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Real PDA Wristwatch
Larry Groebe writes "Just before COMDEX, Fossil announced a new PDA in a wristwatch. Based on the Palm OS, this is nothing less than a complete Palm Pilot on your wrist. See here for features and a picture.
This is completely UNLIKE Fossil's *first* attempt at a wrist PDA, which was a hopeless view-only gadget. This new model allows regular Graffiti input and appears to run all Palm programs! At $149, I may be the first in line when it comes out next spring."
I thought the Google headline was a little deceiving...
"Fossil unveils wrist-worn Palm OS PDA"
It made me think of Back to the Future and all of the time travel Star Trek episodes!
Cool. This brings to mind the Linux watch IBM made some time ago. Does anyone know what's become of that? Is it still in development or was it just a showpiece?
-- Cheers!
I don't even use a PDA, but looking at that picture, it strikes me that maybe this thing is *too* small. How can you input anything? You'd better be good with a stylus...
--Gaz
"I turn away with fright and horror from the lamentable evil of functions which do not have derivatives."
I wonder if Fossil's website is powered by one of their watches?
Platform independent bug tracking software
I was the dorky guy in your school who had the calculator wristwatch.
Should I try that again with this thing? After the beatings and the finger pointing? I think not!
While it looks cool and all, it may have hit the market be too late. Cell phones and PDA look to be heading for convergence and almost everyone I know carries a cell phone. Does my watch with its much smaller screen really need to be a (Palm) PDA too? Isn't that why its called a "Palm" and "PocketPC" device?
The day you realize Anonymous Coward isn't the name of a really prolific user, then its time to create your own
They've got more news on the new watch, as well as some nice pictures.
--GrouchoMarx
Card-carrying member of the EFF, FSF, and ACLU. Are you?
and like all the other pda/pc watches it's missing one crucial feature...
WATERPROOF!
Why cant they throw in that small and desperately needed thing? It must be waterproof... so I can wear it swimming,snorkling,in the shower... how about just in the shower/tub without fear of it getting killed?
why cant they do that?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
They decided to go with Palm OS because there was no way they could fit Windows CE's EULA into something that small.
RMN
~~~
And type quickly before the batteries run out :)
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Get me one of these that is Zaurus-like (based on linux) and is also a cell-phone and also has voice-recognition software that works [...] THEN I'll really be excited...
Yeah, can't wait to sit next to you on the train home after a long day...
why run from Vincenzo?
Pocket PC? All I need is another thing to be able to BSOD on me... Chick: What time is it? Me: It's *bsod* 4B:1A5EDB1
Would anyone seriously use the dinky little stylus that's part of the band? Talk about an ergonomic nightmare (and a choking hazard). Why not just include a selectable-point pen with every watch, that will let you switch between blue/black/red ink and a stylus? That seems to make much more sense from an actual functionality standpoint than that tiny stylus, letting you use the PDA concurrently and seamlessly with more traditional dead-tree technology.
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
There are some inherent problems with this solution. Screen size is an issue, ie. is there even enough space to display a full name on one line? How about their address and phone number?
...)
Also, you had better hope there's a smart keylock implemented so you aren't walking around erasing all of your files without realizing it (damn, sure is crowded on these New York subways
In the long run, we're all dead.
Ssh, don't be logical! You are ignoring the infamous Inverse Law of Computer Size.. that is, the smaller a computer is, the more you are supposed to mindlessly want one.
slashdot!=valid HTML
Never went in for calculators on my hips or wrists - this seems like the logical extension of that sort of geekwear. Not the kind of fashion statement I want to make.
Plus - it's sooooo tiny, don't think I could read it anyways.
Next!
When can I have my Dick Tracy phone-watch?
It's only been, what, 60 years since everyone has been waiting for it. We finally get something, and all it can do is graffiti? Sigh, the pace of evolution is slowing to a crawl...
It's underpowered, sure, but the 68k architecture has been around long enough that, by now, it's a straightforward proposition to manufacture cores at low cost. Device makers are still trying to figure out how to put together ARM devices that land in impulse-buy territory, but Fossil can pack a totally functional 68k PDA into a $150 wristwatch. Nifty.
And what's with the two hour battery life?
Otherwise, very very cool.
Fossil is a hugely popular brand (they even have Fossil stores in airports!) and with the low margins on watches, they might be looking for a new market. I mean, right now, any Taiwanese sweatshop can put together a POS digital watch, hell, some kid in his garage could do that.
