There are many firsts in a person’s lifetime. There’s the first kiss, first love, first base, first rhinoplasty and, need we forget, that first time you ever installed a smartphone docking system into your prosthetic arm. Ha, I’m just kidding about that last part there, only one person can claim that achievement: British dude Trevor Prideaux. See, Trevor was born without a left forearm so his whole life he’s adapted to using two-handed devices in a way that works for him. But when cellphones began crapping out smartphone babies, Trevor knew that things would get a little bit tricky.
“From owning a mobile phone and with the invention of the iPhone, it became clear that this piece of technology was not ideally suited to be used with only one hand.
“When testing an iPhone, with the thoughts of purchase, I had to balance it on my prosthetic limb to text. [Telegraph.UK]
So Trevor came up with the idea (and surely I’m paraphrasing here) to shove a smartphone inside of his prosthetic arm, thus creating a slot for the device to rest. Seems easy enough, right? Well, that is unless you’re asking Apple for any help. They hate that sh*t. Trevor contacted the company to try and get a blank iPhone casing to help with developing a prototype fit for his limb, but they promptly turned him down. Bastards.
Luckily though, the fine folks over at Nokia agreed to *cough* lend a hand and Trevor was back in business with his docking concept. With a little help from prosthetist Steve Gallichan, Les Street and Sarah Bennett, from the Exeter Mobility Centre, a prototype was finished in five weeks. Not quite sure why it takes 5 weeks to shove a smartphone into a fake arm, but nevertheless Mr. Prideaux sure seems pleased with the results!
“My Nokia C7 sits within my forearm, between my stump socket and the single knob rotary that holds my limb attachments in place.”
“Now when I get call I can either hold my arm up to my ear or put it on speaker phone. I can also take it out if I need to. Texting is also much easier and a lot safer.”
When reached for comment, Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral said, “Velcro would have worked too, you guys.”