Is a finger phone in your future?

NTT DoCoMo is developing a wristwatch-style phone that uses the caller's finger as the ear piece. The phone, called the Finger Whisper, uses a microphone on a wristband to capture the user's voice. The finger in your ear part works by converting incoming audio into vibrations that travel through the bones of the hand to the tip of the index finger.

NTT DoCoMo researchers are still working out the phone's interface, but one ideas is that a user answers the phone by touching the forefinger to the thumb; repeating the action ends the call. The phone operates by voice recognition and lacks a keypad.

NTT DoCoMo says the finger phone could be commercially available by 2005. You'll know it's arrived when people begin flashing the OK sign and sticking fingers in ears. If this seems strange, consider today's common sight of people jamming small plastic objects in their ears, then talking vigorously to invisible companions. An uninformed observer would conclude we've all flown over the coocoo's nest!