Phone booths in New York City are to ditch traditional telephones, bringing in iPad-esque smart screens. The screens will be touch-enabled, allowing users to access a variety of information.

250 phones booths will undergo the change next month, bringing Internet connections and 32-inch screens as the SmartScreen pilot program begins. The plan is change all 12,800 outdoor pay phones, ahead of when the contracts expire in October 2014.

Initially, the booths will have telephones and the touch screens.

The screens will display information for free, such as nearby restaurants, sales and traffic updates in multiple languages. Users can also dial 311 to get city information or file complaints. The goal of the scheme is to initially gauge public response.

"It will help inform the city's ongoing reassessment, with public input, of what we want or what we think the future of public pay phones will entail," Nicholas Sbordone, a spokesman for the city's department of Information Technology & Communications, said to the New York Post.

Other features are the ability to manage tax returns, highlight free park events and advertise the upcoming bike-share program.

The screens will also remain clean, so residents don't have to worry about picking up germs from the eight million New York residents, according to the franchise in charge of the installation: City 24x7. "They're built to be cleaned with a jet hose. They're waterproof and dust-proof," said City 24x7 CEO Tom Touchet.

He also said future updates to the service will bring Skype integration, the ability to check e-mails and for the screens to serve as Wi-Fi hotspots.

However, users won't be able to browse the Internet on them. The screens will be tightly controlled.

The SmartScreens will cost nothing and will eventually bring in money to the city, with New York getting 36 percent of ad revenue, once the pilot program ends.

There will be additional 22-inch touch screens in underground stations, with cameras for video applications and support for charging phones. Users will be able to connect phones, laptops and tablets to the Internet for free through the stations.

(reported by Jonathan Charles, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)