A new gadget on Kickstarter is basically designed to make you feel like a secret agent. It's called Sgnl, and it lets you make phone calls just by wearing a wristband and touching your ear, with your fingers acting as the receiver.
There's no speaker on the device — instead, audio is directed into your ear through vibrations that are sent through your body, into your wrist and up to the fingers touching your ear; a mic is built into the band. It's not a new concept, but it's a neat twist on the not-very-cool Bluetooth headset.
The project comes from Innomdle Lab, a startup that's been spun out of Samsung. This is its first project, and it's launching with a Kickstarter campaign looking for $50,000, which it's very nearly reached at the time of this writing. Sgnl units are selling for around $139.
There's one other interesting twist to Sgnl. While you can wear it as a standalone wristband, it's meant to be used as a watch strap, either for an analog watch or a smartwatch. It definitely looks a bit clunkier than a normal wristband, but integrating it straight into another gadget that you're already wearing is a nice idea, as it's one less gadget to keep track of.
This is probably something that could be built right into a smartwatch in the future, but for the time being, Sngl seems like a cool, if totally unnecessary way to take a phone call without pulling out your phone. It'll probably make for a great party trick, too, although I'm not convinced that anyone will look suave while wearing this thing, as Innomdle's Kickstarter video wants you to think.