The latest example is the Japanese company's "wellnesss handset," shown at the Mobile World Congress here.

While billed as a prototype, a working model of the electronic paramedic is said to be able to check your heart rate, measure body fat and accurately count your footsteps.

But the killer app in the wellness handset is its "halitosis monitor." Breathe into your phone, rather than your loved one's kisser, and it tells you whether you need a quick blast of Binaca.

Jeff Brown, principal analyst at Portelligent, an affiliate of EE Times publisher CMP Media, noted the growing number of sensors integrated into handsets. "Accelerometers are most common, but a multiple number of sensors are added, for example, to NTT Docomo's 'health phone'," he said.

A high-end pedometer built into the NTT phone is based on an accelerometer in the handset, while the heart monitor uses an infrared sensor, according to an NTT Docomo spokesman.

Body fat levels are measured by holding both ends of the phone--equipped with two separate sensors. Presumably by sending a harmless amount of electricity through the user's body, the sensors measure the impedance or resistance to the signal as it travels through water in human muscle.

The prototype handset was designed by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Omron Software was also listed as a partner for prototype development.

The handset can be used during exercise to track distance, time or calories burned while also providing exercise music.

Oh yes, it's also a phone.

NTT said its handset offers functions that link it to a server. It can record and send users' health data, including how much they have exercised and what they ate and how much, to concerned family and friends.