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.
Hang on, isn't the shoe phone supposed to precede the wrist phone in the psuedo-spy tech tree??
Not the best place for a phone?
by
yeoua
·
· 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.
Wristphone ergonomics?
by
ackthpt
·
· 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
Looks like a good start
by
RealErmine
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I've been waiting for wrist PDA/phones and was resigned to the fact that it was just a matter of time. At 3.8 x 6.4 x 1.8cm (a little larger than the Insert thru Page Down keys on a standard keyboard) this one seems a little bulky, but has some neat features like the Bluetooth connectivity and color OLED screen.
It's pretty nice for a first round attempt at a truly marketable wrist phone. I'm not sure why they made the longer dimension across the wrist and not along it. Seems it would be more comfortable in a "widescreen" format. When they are more wearer-friendly I will definitely buy one. Who doesn't want a wireless information/communication device strapped to their wrist? While they're at it, throw some biometric sensors on there for kicks! On second thought, maybe making reality more like an FPS is a bad idea for some people.
-- Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
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.
Need a Microphone attachment that...
by
A_Non_Moose
·
· Score: 4, Funny
straps in such a way it rests in the palm.
I got a phone call...hey, it's for you...TALK TO THE HAND!!!
Or insert Vampire Hunder D reference...of course the soul sucking ability would be cool too, but I wonder if that would be good or bad for the battery life?
.
-- Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK?
(and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
Wireless earpiece?
by
st0rmshad0w
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Ok, so if it has bluetooth for a wireless ear-piece/headset thing, why exactly does it need to be a wristwatch?
This is too gimicky to be practical in my book.
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.
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'.
Back in the Bay Area, right after the Jabra in-ear hands free mic was released, the San Jose police were called because there was a "well dressed man, in the parking lot, screaming frantically and very angry... to himself."
When the police got there, he sure enough was screaming his head off still. They form the traditional circle and he is completely oblivious to it, until one of them gets close enough and says, "Sir, I'm going to need to ask you to come with us." He then looks over, and says, "Hold on a sec."
The cops at that point just started laughing at the guy, and told him not to yell at himself in public anymore:)
The phones are too big & ugly. I'll stick to my digitally-controlled analog watch, thanks. As for cute laptops, check out dynamism.com, they import the best from japan.
-- Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!
Just a ringer, please
by
moral+kiosk
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· Score: 3, Interesting
I'm not interested in talking into my watch.
That said, I would jump on the chance to have a wristwatch-ringer for my cellphone. Not even a tone-ringer, just vibrate. For starters, it's discreet; it eliminates the need to ever turn your ringer on in public. You feel a slight vibration on your wrist, look at your watch (which displays caller info), and decide whether to get your phone out and take the call. Secondly, it eliminates the problem of being unable to hear/feel your phone in loud and busy places. I think women who carry a phone in a purse might appreciate this even more.
-- It's so much more attractive / inside the moral kiosk.
Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital [phone] watches are a pretty neat idea
Calling Dick Tracy...
by
mdwong
·
· 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.
Slashdot Mirror
...are a yellow coat and fedora, and I'm good to go.
The coolest voice ever.
Imagine calling someone by accident whilst exercising your wrist.
"What, mom?! No, I was just churning butter, honest!"
Harald
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.
Now I can run around muttering "I need you buddy!" into my watch.
...not feel a little stupid talking to thier wrists?
Hang on, isn't the shoe phone supposed to precede the wrist phone in the psuedo-spy tech tree??
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've been waiting for wrist PDA/phones and was resigned to the fact that it was just a matter of time. At 3.8 x 6.4 x 1.8cm (a little larger than the Insert thru Page Down keys on a standard keyboard) this one seems a little bulky, but has some neat features like the Bluetooth connectivity and color OLED screen.
It's pretty nice for a first round attempt at a truly marketable wrist phone. I'm not sure why they made the longer dimension across the wrist and not along it. Seems it would be more comfortable in a "widescreen" format. When they are more wearer-friendly I will definitely buy one. Who doesn't want a wireless information/communication device strapped to their wrist? While they're at it, throw some biometric sensors on there for kicks! On second thought, maybe making reality more like an FPS is a bad idea for some people.
Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
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.
straps in such a way it rests in the palm.
I got a phone call...hey, it's for you...TALK TO THE HAND!!!
Or insert Vampire Hunder D reference...of course the soul sucking ability would be cool too, but I wonder if that would be good or bad for the battery life?
.
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
Ok, so if it has bluetooth for a wireless ear-piece/headset thing, why exactly does it need to be a wristwatch?
This is too gimicky to be practical in my book.
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?
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'.
:)
Back in the Bay Area, right after the Jabra in-ear hands free mic was released, the San Jose police were called because there was a "well dressed man, in the parking lot, screaming frantically and very angry... to himself."
When the police got there, he sure enough was screaming his head off still. They form the traditional circle and he is completely oblivious to it, until one of them gets close enough and says, "Sir, I'm going to need to ask you to come with us." He then looks over, and says, "Hold on a sec."
The cops at that point just started laughing at the guy, and told him not to yell at himself in public anymore
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
The phones are too big & ugly. I'll stick to my digitally-controlled analog watch, thanks. As for cute laptops, check out dynamism.com, they import the best from japan.
Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!
I'm not interested in talking into my watch.
That said, I would jump on the chance to have a wristwatch-ringer for my cellphone. Not even a tone-ringer, just vibrate. For starters, it's discreet; it eliminates the need to ever turn your ringer on in public. You feel a slight vibration on your wrist, look at your watch (which displays caller info), and decide whether to get your phone out and take the call. Secondly, it eliminates the problem of being unable to hear/feel your phone in loud and busy places. I think women who carry a phone in a purse might appreciate this even more.
It's so much more attractive / inside the moral kiosk.
There will be drawers filled with these things by the end of the school year.
Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital [phone] watches are a pretty neat idea
... 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.