A Wearable Walkie-Talkie to Free Us From Phones
How revamped walkie talkies could fit our distracted lifestyle
They used to call them bricks: plastic clunky objects that people lugged around to stay in contact with colleagues or friends. Remember walkie talkies? Well, they’re getting an update called Onyx, a new product from Orion Labs, a San Francisco-based company seeking to connect people through seamless voice communication.
The device is meant to solve communication challenges that we face every day. If you’ve ever missed a crucial life moment because you were distracted by looking at your phone, this could be the device for you.
The badge-like wearable aims to unite people in real time across any distance without the distraction of a phone screen. It can be worn on a shirt, jacket, necklace or bag strap. The unit connects to devices via Bluetooth and enables users to talk with anyone anywhere in the world instantly as if the other person were in the same room. It delivers instant communication over wireless and cellular networks — anywhere the user has an Internet connection.
It comes with an app for different conversations to be grouped or categorized while on the move.
It seems there would definitely be a market for this type of technology. For example, events planners or Meetup organizers could use it to facilitate check-ins and wrap-ups, production teams could work through multi-location coordination, sports fans who want to connect with friends at a tailgate can set a meeting time while en-route, etc, etc.
Plus, adopting this technology could free up mental bandwidth and give people more time and ability to focus on the moments and people around them.
Originally published at www.psfk.com on February 19, 2016.