Putting your wrist up next to your head and talking? In modern society, that's a good way to checkin to the closest nuthouse.
Seriously, though, I hate to go into the 'fashion aspect', but putting my wrist up to my ear (otherwise, who else is listening to the conversation?) isn't my idea of the coolest way to show off new technology. Maybe if it had an earpiece (wireless?) it could work, but as is, no thanks.
It does have bluetooth and voice activation - so no reason you couldn't use a bluetooth headset with it. The problem with that is if you're going to have to carry round the headset you might as well just carry any one of the many small phones already out.
And how many times did you not see the tiny, tiny cell phone in someone's hand while both are by the ear yammerin'.
Or better yet, the new headphones/mic's. When someone is not facing you directly.
Trust me. Once these things become popular, it will be a social norm to guess, he's talking to someone via a device, not into random space. I hate it myself.. fookin' confusin'.
Technology advances in leaps and bounds. A wristwatch with a battery life that measures in days and allows people can look like complete fools by holding it up to their ears and talking to it.
Holy Dick Tracy Batman
by
Torinaga-Sama
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Am I underwhelmed by the idea of Wristphones. Now that cool thing DoCoMo was working on awhile back where you could use your hand as a phone (you know, how you look when you mime talking on the phone), now that was friggen cool. Whatever happened to that anyway?
...not feel a little stupid talking to thier wrists?
Not the best place for a phone?
by
yeoua
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· Score: 5, Insightful
I hope I'm not the only one to note that a watch is not the best place for such tech? I mean... your hands are used to do some crazy stuff (uh.. i didn't mean that) such as... washing in water, bathroom stuff, eating, handling large objects, and so on.
So why put hundreds of dollars worth of equipment a mere inch away from the most active part of the body and risk damage? Why not just make an all in one wireless device that you put in your pocket somewhere that does everything instead? Do we really need this all on our wrists (not to mention that they do look pretty big, and wearing something clunky on my wrist isn't exactly a good thing either).
Kinda reminds me about a scene in a movie... (Spy Kids 2) where the boy gets a wrist watch that has everything a movie spy ever needs, pushing a button will expand the thing into a massive gargle of everythingness with a sat dish, scanning devices, keyboard, holo projected screen, everything and the kitchensink...
but no time. The inventor comments that he didn't have room to fit in the time on the watch.
I wouldn't be surprised if that happened one day.
Re:Not the best place for a phone?
by
daviddennis
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· Score: 2, Insightful
What I really like about this idea is that I'm the world's expert at losing cellphones, and if it's strapped around my wrist, I won't lose it.
I wonder if there's a way to make it big enough to have a readable screen for Internet access without making a mess out of my wrist's other functions.
D
Wristphone ergonomics?
by
ackthpt
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Ok, I've suffered through a bag phone (first commonly available cell phones, still have it, too!) and has a succession of ever decreasing sized cell phones and they generally were easier to use, mostly due to form factor and weight. But think about something on your wrist for a moment, try holding your wristwatch up to your cheek as if you were talking into it and listening to it. Awkward, right? A hand-held cell phone is easy, since fingers place it as just the right distance so your elbow can remain close to your body and you're balanced and not smacking into things with your elbow. Try walking a few steps with your wrist near your mouth and notice (unless your arm doesn't match typical proportion, apologies for my insensitive clodness) it's awkward. It may have looked good for Dick Tracy, but without plugging a mini headset into such a thing I think it's not as good. Now, maybe if it were removable from the wrist band with a small twisting interlock you'd have something. <- Please note, all you patent hungry monsters, this idea has been publicly discussed and represents prior art, so fsck off.
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I still think the best combination of technology was putting a watch into my phone. Now I don't have to wear a bulky chunk of metal on my wrist that only has one function.
Lighten up on the wrist thing
by
binaryDigit
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· Score: 4, Insightful
These wrist phones are not an attempt to "show the future" as such. They serve three purposes.
First they are tech showcases for the manufacturers. They get to show off how cool of a phone they can produce. Look how small, oooh, look at the color screens, ahhh, polyphonic ring tones and internet, geeee.
