Full mobile jacket

Year 2015. When Michael J. Fox, as Marty McFly, donned a jacket that self-adjusts and blow-dries itself with one push of the button in the 80s sci-fi flick Back to the Future 2, people thought it would be cool to have one of those – in the present tense and in the real world. But what could be cooler and more real than to have a jacket that jams and has a built-in mobile phoning system as Infineon Technologies gives gadget aficionados, music buffs and fashion trendsetters alike with the creation of "mp3blue." And sure enough, this "multimedia" apparel changes the way we look at, and treat jackets.

This is not one coat you can just (and wouldn’t dare) throw on the couch. It is an "intelligent jacket" created by semiconductor firm Infineon in partnership with clothing manufacturer Rosner, both of which are German companies. The mp3blue, which sports an MP3 player and a hands-free Bluetooth gateway to control a mobile phone, has been described as "wearable electronics," "smart clothing" and a "phoning jacket." Hence, it got the looks and the brains, becoming the first-ever "multimedia lifestyle jacket" worldwide.

‘Electrically Conductive’ Fabric

The mp3blue, cut from lush Italian fabric that is "electrically conductive," has touch-sensitive buttons on a textile keyboard right on the left sleeve and sewn-in conducting fabric strips that link up to wireless headphones integrated into the collar. Jam with your favorite tunes with its MP3 player with 128 MB storage capacity; and to make calls convenient for the man on the move, a microphone is likewise hidden in the collar and, just for kicks, you could act out a cool Secret Service agent.

In other words, mp3blue’s electronics are all embedded in this cool garb. No more frantic search for which part of your coat you slipped your mobile phone into, or your hands getting tangled up in the wires of your portable MP3 player. What’s more, it has inside pockets where you can put your mobile phone and organizer. Need to take a call pronto? The music automatically pauses once you start using the phone, so there’s no need to scramble for which button to press to make it stop, while its stereo music system turns into a headset when one wishes to make a call.

So what powers this new sensation? A rechargeable battery comes with the jacket, providing up to eight hours of non-stop music and call service. The jacket’s material is "100 percent machine-washable," guarantees Infineon. Just don’t forget to remove the MP3 module, or say goodbye to the jacket’s essence.

The mp3blue jacket was one of the gadgets paraded during CeBIT 2005, the world’s biggest high-tech trade event, early last month in Hanover, Germany although Infineon introduced it as early as last year. In its website Infineon.com, the semiconductor firm whose parent company is Siemens AG, Europe’s largest electronics and electrical engineering firm, says it "produces approximately 2,800 inventions each year," more than half of which are registered for patents. Doing the math, Infineon points out it churns out seven inventions a day!

Similar to the Rosner apparel, Infineon previously partnered with a different clothing manufacturer to come up with a snowboard jacket with similar built-in features. Didn’t McFly have a futuristic skateboard that glides (minus the wheels, of course) in the same Back to the Future film aptly called the "hoverboard"? In this high-tech age we live in, one can’t really help but notice how things only seen in the movies before can become a reality!

Reviews

Cool as mp3blue may seem, the jacket, however, has had its own share of I’m-better-off-without-it reviews.

Foremost factor taken into account is its steep price: some 600 euros, or at least $700! More than enough to make anyone living in a place where the dollar exchange is high, faint. More so, if there are only two seasons, like where else? The Philippines. Obviously, the jacket is for high-end people. On the other hand, cellular phones originally cost so much when it first hit the market and now, almost everyone on the planet owns one. Who knows if such a jacket could one day become a necessity on top of being a fashion statement?

A limited 600 pieces of the mp3blue jacket hit selected shops after its official premiere, and naturally most were in Germany. In its website, www.mp3blue.de, it says that stocks are "almost sold out!" Orders, however, can be made "on direct dispatch" upon request sent to Rosner.

A critic from engadget.com notes how one has to pay a lot of money for an "ugly" jacket, while a review on intrasection.com asks how such a costly jacket "from the future" could only have 128 MB of "presumably non-upgradable flash memory," which it says can more or less accommodate only 35 songs in the player. It describes mp3blue as "rough" on the eyes, but as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Checking out its website where images of models clad in this state-of-the-art jacket are displayed, one can judge just how cool, or "uncool" it is. The summer/spring 2005 collection shows the jacket in three colors: blue, black and brown. Although some reviews dubbed mp3blue as a "men’s jacket," it looks pretty hip on a female model, that is, if its somewhat bulky form doesn’t bother one’s fashion sense. At least, the hood is removable.

Not Friendly For Lefties

Meanwhile, an article in the Google Sci-Tech News website interestingly points out how the multimedia jacket is not friendly for lefties as the control panel is located on its left sleeve. So, it’s either you don’t buy the jacket or start learning how to be dexterous with your right hand.

Pocketpcmag.com says the so-called line of "smart clothing" coming out these days seems "a bit geeky," although it adds that Infineon estimates the "global smart clothing market will be worth a billion dollars" by 2007. The company says they are looking forward "to developing further clothes with integrated electronic features."

Gadget gear, whether they make your head or body look geeky, is burgeoning and is here to stay. The usefulness of progressive technology, combined with fun and trend factors, is simply unstoppable. What would the human mind come up with next? The possibilities are infinite, especially when inventors know how to tap into the right niche market that nerds, fashionistas and gadget junkies alike could appreciate. Perhaps, a cool hoverboard to go along with that jammin’ jacket? Again, who knows?