Amid all of the high-tech gadgetry to appear at IFA this past week were a few smaller developers whose products broke through the chatter, like Hi-Fun with its phone call glove.
The Hi-Call gloves are a pair of wool-knit bluetooth hand-socks with built in hardware for making phone calls. The speaker is in the thumb and the mic is in the pinky.
That's right, the imitation hand-motion for phone call has become a method for making real phone calls.
Engadget managed to get some hands-on (it couldn't be helped, I'm sorry) with the gloves at IFA last week, and it looks like, at a base level, they work. How well they work is another story.
Call me maybe
The hipster-tech appeal of the Hi-Call gloves explains why these handsets were designed to begin with, but practically, how do they work?
If the footage is any indication, the signal and volume with the Hi-Call system is lackluster.
While placing a call out of the convention center through an iPhone, Engadget's Brian Heater had a hard time hearing the caller on the other line.
Apparently the issue was due to a low volume (controlled by native phone volume) and spotty signal, both of which may have been side-effects of the convention center atmosphere.
Whatever the case, consumers will be able to get their mitts on these gloves sometime in October across Europe for €49. For now, North Americans will have to ride out the cold weather this winter in analog hand accessories.
Via Engadget
