New smart strap turns your finger into a phone!

Seoul: Move over, earphones! You may soon be able to answer phone calls just by placing your finger in your ear, thanks to a new wearable smartwatch strap developed by a Korean company.

Sgnl is a smart strap that can be attached to existing smartwatches, and enables the user to answer phone calls through their fingertip.

"With Sgnl, you can keep your cell phone alone in your pocket and simply raise your hand to answer a phone call without carrying any extra headset or earphone," according to the Innomdle Lab, a company based in Seoul that developed the device.

"When you place your finger to your ear, your finger not only transmits the sound but it also blocks out background noise," it said.

The device receives voice signal from the phone through Bluetooth. When a voice signal is received, it generates vibration through its Body Conduction Unit (BCU) which transmits the vibration through the hand to the fingertip.

"As transmission is made through vibrations, there is no risk of harm to the human body," the company said.

When the fingertip is placed to the ear, the vibration echoes to create amplified sound in the ear.