Palm-sized device lets skiers turn phones into walkie talkies

Airwave is a portable device that turns users' smartphones into a short range walkie talkie for sports.

Communicating with people in the mountains while skiing or snowboarding can be difficult, with sports enthusiasts often having to stop and start to keep together.

So developers at Airwave have created a portable device that turns smartphones into walkie talkies for extreme sports and outdoor adventures. The palm-sized device links a group of smartphones using Bluetooth, and plugs into an existing walkie talkie via a connector cable.

Once the connection is complete, users can put their walkie talkie in a backpack or pocket and wire their phone to the Airwave earbuds. This turns the walkie talkie into a portable, comfortable radio device. Simply pushing the earbud’s wire enables users to speak into the built in microphone.

The device has a short range of about 30 feet, but it works with existing walkie talkies, and users only need the one Airwave unit to link a large group of friends. Could a similar product incorporate long range functionalities?