Somebody has rightly said - Life is full of surprises and smartphone industry is not akin to this saying. We being humans never considered smartphones to allow users to smoke, but now it seems possible, thanks to Vaporcade. Yes, the new smartphone by US-based smartphone maker Vaporcade has a built-in e-cigarette that users can smoke as per their choice.
The new smartphone dubbed the Jupiter IO 3 originally got featured at CES tradeshow. It is a 3G-enabled smartphone that runs on outdated Android 4.4 Kitkat OS. It is priced at $299 (approximately equal to INR 20,000) and offers a battery life of 16 hours straight as claimed by the company. Another interesting factor of this smartphone is that unlike the rest of the phones, it has two separate batteries - one for the smartphone and the other one for the vape i.e., it's a shareable battery.
If the user is not using the vape, he/she can use the same battery for charging the smartphone without much of an effort. The company is yet to announce the specs of the smartphone, but for now, what can keep the users enthralled is the fact that in the coming months US market can expect a 4G variant of the handset for $499 (approximately equal to INR 33,000). According to the Verge, The phone looks like an ordinary unit until you snap a little plastic cover off the top and attach the liquid cartridge. You attach a mouthpiece to that and then vape to your heart's content. There is a button on top that you can push to increase the heat and get a stronger pull.
Since, it offers users the ability to smoke, it has a variety of flavored liquid cartridges available (each priced at $15), and flavors include mint, peach, and coffee. The company claims that each cartridge can easily provide 800 puffs or in terms of the number of packets, up to 4 packs of cigarettes. Adding a cherry on the cake, the handset comes with an app that helps the user track the battery life, the amount of liquid left in the cartridge, the flavor loaded and many other options.
It definitely is a viable option for smokers, however there is no confirmed reports whether it will be launching in India or not. Additionally, it's definitely an eye-catching device, but its functionality is something that awaits evaluation.