Product: Cell Phone: Accessory
Midnight charger and call indicator   (-2)  [vote for, against]
Add on to cell phone charger to indicate missed call.

I was worrying about cell phones and brain cancer, and decided that leaving the phone near the front door where I drop keys and change and other pocket debris would be safe and make searching for it in the morning easier.

And I might as well have a charger there so I can charge the phone overnight when it needs it.

And then the "Wouldn't it be nice if" showed up.

It would be nice if the charger could tell me if there were any calls by flashing a red led. A red I could see with my glasses off. (Finding out about a missed call on the way out the door when the glasses are finally on and I am waking up can screw up my day.) The charger could listen for the ring tone and have a cancel button on top.

Wonder if it would sell? I would buy one, but that ain't much of a market.

Note: I can sleep through 30 minutes of alarm clock. A few short rings from a cell phone in another room isn't going to register.
-- popbottle, Mar 12 2014

Maybe this could be a full on phone port. Messages would go on it like an answering machine. Probably sticking with digital makes more sense than magnetic tape. But you could have a rotary dial to facilitate use with glasses off / edematous fingers.
-- bungston, Mar 12 2014


// I was worrying about cell phones and brain cancer //

The whole brain cancer thing was just a way for profs to get funding for their PhD students projects, and was then blown up by the press as good copy. It's complete and utter rubbish. At the frequencies used by GSM, organic tissue is almost completely transparent, and WCDMA spreads the energy so it's even less of a problem.

Oh, and what [21Q] said.
-- 8th of 7, Mar 12 2014


Several manufacturers now make cordless phone systems that connect to your cell phone via Bluetooth (in addition to or instead of a land line connection). I have one and it works quite well. You can leave your phone charging near the base station, and make and receive calls with any of the handsets.
-- ytk, Mar 12 2014


Why put this in the charger? Why not put the blinkenlight on the phone like everyone else?
-- the porpoise, Mar 12 2014



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