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World's Slimmest Phone 62

moto writes "ThinkCE has some news of the world's slimmest phone. From the article: 'Slimmer than a stick insect with the runs, the new world's thinnest phone comes in the shape of the EV-K100 handset, an ultra-thin gizmo made by Korean cell phone makers KTF Technologies. Measuring a wafer-thin 7.9-millimeters, the EV-K100 grabs the "world's slimmest" crown from local rivals VK, whose VK2010 and VK2100 phones measured up at a comparatively lardy, pie-scoffing 8.8mm (with Motorola's RAZR being a positively obese 14.5-mm thick).'"
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World's Slimmest Phone

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  • did you swallow your phone again?
  • by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohn@noSpAM.gmail.com> on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @01:57PM (#14973174) Journal
    Articles of the genre 'World's blankiest blank' are not news.

    They're the basis of a bad Fox special but they certainly aren't newsworthy.

    And to make this post even more Futurama oriented:

    Leela: What's wrong Amy? Did you swallow your cell phone again?

    You may laugh but I think we're coming up on that being a lawsuit waiting to happen.

    We're consumers; we like our cars huge, our service fast and our cell phones microscopic.
    • Leela: What's wrong Amy? Did you swallow your cell phone again?

      You may laugh but I think we're coming up on that being a lawsuit waiting to happen.


      Not quiet the same, but it's already happened. [theregister.co.uk]
      Though, from other articles, it sounds like it just might have been justifiable as it was being "overused" at the time.
    • You may laugh but I think we're coming up on that being a lawsuit waiting to happen.

      WARNING

      Do not consume cellular phone
      For external use only
  • With a think phone, and you forget that its there does it break or is it ok?
  • by frisbeegeek ( 702353 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @01:58PM (#14973190)
    Imagine how small they could have made it if they didn't try to jam a shitty camera and mp3 player into it...
    • The thickness of the phone is not limited by the inclusion of a camera or mp3 player. A ccd and a lense are tiny compared to what limits the thickness, and that's the size of the antenna according to the article.

      Phones aren't going to get any smaller until they use a different technology to transmit their radio waves, or until someone finds out how to make the antenna smaller. So if they can put in a camera and an mp3 player for a few extra bucks while not increasing the size, then they should go for it.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    You can buy a dialing wand.
  • Doubles as a toothpick.
  • Looks about the same as the new Motorola Razor, except that this one isn't a flip phone.
    • Re:Razr (Score:3, Insightful)

      by eln ( 21727 )
      The one looks to have very similar dimensions to the RAZR, which I already have. I also like that the razr is a flip phone, and also that it's almost entirely metallic. This makes it particularly sturdy and scratch-resistant, which is very important for a phone that fits comfortably in your pocket. There is no information on how sturdy this new phone is.
    • this one isn't a flip phone Which means 1) Accidentally dialing people when buttons get pushed in your pocket (don't laugh, my wife has done this), 2) unless the phone is 6 inches tall or you're using a headset, the speaker, microphone or both are going to always be in the wrong place, 3) there is absolutely nothing to prevent cracking or scratching of the LCD screen when you stuff the phone in your pocket or purse.

      I don't know about you, but I think I can put up with a few millimeters more in thickness in

      • Which means 1) Accidentally dialing people when buttons get pushed in your pocket (don't laugh, my wife has done this),

        It's happened to my wife and I a couple of times. The problem isn't so much the candy bar design of the phone, as the variety of bugs in Nokia's software. A couple of issues that have bit me:

        1. When the keypad is locked, certain combinations of buttons still work. This seems to be the cause of a number of dud entries into my phonebook.
        2. If you press the lock/unlock combination at the wrong
        • I had a candy-bar-form-factor Sony Ericsson and my pants pocket accidentally dialed 911 because I failed to lock the keyboard.

