Citizen/IBM To Make A Linux Watch

backtick writes: " Yup, they're making the Watchpad. 'Besides telling time, the WatchPad comes with a calendar-scheduling application, a pager-like application for sending and receiving short messages, and a Bluetooth chip for wireless communication with notebooks, handheld computers and cell phones'" If they'll make a watch that runs Linux and takes pictures like Casio's camera watch, I might just switch back to a digital. Gerdts points out that the watch's battery life is either up to six hours, or only six hours, depending on how you look at it.

Comments

Who cares what OS it runs?

[DrXym]

Like PDAs I doubt that the vast, vast majority of potential users give a damned what OS it runs. What they care about is:

1. Form factor
2. Battery life
3. Usability
4. Features
5. Price
6. Connectivity

The OS it runs comes about 93rd between whether it plays the Star Spangled banner and it's ability to float in orange juice.

Manufacturers who tout Linux as a PDA's main feature or expect the open source community to fix their crappy software may as well give up before they start. Geeks might care about such stuff but no one else does. Get the other stuff right and the fact it runs Linux is just icing on the cake.

Re:Switch BACK to digital??

[uberdood]

i use analog.

why?

- thinner

- lighter

- looks more professional in my white collar job

- can find north when the sun is shining

- i like the ticking sound (it's a primitive instinctive thing harking back to my first nine months of life)

- metal wrist bands fit much better and last longer (why are adult male plastic watch bands sized for kids? is an eight-inch wrist really that abnormal?)

- like telling time in terms of neareast quarter hour compared to the 80s/90s to-the-minute. i'm older now, and enjoying the here and now more.

when commercials come on, i mute. after a period of time passes, i unmute. if i miss a song, it's not a big deal. between cummulus and clear channel owning my town's RF, i'll be sure to hear the same songs all bloody day long. god to have an AOR radio station like back in college.

Battery Life

[LS]

Even two hours of batter life doesn't seem that bad to me. I'm not always looking at my watch or using an application on my Visor, so why should the Linux watch be on all the time? I would lift up my wrist and press the button, and it's on. It could be like a dual purpose flashlight switch, which can either be on only when it is pressed, or flipped on by sliding it.

LS