Samsung patents perfumed phone (does Apple know?)

Some people reek of passion. Some, merely passion fruit.

There are those, though -- often with ideas above their hairline -- who smell of nothing but fake sincerity.

Hosanna, then, for Samsung.

For the company that is so keen to respect the world of patents has patented a phone that pumps fragrance into the atmosphere.

I am indebted to Ubergizmo (which in turn sniffs a credit to Engadget). The latter points to this page of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office's Patent Full Text and Image Database. So it must be true, right?

Oddly, Engadget also offers that this may not be the first smell-o-phone. The last, designed -- gosh -- specifically for ladies, worked with a "detachable fragrance chip."

It seems the new Samsung patent doesn't work by chip or by plastering some strip of smells onto the phone.

Instead, somewhere within the phone's thinness there's supposedly a so-called "aromatic sponge" that recharges every time you charge the phone.

Should you charge your phone at your bedside, this would obviate the need for a vase of flowers that then drop their pesky petals all over the place.

Equally, should you be at a bar and see a gorgeous member of your target sex sit next to you, there would be no need to freshen up in the restroom.

You'd just pretend to make a call, and your sweet, fresh eau-de-nouveau-self would waft a lure in your target's direction.

I've contacted Samsung for comment and will let you know what I discover.

I will also shortly put three investigators on the case to see whether Apple might have already tried to obtain a similar patent -- or, indeed, whether somewhere in Cupertino there is already a team working on an iNose.