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Cell-Mate

Another derivative "cell phone as electronic catch-all" idea
  (+7, -1)
(+7, -1)
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This time, let's combine a cell phone and a Lovegety/PartyBAPP device, you know, those goofy Japanese proximity mate finders.

As a cell phone feature, you could enter in a series of preferences into your phone (not just the 3 settings that Lovegety gives you). You could set a series of self-descriptive settings, and then set a series of settings describing your potential mate.

Then, when you are out wandering about, when you get within a certain proximity of someone who matches your mate-settings, and you likewise match theirs (an important advancement over current Lovegety technology), each of the respective phones could respond, perhaps 'calling' each other. You answer, and a brief message alerts you that Cell-Mate has found a match, and a conversation shall ensue. (Alternatively, a voice message could be left, with a call-back option. Or an SMS.) All numbers would be blocked from sight at this stage, accessible only the Cell-Mate responding system, not viewable by the phone users.

I don't think that cell technology would work the proximity bit. I seem to recall hearing that the cellco itself can tell where your phone is, but I don't believe there's a way for one phone to know where it is in relation to other phones on the system. So these phones would have to include a proximity sensing technology, probably the same as what the Lovegety uses now.

The phones could be manufactured by Nookia. And Cell-Mate is perhaps a good name for the system, in light of the possibility that a match could conceivably develop toward marriage.

(I know there are on-line matchmaking sites that can be accessed by web-enabled phones. This is not that. This is a function of the phone itself. No net needed.)

waugsqueke, Apr 30 2002

(??) Lovegety http://www.interland.co.jp/gety/eigo/
The aforementioned doohickey, for the uninitiated. [waugsqueke, Apr 30 2002]

Wikipedia: Bluedating http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluedating
The Bluetooth-based dating genre. [jutta, May 23 2006]

[link]






       Am I allowed to mention Bluetooth? Because with many new mobile phones now coming with Bluetooth short-range radio networking, this must be easily achievable.   

       I'm not convinced I want one, but it would be neat technology, and could have other uses, e.g. if it had a buddy list it could let you know if a friend was nearby.
pottedstu, Apr 30 2002
  

       Yes! At last, after all these years with this thing it my pocket, it might finally be able to somehow make my life better. I love the idea of anonymously calling the person, provided you've both hit the 'yes' button.   

       Phone makers are planning to include presence (buddy-lists) in phones some day, and possibly GPS, so they'd probably be all over the idea. I'm not sure it'd be worth buying a whole new phone for this, so it had better be usable on standard phone technology.   

       And make the criteria intelligent and detailed. I don't want to be paired up with an idiot, a religious nut or any of the other 99% that just aren't right for me.
sadie, May 01 2002
  

       And what if your cell-mate mate turned out to be your cellmate?
RayfordSteele, Oct 25 2002
  
      
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