Second they are for the gadget/fashion statement crowd. These folks want the latest and greatest and they want to look cool. Utility, functionality, and ergonomics be damned.
And thirdly, and maybe most important, they bring bodies into the stores so the retailers can push their other more "mundane" wears. "Hey, lets go check out that cool wrist phone" is what they want the telcos want to hear. When you get in the door, they'll sell you that new Nokia, or that hands free kit, or that led antenna, etc.
There's one thing the articel doesn't mention...
by
Mac+Degger
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· Score: 5, Insightful
The DoCoMo wrist phone doesn't exactly work like you think. It's basically a clip-on phone; it clips to your wrist, and when you get a call you have to clip it off and you hold it like a regular phone (the bit which fold it on your wrist have the speaker and mic in them).
So you don't talk to your wrist, it's just a heavy ass bracelet which turns into a phone.
-- --
Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
How many phones have you lost?
by
MrBandersnatch
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I'm on my third. I'm not particularly clumsy or forgetful, but throwing a coat down in a pub and having one too many has lost me 2 phones so far. A wristphone with a comfortable cheap bluetooth headset is an absolute boon in terms of avoiding phone loss or misplacing it. The price of a relacement headset is also less than that of a phone.
All this thing needs for it to be an absolute dream as far as Im concerned is 3G.
Calling Dick Tracy...
by
mdwong
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· Score: 3, Insightful
... maybe in Europe or Japan, but expect the sloath-like FCC to drag it's feet when it comes to approving these things for use in the U.S.
The "slim-line" model will be released before these wrist weights will even be available to American consumers.
Why specialize this way? Small does it all
by
ianscot
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Fine, so you carry it around on your wrist. Sure looks like you don't use it there, you take it off and hold it like a... well, like a phone. Another poster backs that up. But whatever.
Aren't cells small enough now that you should be able to slip them into any number of different carrying rigs? I want one in my pocket protector, of course, or in my slide rule case... Those cool LAN people clip them onto their belts, the studs. Laptop cases should have protected, dedicated exterior pouches, people on a treadmill might want an armband strap like for their iPod, and so on...
Aside from getting a little design spark out of consumers, I don't see the pros of pushing the design in some particularly specialized direction. Sell me a $15 accessory that lets me jog with it, don't sell me a whole new phone.
-- "Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Re:.SubNotebook
by
druske
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· Score: 1, Insightful
These clamshell devices really have a hard time finding a niche to fit into. A company I worked for spent significant time and money porting a Windows based product to such a CE platform, and we ended up with an inventory of hardware that nobody wanted, save for the few enthusiastic customers that led us to think there was a real market.
It stinks as a PDA because of the bulk and an inappropriate UI designed for the desktop. It stinks as a subnotebook because the keyboard's too small for proper touch typing and the display strains your eyes when used for more than a few minutes.
These look cool at first site, but are utterly impractical for most real-world use. They're a solution looking for a problem, and not typically finding one.
Slashdot Mirror
Putting your wrist up next to your head and talking? In modern society, that's a good way to checkin to the closest nuthouse.
Seriously, though, I hate to go into the 'fashion aspect', but putting my wrist up to my ear (otherwise, who else is listening to the conversation?) isn't my idea of the coolest way to show off new technology. Maybe if it had an earpiece (wireless?) it could work, but as is, no thanks.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Technology advances in leaps and bounds. A wristwatch with a battery life that measures in days and allows people can look like complete fools by holding it up to their ears and talking to it.
Am I underwhelmed by the idea of Wristphones. Now that cool thing DoCoMo was working on awhile back where you could use your hand as a phone (you know, how you look when you mime talking on the phone), now that was friggen cool. Whatever happened to that anyway?
(/local/home/curiosity)-#who -u|grep thecat|cut -c 44-49|xargs kill -9
...not feel a little stupid talking to thier wrists?
I hope I'm not the only one to note that a watch is not the best place for such tech? I mean... your hands are used to do some crazy stuff (uh.. i didn't mean that) such as... washing in water, bathroom stuff, eating, handling large objects, and so on.
