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City's Pay Phones To Be Replaced By New Futuristic Model

NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- New Yorkers will be seeing new pay phones in the near future. There are 250 phones in a pilot program that the city plans to install in all five boros, according to the Department Of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

The new phones will look like iPads with 32-inch screens, and they could one day every one of the city's 12,800 outdoor pay phones.

The touch screen phones will display neighborhood information, restaurant and store locations, traffic updates, and safety alerts.

The new phones will eventually allow users to surf the web and check email, in a limited capacity in order to prevent trolling or personal use as a mobile office.

1010 WINS Reporter Sonia Rincon spoke with the city...

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Nicholas Sbordone, a spokesman for the city's department of Information Technology & Telecommunications told 1010 WINS that "The goal is to pilot it and see what the response is."

City24x7, the organization that will install and maintain the flat screens says that the new phones will be more sanitary than an ATM.

The city will eventually claim a 36-percent cut of ad revenue from the phones, once the trial period is over.

Will you be using the new phones? Let us know in our comments section below...

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