finger on the other hand, and get it replaced with a stylus.

[Martin Huizing]

I like tittles!

I am a bit surprised to see a hook. Aren't we at a stage that we can have good looking prosthetic arms and hands with fingers that can open and close? (maybe too expensive? Please enlighten me)

Regarding a slot for a phone, Why not get a wrist-watch phone? Seriously! They even operate with blue-tooth ear pieces.