So why put hundreds of dollars worth of equipment a mere inch away from the most active part of the body and risk damage? Why not just make an all in one wireless device that you put in your pocket somewhere that does everything instead? Do we really need this all on our wrists (not to mention that they do look pretty big, and wearing something clunky on my wrist isn't exactly a good thing either).
Kinda reminds me about a scene in a movie... (Spy Kids 2) where the boy gets a wrist watch that has everything a movie spy ever needs, pushing a button will expand the thing into a massive gargle of everythingness with a sat dish, scanning devices, keyboard, holo projected screen, everything and the kitchensink...
but no time. The inventor comments that he didn't have room to fit in the time on the watch.
I wouldn't be surprised if that happened one day.
Ok, I've suffered through a bag phone (first commonly available cell phones, still have it, too!) and has a succession of ever decreasing sized cell phones and they generally were easier to use, mostly due to form factor and weight. But think about something on your wrist for a moment, try holding your wristwatch up to your cheek as if you were talking into it and listening to it. Awkward, right? A hand-held cell phone is easy, since fingers place it as just the right distance so your elbow can remain close to your body and you're balanced and not smacking into things with your elbow. Try walking a few steps with your wrist near your mouth and notice (unless your arm doesn't match typical proportion, apologies for my insensitive clodness) it's awkward. It may have looked good for Dick Tracy, but without plugging a mini headset into such a thing I think it's not as good. Now, maybe if it were removable from the wrist band with a small twisting interlock you'd have something. <- Please note, all you patent hungry monsters, this idea has been publicly discussed and represents prior art, so fsck off.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I still think the best combination of technology was putting a watch into my phone. Now I don't have to wear a bulky chunk of metal on my wrist that only has one function.
These wrist phones are not an attempt to "show the future" as such. They serve three purposes.
First they are tech showcases for the manufacturers. They get to show off how cool of a phone they can produce. Look how small, oooh, look at the color screens, ahhh, polyphonic ring tones and internet, geeee.
Second they are for the gadget/fashion statement crowd. These folks want the latest and greatest and they want to look cool. Utility, functionality, and ergonomics be damned.
And thirdly, and maybe most important, they bring bodies into the stores so the retailers can push their other more "mundane" wears. "Hey, lets go check out that cool wrist phone" is what they want the telcos want to hear. When you get in the door, they'll sell you that new Nokia, or that hands free kit, or that led antenna, etc.
The DoCoMo wrist phone doesn't exactly work like you think. It's basically a clip-on phone; it clips to your wrist, and when you get a call you have to clip it off and you hold it like a regular phone (the bit which fold it on your wrist have the speaker and mic in them).
So you don't talk to your wrist, it's just a heavy ass bracelet which turns into a phone.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
All this thing needs for it to be an absolute dream as far as Im concerned is 3G.
... maybe in Europe or Japan, but expect the sloath-like FCC to drag it's feet when it comes to approving these things for use in the U.S. The "slim-line" model will be released before these wrist weights will even be available to American consumers.
Aren't cells small enough now that you should be able to slip them into any number of different carrying rigs? I want one in my pocket protector, of course, or in my slide rule case... Those cool LAN people clip them onto their belts, the studs. Laptop cases should have protected, dedicated exterior pouches, people on a treadmill might want an armband strap like for their iPod, and so on...
Aside from getting a little design spark out of consumers, I don't see the pros of pushing the design in some particularly specialized direction. Sell me a $15 accessory that lets me jog with it, don't sell me a whole new phone.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
These clamshell devices really have a hard time finding a niche to fit into. A company I worked for spent significant time and money porting a Windows based product to such a CE platform, and we ended up with an inventory of hardware that nobody wanted, save for the few enthusiastic customers that led us to think there was a real market.
It stinks as a PDA because of the bulk and an inappropriate UI designed for the desktop. It stinks as a subnotebook because the keyboard's too small for proper touch typing and the display strains your eyes when used for more than a few minutes.
These look cool at first site, but are utterly impractical for most real-world use. They're a solution looking for a problem, and not typically finding one.