Sgnl wrist strap allows you to communicate in calls via fingertip

Sgnl wrist strap allows you to communicate in calls via fingertip

(Tech Xplore)—How convenient is convenient? For the inventor, the Age of Convenience is ageless. There is no limit to what imagination can deliver for making simple actions easier on body and brain. Add one to the mix—fingertip communication, where you conduct your phone conversations using your fingertip.

Be gone, extra headsets, say goodbye to rummaging through your bag to find your phone. The Sgnl smartwatch strap and your do all the work. You glance at the caller and press one fingertip to your ear.

The item is a smart watch strap that comes from a Samsung C-Lab spin-off, Innomdle Lab, reported Sophie Charara, Wareable. The team behind it are using Kickstarter for crowdfunding.

The technology at play here is a Body Conduction Unit, said the Kickstarter page. There is the actuator unit and there is the audio algorithm that amplifies voice signals.

Wareable said the conduction actuator is used to transmit vibrations from the watch to your fingertip.

Chris Hall in Pocket-lint talked also about how it works. Hall said you "place your fingertip to your ear and you'll be able to hear your call, as vibrations travel from the strap on your wrist and into your ear through your finger."

Hall said it is using Bluetooth, "so it's effectively working as a Bluetooth headset." (Calls transfer to the strap via Bluetooth.)

Sgnl wrist strap allows you to communicate in calls via fingertip

The Kickstarter page has more details about the team.

"Sgnl is the brainchild of Innomdle Lab, the first company ever to officially spin off from Samsung Electronics. Pronounced 'i-nom-dul', it means 'dudes' or 'guys' in Korean with an added nuance of friendliness and intimacy. It also stands for 'Innovation Medley', which conveys the team's ambition for the endless pursuit of innovation through resolving daily discomfort with ground-breaking technology. "

The team said on the Kickstarter page that "When you place your finger to your ear, your finger not only transmits the sound but it also blocks out background noise."

The campaign site talked about CEO Hyunchul Choi, who said, "A colleague was boasting about his smartwatch, but was embarrassed by the fact that everyone around him could hear the conversation. As the number of users increases, they will all face the same problem." That is what got Choi to start thinking and asking: was there a way to solve this?

You can replace your existing watch strap with Sgnl, whether a classic watch or Apple Watch, Samsung Gear, or Pebble Time.

The product is compatible with both iOS 8+ and Android 4.4+, said Wareable.

Delivery of the item for those who pledge will be from South Korea through DHL or FedEx, said the site.

Charara said, "The Kickstarter early bird price is $129, rising to $139 when that batch of 500 sells out and it's due to ship in February 2017."

For how long does it keep going? Wareable said, "Battery life is four hours talk time and seven days on standby and it charges in one hour via microUSB."

More information: www.kickstarter.com/projects/s … ingertip/description

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Citation: Sgnl wrist strap allows you to communicate in calls via fingertip (2016, September 6) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://techxplore.com/news/2016-09-sgnl-wrist-fingertip.html
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