What I think? SEXY. I want one!

the screen needs to be not DOT matrix.

I'm guessing that due to electronics, there's not enough space inside for ink or much battery capacity (further hampered by bluetooth power consumption). In reality, this would be the size of those goofy, jumbo pens with the 12+ colors.

Free bonus feature if they can fit ink in there: you can doodle when you talk to boring people over the phone.

Too many problems to overcome. Structure stability without sacrificing space, battery time. All that to get something that will be impossible to do anything but the most rudimentary on? Nah. Pass. Novelty hardware here, nothing to see - move along.

Looks pretty cool. I'm not sure how you use the numbers.

Is this CDMA? If not, where does the SIM card go?

I don't care if it writes, I would like it to be that size though.

Great concept, but like most concept phones there doesn't seem to be any room for a battery of any significant size.

not usable for me... if i use any phone in non speakerphone it has to be chunky because of my motor neuron disease...

chunky phone please

A few things:

1) I frequently lose pens.
2) I use text messaging as much as calling. No sms on these things.

and 3....

How much of a knob are u gunna look like. Your walking round the city talking into a pen. Yea, I will just get a tattoo that says "dork" on my forehead. Its easier.

I think those send and end buttons would require a stylus to press.

Acoustically, I don't think a speaker could possibly be put into that and have any reasonable output. Coupling a thin pen to your ear would also be a pretty huge problem in terms of generating a usable signal.

Oh yeah, and it also needs a clip.

I like it.

8.7 inches!?
Doesn't it defeat the purpose of it being a pen if it is 50% bigger than any other pen?

nice design... coolest I've seen yet.

always wanted a pen narrower than my penis

(and longer)

SORRY COMMENT MIGHT HAVE BEEN FUNNIER IF TYPED COORRECTLY:

always wanted a PHONE arrower than my penis (and longer)

I would be all over this if the price was right!! Make this a stylus tip and you don't have to worry about ink at all! ;-]

This device would make you the Man from U.N.C.L.E. At last you could pretend you were Robert Vaughan or David MacCallum, opening your pen and saying to it, "Open Channel D, please. Overseas relay." Ah, I LOVE technology...

Ditch the writing functionality. I see a ton of people carrying around a RAZR and a blackberry because one is personal and one is for work. This would be a great replacement for the RAZR. It wouldn't need a big screen or tremendous battery life...it's just for the basics and is nice and compact.

I think it's a great idea. Nice looking design as well.

horrible concept. that shit would get lost in no time.

just think how nuts you will look when others see you talking into a pen

Just think how nuts you look talking to no one (bluetooth headset is in your ear I can't see...)

Suppository.

Um...where are the # and * keys??

Do want it, want less painful screen to look at. Now, if they just add a camera with flash, you can go MIB on someone's ass!

I feel like it would be better if this was a bluetooth dialer of some kind. My phone could stay in a brief case or bag, and whenever I want to dial I can just use this pen, in conjunction with a headpiece.

To me, this makes the most sense. I have a portable, portable phone when I need it to be portable, and a full-featured phone when I need my mobile internet.

"Hey, can I borrow your pen?"

"Actually...no."

A huge pen may not be the right form factor. Looks ugly and uncomfortable to write with.

Leave the pen feature out. Put a clip on it, so I can clip it to the inside of my shirt opening, as I do with a pen.

ONE: Get the damn phone out of my pants pocket. It bounces in my pocket as I walk, pulls my pants down, and distracts ladies from the more important bulge.

TWO: Phones clipped to the waist look stupid.

THREE: All I want is a basic phone. No big screens. No camera. No QWERTY keypad. Just a tiny, very light phone.

Egad! Think about it. How will you carry this penphone? Yeah, that's right, in your breast pocket. And boy will it look nerdy.

There are 2 ways I would go with a phone:

1: I want something that does everything. Internet, Phone, Music, PDA. So a Jailbroken iPhone.

2: Something tiny and minimalist. Nothing but calls and great battery life. I would even sacrifice text messaging for something this small (although speech-to-text would be awesome). I would consider buying this.

What would the MicroSD slot be FOR?

Make it look like the red pencils we learned to write with in kindergarten and I'll get one.

If it has ink and the price is write, I only want the basic phone functions anyway so I would consider it. I have a fairly typical phone now and don't use most of it's features so I feel that I paid for things I don't want or need. Of course, I resisted getting one at all and only caved in last year when I needed it for some side work. I'm probably not in the target demographic.

Claimed to be a real product — but depicted only in a shabby mockup — the PenPhone is a phone inside a pen. It is not a stupid, fat, not-really-a-pen pen, but a skinny and sleek metal model that doesn't look like it came out of a Christmas Cracker.