          The very next day I bought a RAZR, partly because I wanted a flip-phone to protect the keypad. So what did Motorola's brilliant effing engineers do? Why, they left the side buttons active even when it's closed. So now if my phone has slid along my belt, my seat belt picks some random ringing for me! Sometimes it turns the ringer off, sometimes it launches voice dialing (and thin

      • Re:Razr (Score:3, Insightful)

        by CastrTroy ( 595695 )
        As annoying as all that is, I've had 2 flip phones, and known many other people who have had them. They always die within a couple years due to some breakage of the joint. You can usually lock non-flip phones so that you don't dial them while in your pocket. Most non-flip phones I've seen had a much stronger screen than flip-phones in order to protect it from being scratched. If you're still paranoid, get a case.
        • I've never actually broken the hinge in a flip phone, although I know people that have and the flex circuit in the hinge is probably the cause of the audio problems I'm having with my current Motorola flip phone. I have broken LCDs just by sitting down with a phone in my pocket. But by and large, most of the phones we've had get broken by dropping them, in which case it doesn't really matter what design they used. Yes, all non-opening phones have button locks, but that is only good if you remember to lock
          • I got a slide phone, which I feel has all the advantages of both.
          • Yes, all non-opening phones have button locks, but that is only good if you remember to lock them every time.

            Almost all the non-flip phones also have auto-key-lock. My cute, bricky SE T630 locks automagically after 30 secs or so. It works just as well when I just stuff it after use into the back pocket of my jeans. And I've never had a problem with a screen, all good "bricks" (like this SE T630) have extremelly hard and scratch resistant "glass" over the screen.

            Robert
            • I have a Sony Ericsson prepaid phone. I can't remember the model, but it was the cheapest one that Cingular had at the time. (I just needed a basically disposable phone with a local number for the area I was visiting.) It had the autokey guard, but for some reason, despite the fact that I would verify the keyguard was turned on, I found myself still making phone calls while it was in my pocket. I never had that problem with any of my other previous brick phones. It was like I would somehow magically hi
        • I upgrade my phone every year anyway, because if you don't you're just giving your cell provider free money. They charge you for phone upgrades whether you make them or not, in the form of charging you more for your service than it really costs. They love it when people don't upgrade... Anyway, you can buy replacement housings and hinge units for phones, and I replaced the housing on my V300 anyway...
          • So, you're saying that by shelling out ~$100 out of your own pocket, you're costing the cell companies money? Explain the economics of that to me, please.
            • It's not so much that you're costing them money, you're just getting some of your money back. It's like filing your taxes and getting a return. A [decent] phone costs something like $300 to $350 retail, the phone company gets them for $200 to $250, they pad your bill up ~$100/yr, and sell you the phone for $100 to $150. (These are vague ballparks for middle of the road phones.) Thus, if you don't upgrade, they get a free $100 or so.
    • by booch ( 4157 )
      While the Motorola RAZR is relatively slim, to me the most impressive part is the flip-up portion. It's only about 5 mm thick, yet it contains 2 color LCD displays. Hmm -- I just realized that they appear to share a single backlight. Which makes a lot of sense, I suppose -- cramming 2 backlights into that space would be really hard.
    • This looks like a "clone" of the Motorola SLVR to me. (no idea how the SLVR compares with this one for size though)

  • if the phone is ultra-wide, like the RAZR. What I really want is slim, narrow, and short. AKA "small"
  • I'm glad the "big and the best" are aiming for thin but *wide* phones. It's the best compromise between a phone that is actually pocketable, and one which you can still actually use without a pointing stick.

    As mobiles have to be everywhere with me, it's much more important to me that it fits in my jeans over taking pictures, and slicing bread.

    • I'm not saying anything about you. My ambiguous pronouns (you, your) are plural for the purposes of this post, and address the mases...

      ...but if your jeans don't fit.. I'm pretty sure the phone has little to do with it. I myself have had this problem in the past. Sure, buying a smaller phone may help, but I hear excercise is a suitable (yet more time consuming) alternative. Of course, the easiest (and likely cheapest) way to fix this problem is to go to your local jeans retailer and try on slightly lar

  • These phones are just GIGANTIC compared to the really, really, ridiculously good looking phone carried by Derek Zoolander in the biopic [zoolander.com] of the same name.

    Luckily rather than waiting for the Korean product to arrive here, you can make you own [makezine.com] Zoolander style phone.

  • Zoolander. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Donniedarkness ( 895066 ) <Donniedarkness@g ... BSDcom minus bsd> on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @02:05PM (#14973250) Homepage
    Ok, I call BS on this article. I saw a MUCH smaller phone on Zoolander, and that was several years ago!

    Those male models get EVERYTHING.... :(

  • I think the SLVR L7 is around 10.5 mm. The pictured phone looks a little wider than the SLVR L7 though its hard to tell from the picture and I couldn't find the other two dimensions.
    • Re:SLVR L7 (Score:1, Redundant)

      by Bradee-oh! ( 459922 )
      I think the SLVR L7 is around 10.5 mm. The pictured phone looks a little wider than the SLVR L7 though its hard to tell from the picture and I couldn't find the other two dimensions.

