ALT.SF4M

  Disposable Paper Phone

   • j********o@***.com
     28/02/2001 04:14:43 UTC

     I read an article about this item, expected to be a big deal next year.
     The

     lady entrepeneur said they'd cost $10 and have an hour of airtime, and
     be sold

     like phone cards (the phone is a folded-up paper sandwich no thicker
     than three

     credit cards). You listen with an earphone: it has no fancy features, no
     LCD

     display, only the numberpad, Send, and End. The price seems a little low
     - I'd

     guess it would be at least $20, but there's no plastic to inject or
     mold, and

     they're probably pretty flimsy, but who cares? Neat. I would assume it
     can

     receive calls, although stand-by mode should really kill the batteries -
     maybe

     it can stay on for 60 minutes whether you're talking or on standby. A
     decent

     ringer would be bring significant added cost. This will be great for
     emergency

     purposes - put one in every glove compartment. I would imagine the next
     thing

     is cheapo text paging: for that you don't need to allocate a proper
     phone

     number, you can use packet transmission, and the bandwidth is vastly
     less.

     Gorno

       • s******j@e***.**o.com
         01/03/2001 07:45:36 UTC

         I can picture these in a Gibson novel. The sidewalks around his
         Golden Dragon

         franchises would be littered with spent units emblazoned with logos
         of

         cheap Byachian pet cloning facilities.

         RE standby mode, you could add solar cells fairly cheaply, for an

         emergency version that might be (fee) rechargeable and therefore not

         as liable to be tossed.

         RE ringers, consider those annoying talking / singing greeting
         cards. Pretty

         loud.

         RE a text device, yeah, that would be way cool. You could stick them
         in

         cereal boxes. Pay for themselves with an occasional advertisement.

         All this would way boost the sales of EM proof underwear and hats.

         On 28 Feb 2001 04:14:43 GMT, JohnGorno wrote:

         >I read an article about this item, expected to be a big deal next
         year. The

         >lady entrepeneur said they'd cost $10 and have an hour of airtime,
         and be sold

         >like phone cards (the phone is a folded-up paper sandwich no
         thicker than three

         >credit cards). You listen with an earphone: it has no fancy
         features, no LCD

         >display, only the numberpad, Send, and End. The price seems a
         little low - I'd

         >guess it would be at least $20, but there's no plastic to inject or
         mold, and

         >they're probably pretty flimsy, but who cares? Neat. I would assume
         it can

         >receive calls, although stand-by mode should really kill the
         batteries - maybe

         >it can stay on for 60 minutes whether you're talking or on standby.
         A decent

         >ringer would be bring significant added cost. This will be great
         for emergency

         >purposes - put one in every glove compartment. I would imagine the
         next thing

         >is cheapo text paging: for that you don't need to allocate a proper
         phone

         >number, you can use packet transmission, and the bandwidth is
         vastly less.

         >Gorno

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