@SnowLeopard: I don't know; how much of a knob do you look like if you yell into the urinal using a bluetooth hands-free? Phones look dorky if you're not talking in private.

no texting, no phonebook, no deal.

it looks cool, but it's gimmicky and too much of a compromise from a real phone.

I always lose pens that don't have a grip because they just side out of my pockets. So this thing isn't even an option.

It is not a bad idea, but I think it would require syncing functionality to be at all useful. Turn the dial to the entry and press in to dial seems pretty simple, especially if the dial is speed sensitive to skip around.

The length should be a standard pen, even if it loses the circular shape. The styling frankly sucks, it could be much better. A perfect cylinder would be hard to orient, so a gentle curve on one side to provide some direction would be useful. The location of the SD slot is also pretty crappy and why not just have it sync via mini-USB and skip the slot entirely. Oh, and without a pen clip, it kind of sucks entirely cause you just have to let it sit loose wherever.

Dump the pen functionality.

Nice idea - needs a bit more style, maybe something more rectangle, like a longer thick, popsicle stick. Don't need a pen, perhaps just a stylus tip. Would be perfect for people like me who carry a phone + an internet tablet (Nokia 800/810). My main concern would be battery life, although if I can charge via usb it would be nice since I'm usually near a PC. TIP: make a stylish usb docking station. (don't know why all phone makers don't do that)

Only with BT. I refuse to hold a pen up to my face and talk to it.

That's a big fucking pen. My BIC is only 6.

Pick up a piece of standard letter sized paper - the short side is about how long that pen is. I can't imagine where I would put it that it wouldn't totally get in the way.

Not to mention the form factor is all wonky.

There's a reason why mobile phones tend to have that rectangular, boxy shape - it fits well in most people's hands and requires very little effort to physically hold/control it. You're using the phone's own intertia to your advantage because it naturally 'seats' in to your hand.

With this phone pen you're basically holding it with the tips of your fingers when you talk. It just seems really akward to have to hold something so 'big' with just your finger tips. Not to mention a tubular shaped object has no edges to hold on to - you have to rely way too much on pure friction.

Valiant effort though.

It's a nice idea, and it look sexy (so far). However, why a pen? Why not just simply design a small phone?

Lose the mic and speaker. Bluetooth only. I'd say it's fairly safe to assume that the target demographic for these already has headsets.

Smaller ISNT better.
How many pens have YOU' lost??
Place a String CLIP on it so you dont loose it.
SMall panel reminds me, your EYES dont get better as you age..

NOW add BT with a Pair of glasses(earphone, mic, and DISPLAY) you MIGHT have something. But at the PRICE, why not have them Embedded in my Face.

Most. Ridiculous. Phone. Ever.

or

Maxwell Smart called and he wants his pen back.

Needs to be more like a sonic screwdriver.

I think your "source" is yanking your chain. This thing would be utterly useless. Many questions have been asked by previous commenters (that's not a word..but should be) that do beg some explanation.

Why is there a mini SD slot? What would it be used for? Will this thing have an MP3 player? A Digital Camera? It doesn't appear to.
Why doesn't it have a pen clasp? That makes it very easy to lose.
What is with the tiny send/end buttons and the missing # & * buttons?

As interesting as it would be it would be a) too easy to lose, b)to difficult to use, unless you had little bitty pixie fingers. c)completely unneccesary, unless you're just jonesing for a pen phone...in which case, I would ask, why?

Bad ass! Sign me up.

useless, I would lose it in about 6 seconds flat just like my pen... now where is my pen....

8.7 inches is a huge pen, hahaha. The idea itself is out of the ordinary, But I cant imagine it being implemented very well.

Aside from the price, (which will probably be $300+, and thats putting a guess on the cheaper side)functionality will be a key factor.

Speaker is no problem. I ALREADY OWN a speaker just a teeny tiny bit bigger that that one would have to be (depending on scale it might just work as is) and its loud enough for me to listen to music and video from arms length easily. (in my PDA a Tapwave Zodiac its got 2 of them) they are not much bigger than the diameter of a bic.

THE ONLY problem I forsee with this phone is battery life. thats it. Electronically the technology is quite mature to make it possible. its just the darned battery life. I am imagining a holder that is twice that diameter on your waist with another battery in it to "keep" that one charged when you insert it. Unless they can make it low power enough to work as is. THAT would kick ass. Cheap enough I might by it "just" because. Not sure why it has a MSD slot since you clearly are not going to have a camera nor the battery life for an MP3 player ???

Make it so it runs off a single AAA or a pair them if the electronics are small enough. you can get 1amp AAA Nimhs now. Solves the battery problem both for run time AND for user replace ability and longevity.

OH and I love the STANDARD USB port on the rear end. PLEASE use that. I so freaking hate proprietary plugs. I have this wicked cool all oragen OLED mp3 video playing watch that I love but is a damned paper weight because it uses some freaking special USB plug. Grrrr :-)