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Prosthetic arm ensures one man will never be without his smartphone

One Briton has ensured that he can always have his smartphone with him, by building a docking station into his prosthetic arm.

The 55-year-old was born without a left forearm and found that he had difficulty in using devices like Apple's iPhone with just one hand.

To solve the problem, Trevor Prideaux came up with the idea of integrating the smartphone into his prosthetic limb. He explained to the Telegraph that he first tried to contact Apple to obtain some of the components required but communication fizzled out.

Eventually, he had a breakthrough with Nokia and some help from the Exeter Mobility Centre, which is a disability service organisation that helped to accelerate the production of the arm.

Following his efforts, there is now a Nokia C7 embedded in the prosthetic arm, which is “slightly narrower than an iPhone and has both a QWERTY and an alphanumeric board”, making it easier to use with just one hand.

A laminated fibreglass prototype was developed initially, and prosthethist Steve Gallichan, technician Les Street and undergraduate worker Sarah Bennett all helped to realise the final vision with Mr Prideaux.