This pen that doubles as a phone is either a brilliant idea – or completely dumb

(Image credit: Geekbuying)

On paper at least, pen phones seem a good idea; otherwise, why would more than 2,000 people invest almost $150,000 into the Zanco Smart-pen on crowdsourcing platforms?

So when we first came across the Servo K07, we thought that it might be a stellar example of ink perfection, imbued with some clever smart technology, for the discerning businessmen. The truth is sadly, very far from that.

Billed as “the mobile phone that can be written”, which we think means that this is a phone that can write, the K07 is the only true pen phone on the market. Unlike the Zanco, this one has a ball pen which works even without battery and a barely believable $27 price tag attached to it. 

Ground-breaking?

However, corners have been cut to reach that price point. It offers phone capabilities but only on 2G. No a big issue to be honest given that the 2017 Nokia 3310 was also a 2G device as well. It can take two SIM cards (yes, two) or swap one of them for a microSD card, an essential add on as the K07 has only 32MB (yes, megabytes) of memory.

It does have Bluetooth capabilities though as well as tiny physical buttons that would require something sharp and pointed - such as a pencil - to key the phone number in. There’s even a camera with a 0.3-megapixel resolution, voice recording capabilities, a built in FM Radio and, surprise, surprise, a flashlight. Shame there’s no laser pointer though.

Best of all though, it's available in three colors: red, black or silver. We’re so intrigued by this spy pen-phone that we’ve requested a sample for a quick hands on. Will it ever join our best smartphone or best business smartphone buyers guides? Stay tuned!

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Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.