The wellness mobile phone is based on a cellphone with a touch panel LCD; it contains a variety of sensors to obtain biometric information from its user. The wellness mobile phone can measure body fat, take a pulse, tell you whether or not you have bad breath and measure how far you've walked that day.

To measure body fat, the user turns the phone sideways and holds electrodes built into the outside of the case. Once height and weight are entered, the body fat ratio can be calculated. (See the wellness mobile phone display.)

The infrared pulse sensor determines the pulse of the user by measuring infrared absorption of the hemoglobin in blood.

A gas sensor mounted in the bottom of the wellness mobile phone measures how bad your breath is; to get an estimate, the user blows into the bottom of the phone.

The wellness mobile phone also offers advice. The user is prompted to answer a number of yes or no questions like "Do you feel lethargic?" or "Do you go to bed after midnight?" Answering yes to these questions prompts a helpful response.

[You appear to be under a lot of strees] "Don't worry, tomorrow's a fresh new day," the phone then flashed. "Keep your chin up!"

NTT DoCoMo is considering providing a commercial service that would take the data that each user provides over the course of a day, and store it on a central server. The user could take advantage of centralized services that could provide weight management, stress management and mental health support.

Technovelgy readers are familiar with the grand-daddy of all mobile phone and PDA devices - the joymaker from Frederik Pohl's The Age of the Pussyfoot:

The remote-access computer transponder called the "joymaker" is your most valuable single possession in your new life. If you can imagine a combination of telephone, credit card, alarm clock, pocket bar, reference library, and full-time secretary, you will have sketched some of the functions provided by your joymaker.
(Read more about Frederik Pohl's joymaker)

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