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Phone Vibration Dock

Sometimes I want it on vibrate, and sometimes I want it loud.
  (+4)
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I can't be bothered turning my phone on and off vibrate and loud if I'm, say, at my house lounging after a family dinner, or perhaps at work in between meetings. Therefore, I propose the Phone Vibration Dock. You simply put your phone (which is usually on vibrate) on this array of pancaked ridged metallic plates and when your phone vibrates, the dock rings via the translation of acoustic vibrations in the metal. It's that simple. This way, you don't have to switch back and forth all the time.

This may be baked.. Looking...

Oh yes, and all those who say... Oohhh.. I have a solid mahogany table and when my phone sits on it, well it already makes a louder noise for me... Shut it. I'm talking about exploiting people for their desire to have cool little shiny things, damnit.

daseva, Oct 07 2010

close.. http://www.hardware...-vibration-speaker/
[daseva, Oct 07 2010]

Ring World Ring_20World
[theircompetitor, Oct 08 2010]

[link]






       ‘Putting things on top of other things’ is a neglected area of engineering. In an ideal world, there would be entire University departments devoted to its study, and a Nobel prize.
pocmloc, Oct 07 2010
  

       //Wouldn't it be simpler...//   

       By 'simpler' do you mean less shiny?
Boomershine, Oct 07 2010
  

       [Bigsleep], this is for those people who don't really understand modern docking technology but have heard a bell ring before. ... The unit would probably cost mere pennies, sold for mere dollars, and you could put one almost anywhere, home, office, car, etc. .... We should have a whole category devoted to the "putting things on top of things" ideas then, no?
daseva, Oct 07 2010
  

       I like the idea, but you are going to have to put some work into the design. I just tested my phone against a metal bell and on top of an aluminum can, and didn't get much sound. Maybe a flat metal sheet with metal beads on it?   

       You may need to customize the dock for each phone style, with different hard points for contact/support and a custom angle of vibration.   

       Or just make an electronic thingy that picks up the vibration and turns on a noise-maker. [+]   

       [Later] Okay, I just put the thing on top of another thing. On a drum head about two feet across, the phone does not make any louder sound, in any angle or position, than in my hamlike hand.   

       But I recall my sister's phone going off on a plastic table top, under some papers. I didn't know the phone was even there. It sounded like a rattlesnake fighting a dragon.
baconbrain, Oct 07 2010
  

       Haha... Yeah, [baconbrain], the top on my microwave is a great amplification spot. I found myself repeatedly putting the phone up there for this reason, and hence the idea. Indeed, metal may not be the best mechanical to acoustic vibration inducing surface... Some combination of materials may be necessary. Also, phones with and without a rubber cover will require different arrangements, probably.
daseva, Oct 08 2010
  

       What we need is a drum or bell tuned to the resonant frequency of the vibration...
mitxela, Oct 08 2010
  

       The phone I tested earlier (and got no sound out of), just went off on top of a metal box for file cards. It was startling.
baconbrain, Jan 05 2011
  

       //What we need is a drum or bell tuned to the resonant frequency of the vibration//   

       Good, but difficult. Easier would be a bronze cylinder filled with water, with a shelf, or socket, for the 'phone. The fluid level to be adjusted empirically, by the user, to achieve a pleasing resonance.   

       Would also make a dandy novelty alarm clock.
mouseposture, Jan 06 2011
  

       [Ian], [bigsleep], for utility you could incorporate a timepiece, and for convenience, make the assembly a computer mouse.
normzone, Jan 06 2011
  
      
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