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There were earlier discussions on this. > Right now the battery-free phone needs a custom base station to transmit and receive calls. But the team says there's

by IncRnd 9y ago

There were earlier discussions on this. > Right now the battery-free phone needs a custom base station to transmit and receive calls. But the team says there's no reason why the technology couldn't be integrated into standard mobile network infrastructure. This could only be called a cell phone, if the cell phone network changes to accommodate this radio. It's not a cell phone, because it doesn't work with cellular phone towers.

chris0x00 9y ago
I agree calling it a cell phone sets the wrong expectations, but it's still neat and I think a good application could be an elder care pendant (help, fallen, can't get up, yadda yadda) where close promity and custom base station aren't an issue, but never needing to worry about the status of battery would be a big plus.
- IncRnd 9y ago
  I agree! Those applications are called medical alert systems, and there are various kinds. Some of the systems contain GPS, while other work with a radio base station to inform if the person has fallen and can't get up. For example, http://www.best10medicalalertsystems.com/ http://www.best10medicalalertsystems.com/
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
Retric 9y ago
Modern Cellphones and not compatible with all cellphone networks, making your argument moot. Anyway, Cellphone just means it can handle hand offs between base stations without dropping the call, which this could do.
- IncRnd 9y ago
  That's silly. Modern cellphones don't need to be compatible with all cellphone networks to be cellphones any more than a shoe needs to fit on every foot in America to be a shoe. > Anyway, Cellphone just means it can handle hand offs between base stations without dropping the call, which this could do. No. It literally cannot do that, hence my comment.
  - Retric 9y ago
    Sure it can. Setup to harvest from 3 frequency's and add a small capacitor.
    - IncRnd 9y ago
      > Setup to harvest from 3 frequency's and add a small capacitor. Of course it could be changed into a cellphone! The device on this page is billed as a cellphone, but it is not a cellular device. It is not even a phone. Of course it could be made into a cellphone, just as my shoe could be made a cellphone. In the interim, neither my shoe nor this radio is a cellphone.
      - Retric 9y ago
        It's a cellphone prototype. You don't need to do 100% of the functionality to demonstrate functionality. But you may have missed this part "or ambient light collected by a solar cell the size of a grain of rice". So, yes they built a cellphone, even if they can't gain power from arbitrary sources.
        IncRnd 9y ago
        It has none of the qualities of a cellphone other than being a radio, so it is not a cellphone prototype. It is a passively-powered radio prototype. They may later build a cellphone prototype, but this isn't such an animal. > But you may have missed this part "or ambient light collected by a solar cell the size of a grain of rice". So, yes they built a cellphone, even if they can't gain power from arbitrary sources. A cellphone is not "a radio that cannot connect to a phone network and that uses a solar cell". That would be a solar-power radio.
        Retric 9y ago
        Technically you can have 100% of the logic for a cellphone in the cell towers and not the phone though this limits you to one frequency per phone. But, this also handles dialing to make Skype calls so it's not just a radio.
PhasmaFelis 9y ago
Debatable. I'd say it's a cellphone for which no infrastructure currently exists, which admittedly doesn't make it a very useful cellphone unless and until those changes occur. But a car is still a car even if there's no gas stations.
- IncRnd 9y ago
  a cellphone for which no infrastructure exists A cellphone that doesn't work with cellular network cells and isn't a phone really shouldn't be called a cellphone. It's a passively-powered radio.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- detaro 9y ago
  But we have better terms for phones working in a range of a few meters around a local base station: cordless phone
userbinator 9y ago
This description of the device I gave in the previous discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14659236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14659236 is probably most accurate: "RF-powered cordless phone". I'm not even sure if multiple of these devices could be used simultaneously like traditional cellphones, which change frequencies/channels as they move between cells and to avoid collisions with other mobiles. Judging by their description, it works on a fixed frequency and the "phone" itself has basically no active circuitry, being nothing more than an analog audio-to-RF modulator.

by IncRnd 9y ago

chris0x00 9y ago

I agree calling it a cell phone sets the wrong expectations, but it's still neat and I think a good application could be an elder care pendant (help, fallen, can't get up, yadda yadda) where close promity and custom base station aren't an issue, but never needing to worry about the status of battery would be a big plus.

IncRnd 9y ago
I agree! Those applications are called medical alert systems, and there are various kinds. Some of the systems contain GPS, while other work with a radio base station to inform if the person has fallen and can't get up. For example, http://www.best10medicalalertsystems.com/ http://www.best10medicalalertsystems.com/
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

Retric 9y ago

Modern Cellphones and not compatible with all cellphone networks, making your argument moot. Anyway, Cellphone just means it can handle hand offs between base stations without dropping the call, which this could do.

IncRnd 9y ago
That's silly. Modern cellphones don't need to be compatible with all cellphone networks to be cellphones any more than a shoe needs to fit on every foot in America to be a shoe. > Anyway, Cellphone just means it can handle hand offs between base stations without dropping the call, which this could do. No. It literally cannot do that, hence my comment.
- Retric 9y ago
  Sure it can. Setup to harvest from 3 frequency's and add a small capacitor.
  - IncRnd 9y ago
    > Setup to harvest from 3 frequency's and add a small capacitor. Of course it could be changed into a cellphone! The device on this page is billed as a cellphone, but it is not a cellular device. It is not even a phone. Of course it could be made into a cellphone, just as my shoe could be made a cellphone. In the interim, neither my shoe nor this radio is a cellphone.
    - Retric 9y ago
      It's a cellphone prototype. You don't need to do 100% of the functionality to demonstrate functionality. But you may have missed this part "or ambient light collected by a solar cell the size of a grain of rice". So, yes they built a cellphone, even if they can't gain power from arbitrary sources.
      - IncRnd 9y ago
        It has none of the qualities of a cellphone other than being a radio, so it is not a cellphone prototype. It is a passively-powered radio prototype. They may later build a cellphone prototype, but this isn't such an animal. > But you may have missed this part "or ambient light collected by a solar cell the size of a grain of rice". So, yes they built a cellphone, even if they can't gain power from arbitrary sources. A cellphone is not "a radio that cannot connect to a phone network and that uses a solar cell". That would be a solar-power radio.
        Retric 9y ago
        Technically you can have 100% of the logic for a cellphone in the cell towers and not the phone though this limits you to one frequency per phone. But, this also handles dialing to make Skype calls so it's not just a radio.

PhasmaFelis 9y ago

Debatable. I'd say it's a cellphone for which no infrastructure currently exists, which admittedly doesn't make it a very useful cellphone unless and until those changes occur. But a car is still a car even if there's no gas stations.

IncRnd 9y ago
a cellphone for which no infrastructure exists A cellphone that doesn't work with cellular network cells and isn't a phone really shouldn't be called a cellphone. It's a passively-powered radio.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
detaro 9y ago
But we have better terms for phones working in a range of a few meters around a local base station: cordless phone

userbinator 9y ago

This description of the device I gave in the previous discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14659236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14659236 is probably most accurate: "RF-powered cordless phone". I'm not even sure if multiple of these devices could be used simultaneously like traditional cellphones, which change frequencies/channels as they move between cells and to avoid collisions with other mobiles. Judging by their description, it works on a fixed frequency and the "phone" itself has basically no active circuitry, being nothing more than an analog audio-to-RF modulator.