Remember when watches only had an hour and a minute hand? And then all of a sudden, they had a second hand, and now the date, several time zones, "chrono" mode and other stuff.
The PDA is the next step in complexity and "needed" features for a wristwatch. If Fossil were to come out with its own Palmtop OS, or maybe even take Opie or something, they could ink a deal with a few fortune 500 companies just with the force of their name.
And what happens at "What's up Wednesday" when your technology-fetishizing boss passes out a gaggle of huge PDA-watches to all the gals in accounting? I think you may have to start firing up the copy machine to print out resumes!
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
It does have the regular screen, but they modified the default apps to have bigger icons. Even so, it would have about .2 mm pixels; way to small to be useful. With even the .5 mm mechanical pencils you would end up always hitting multiple pixels on the digitizer.
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
This is not the first wrist-pda made by fossil, just the first Palm based one.
They've been advertising their products as something that could interface with a PDA. In other words, they expect you to already have a PDA when you use it. The process of inputting data into it is something like this:
1) Buy a PDA
2) Put your data on your PDA
3) Beam your data from your PDA to your fossil.
I don't really like that too much. What's the point of the middle man? I want a pda for two reason, and two only:
1) Addressbook
2) Expenses data entry (not NEARLY as important).
I need to be able to get data to my PC and from my PC, and I don't need another PDA. And for what I need, I don't need a touch screen, really. I'd rather have a more rugged watch than a touch screen.
I expect that I am not alone in this assessment. I wonder when fossil will get the idea; reviewers have been talking about the serious shortcoming in their product (that they can't interface directly with PCs) for quite some time.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
A palm on the back of your wrist! You know what's next. We'll be eating with our butts and walking on our hands.
Best Windows Freeware
WARNING: Using this product to view pr0n on your wrist can cause eyestrain and motion sickness.
In addition, I was on a train from Paddington Station in London, England this week, and got to see an actual 3G phone working. An employee was testing it (yes, there is a nearly complete 3G network in the UK). The phone was from a Japanese manufacturer, had twin cameras and a very high quality feel. But what blew me away, and this will mean the death of ALL OTHER phones the moment this puppy is launched in the UK in a few months is the fact that it has a PIP (Picture In Picture) feature thanks to the two cameras. The other person sees your face in a window in front of the view you can see, or the other way around. The video quality was at least 10 fps, and the killer app will be shopping. "Dahling, is this the wine you wanted me to get?" And of course, there will be the drunk twit who forgets he has a videophone and while at the bar with a cute chic in view calls his wife to say he will be home late because he's working late at the office. (What he meant to say was orifice.)
(All the above is true. I am not revealing my sources, but within 3 months, everything is going to change. Goodbye privacy. Everyone will be in view of someone's video phone at some point every week. Get out the lipstick baby!)
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
Well DUH. Read the headline, this is a wrist device.
Sheesh. Talk about not reading the article, now they're not reading the headline before posting!
-Adam
Shouldn't they call this a wrist pilot?
-Chris
Doubles as a birth control device! Wear one of these puppies and watch the women cross the street to avoid you!
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
> Actually, I believe no modern watch claims to be
>"waterproof", it's always "water resistant to xx meters"
Rolex Oyster Perpetual watches are designated as "waterproof": From their website: "An Officially Certified Swiss Chronometer, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual is equipped with a waterproof case, a sapphire crystal and a self-winding movement." Sorry, their site is too annoying to navigate, so I can't give an actual link.
Urban legend used to say that this was because Rolex trademarked the phrase "waterproof", so everyone else had to use "water resistant." I'm not sure if this is the case (I've never seen them stick TM at the end of the phrase in their literature), but the reason could be that Rolex watches are made a little differently than a regular watch.
Rolex Oyster watches are cast all in one piece or slug, rather than assembled from multiple pieces. As a result, when the watch is put together, it is basically sealed. The result is rather heavy -- to give you an idea, take off your shoe, attach that to your wrist, and then walk around for a while -- but they're built to last.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
Anyone remember the Timex Datalink?. It wasn't a full fledged PDA, but it was really cool back in 1996. The watch would read bars on the monitor to dowload information from the PC. It was a nice way to keep track of phone numbers and Appointments.
Most watches aren't too bad worn on the right wrist, but this one looks like it's going to be really inconvenient for lefties... :-/