      Were you raised on picture books? Words are ways of converying information, as well!

      Measuring a wafer-thin 7.9-millimetre, the EV-K100 grabs the 'world's slimmest' crown from local rivals VK, whose VK2010 and VK2100 phones measured up at a comparatively lardy, pie-scoffing 8.8mm (with Motorola's RAZR being a positively
      • Yes, I too saw the new phone's depth, however as I indicated I can't find the other two dimensions. I.e. length and width. It looks wider than the SLVR L7. As I myself pointed out the L7 is indeed thicker.

        Thanks for insulting me by the way. Very mature.

  • slimiest (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Silly me, I read that, "World's slimiest phone"

    Sk
  • by derinax ( 93566 ) on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @02:31PM (#14973639)
    ...but then, that would be mine.


    / my first post in three months, and this is what I chose to write.
    // please mod me down, so I may learn my lesson.

  • "My phone is the thinnest in the world, can take photos with a 1.5 Megapixel camera and can store hundreds of MP3s!"

    "Mine phones people."

    Simply put, why bother doing all these silly additions and leave the photos to cameras and music to MP3 players? Besides, why does a phone need to be that thin anyway? It makes it harder to hold and it's much easier to break.
    Then again, I'm a rather grumpy old git on the inside.
    • It also makes it more convenient to carry. As summer rapidly approaches, I'm planning to replace my 30G iPod 3gen with a 1G iPod Nano, simply because it's smaller, thinner, and lighter, which makes it easier to carry around when I've only got two pockets available, and my keys have to go in one of them and my wallet in the other. With a thin phone like the Razr (my current phone), I can put it in the change pocket of my one pocket, put my keys in there too, and wallet in the other, and then I can hang the n
      • Maybe it's just me who finds small things annoying to use. Usually, I'm always afraid that I'll break it as well. I normally have at least three pockets if I'm going out, so I'm never pushed for space. Each to their own, I guess.
  • Aren't they the phones that were in "V for Vendetta"?
  • KTF Unveil EV-K100, World's Slimmest Phone The company intend to market the bar-type EV-K100, codenamed "No. 7,'' from next week via its parent firm KTF for around 400,000 won ($412). That's a bit pricey... Any idea how long the battery would last in this type of phone?
  • Slimmer than a stick insect with the runs...

    ................

    That's all I have to say.
  • Can it core a apple, oh Chef of the Future?
  • ... I'll stick to my bulky but functional LG 5400. :-)
  • What does a stick insect having the runs have anything do with it's thickness?
    • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarrhea [wikipedia.org]

      Diarrhea is a rather unpleasant way to die.
      Your body stops absorbing nutrients and you become dehydrated.

      It's kindof a race to the bottom for which kills you first.
      You'll either die of malnutrition or extreme dehydration.

      Anyways, assuming you get enough fluids, you'll starve to death.
      Hence the "stick insect having the runs" visual.
  • Now there is actually somebody that has figured out that it's the thickness of the phone that is the major problem. Anyway - I'm still looking for a phone that is at most 10mm thick and with a casing in hard rubber. I wouldn't mind if the phone is a little wider and longer than today's phones since the current phones have a tendency to get stuck sideways in my breast pocket with the result that when I finally have succeeded in digging out the phone the caller has hung up...

    And those clamshell phones - the

  • The clever boffins at KTF Technologies overcame this barrier - and got one up on their rivals - by slashing the thickness of the embedded antenna using some clever jiggery-pokery which they're naturally not too keen to divulge.

    Jiggery-pokery? Does that mean that on top of being the world's slimmest phone, it can also make calls from 5,000,000,000AD to the 21st Century? Fantastic!

  • From TFA:

    At the time, VK president Yi Cheol-sang insisted that 8.8 millimetres was as thin as things could get, commenting that the technology demanded an antenna of at least 7 millimetres thick and a pair of plates of 1.8 millimetres.

    Why is this a problem? I can understand that length of an antenna makes a huge difference, but how does the width matter? This guy is the president of the former "record-holder", so I don't know if he's just spouting crap or if he is technically informed.

    Other than the mys

  • Looks about as big as the "credit card sized camera" (which actually has good quality FWIW), I wonder how it actually holds up...

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