Metal detector phone

The Finnish phone maker Nokia has devised a mobile handset that can also double as a metal detector, enabling the owner to look for concealed guns, hidden electrical cables and lost car keys, the British weekly New Scientist reports.

The US patent application filed by Nokia says the phone is fitted with an induction coil whose main use is to get a clear audio signal for people with hearing difficulties.

But it can also be used to detect metal at short distances, says the report, carried in next Saturday's issue of the British science weekly.