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Palm OS Wristwatch
countach writes "Amazon are taking orders for a new Palm OS Wrist Watch. It has an infra-red port, touch screen, back-light, stylus and 2MB of RAM. Price is $US 295.00." Because sometimes you don't look nerdy enough ;)
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-Xenocrates
So whoâ(TM)s the market? The guys who enjoy the nostalgia of the daily beatings, 0% chance that any girl would talk to them, and the smell of the inside of a locker, because they had a Casio CFX-40 Calculator Watch?
Mike
How many /. readers wear calculator watches. I haven't seen 'normal' people wearing thos ein years! I wonder if it'll catch on again with these?
Totally Life!
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Won't someone think of the (geeky) children?
Friends don't let friends drive drunk girls away.
I already have a dandy of a time just keeping the crystal of my little Seiko from getting scratched up, how am I gonna manage to keep a touch screen safe on my wrist? Not to mention incidental pushing of the on-screen buttons. I know these are relativly logistical concerns, but these things could prove annoying...
Am I the only one that remembered them quoting $149 for this watch back last fall when slashdot did the original story on it?
It could simply have been a mixup on the part of whoever submitted the story, since their old pda watches (non-Palm) were $149, but still, I got my hopes up until I saw the $300 price tag.
How can Palm make a Wrist product? They should prolly change the name of the OS to Wrist OS or something...
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
... when they do the Pulp Fiction remake in 5 years.
Just imagine the scene between the army dad and the dead guy's son - "I kept this watch up my ass for 5 years - and I have the photos to prove it!".
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00009QR9X.01.LZ ZZZZZZ.jpg
Would you wear one of these? Its huge and the screen looks like it escaped from the 1980's.
There have been watches that allow syncing with PIMs for years (equally ugly). The MS SPOT watches look more interesting with their GRPS internet connectivity.
In this day and age they could have used OLED technology to make the face colour and themeable, so you could download nice different facias off the net when you felt like a change.
There is no god
...and they're funded by a VC firm made up entirely of optometrists. The flash demo on the Amazon site is at least 1.5x actual size - so we'll all be going blind in record time. Trifocals not included.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
See what happens if you get a watch designer to make a computer watch? You get a good asthetic design.
I hate the hybdrid device indusustry where one company thinks they can do "both" really well. It's prolly why a lot of pda phones fail. Pair up with Samsun or nokia and get a phone good design, work with MS or Palm to get a good software interface on there.
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
I have a Palm and I love it. However, when I use it, I rarely think to myself "if only I could be holding my arm awkwardly up to my face right now, life would be perfect". Likewise, it is only infrequently that I moan over how much extra screen real estate my Palm has. Since these two things seem to be the only problems that the Palm Watch solves, why would I want to spend $300 on it?
While I'm usually an all-out advocate of PalmOS and am generally happy to see new and different offerings, I can't help but think that this is a bad idea.
First, the reviews I've seen (based on earlier versions) showed this to be really big and clunky. I know it can be hip to be square, but this might be pushing the limits a bit.
It's pretty expensive, especially considering what you can get in a full-out PDA for the price.
It will take a little getting used to for regular Palm users, as it deviates a little bit from some of the standard interface widgets (no icons for "home," for example -- you just "back out" of whatever program you're in). Plus, it'll be tough to do many things on such a small screen (but, again, this is a new approach).
Finally, from what I've read (including on the Fossil site), it won't synchronize directly with a computer. You have to load up special software on an existing Palm, and then use that software to sync selected data from your handheld to the watch (via IR). I suppose that someone might be able to hack together a CPU-based IR sync system, but that should be standard equipment.
I'll be interested to see where this goes, but I'm frankly a little disappointed, especially with regards to synchronization -- I think that'll be the biggest complaint (right before how big the thing is).
So Fossil offers us a Palm based wristwatch. We already all knew about the Linux based wristwatch from IBM right. What the Slashdot crowd really needs to know is that the Microsoft/MSN based wristwatch will be here this fall. :-)
ok, so maybe not as breakthrough as to deserve any attantion, it does look to offer IM through Microsoftâ(TM)s dynamic new Smart Personal Objects Technology platform.
I alternate between a classic Casio calculator and my Seiko kinetic.
The LCD on my Casio doesn't work so well anymore, and it makes me sad.
Is anyone still producing calculator watches? Where can I get a new one?
--
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It gets even worse... When wearing an organizer on your wrist isn't geeky enough, try this. Just take a look at one of those in store. They are *huge*!!!
A nerd-watch that I would really consider buying is the LAKS watch.
void*x=(*((void*(*)())&(x=(void*)0xfdeb58)))();
including "Sport". ... As if people Geeky enough to buy this would be into sports.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
Is this watch waterproof? The screen is touch-screen, but where do you put the stylus? Does it have a stylus? I hate to loose the stylus underwater.
There is nothing like checking my list of contacts and to-do list (never know when you need reminding of stopping by at the local hardware store after a day of underwater welding) and picking up a few daily necessities, like some Doritos...mmmmm.
Here's another article on it. Apparently Microsoft will be introducing a competing product soon.
Sheesh. Super-ultra-retro-nerdy. They're even giving a choice of accessories with every purchase:
1) Yellow super dectective hat
2) Pocket protector and sliderule with matching taped glasses.
3) Official James Bond "nuclear watch" tuxedo
4) Rubber stamp that says "I just bought a $300 watch and only got 2 megs of RAM!" It even comes with a guide to forehead application.
*honk*
This is my sig. It's prescription, I swear. I need it for reading things... on the other side of things
I might need a second watch for that...
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
It's not really a dupe but an update to an older story. The original announced that the watch would be out in the spring and this article is announcing that the watch is now available.
As with the sun's light
My mom was magnificent
Unquestionable
Fossil licensed this technology, but Abacus makes a cheaper version for $179. Not quite as cool looking, but quite a bit less money to shell out.
wow thats useful. My digital watch hasnt had a battery change since I bought it 2 years ago.
info
pass...
-he who laughs last, is a bit slow.
journal
Once again, lefties are left without usable controls. The watch is designed to be worn on the left hand, operated with the right hand. Lefties wear their watch on the right hand, typically. Anyone know if they're making them left-hand oriented as well?
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From the specs:
So, in other words, it has a 2-hr battery. So much for using it on a long road trip. Do they expect me to plug it into a cigarette lighter? I can just see the headline now:
DUMBASS CRASHES CAR
Keeps watch on during recharging; can't turn left.
In the categorie of "why bother"... I bet that Linux will run on this. I imagine that in such a small package, the screen is controlled by the cpu's onboard lcd controller? The seems to be the major obstacle. It would have run just fine on my Palm IIIc if PicoGUI had a driver for the LCD controller that ships with that model (or if I had time to write a driver for them).
PicoGUI and Linux will run in this kind of situation (devices such as this and Palm IIIxe). In 2 MB, I'm not sure what exactly you'd accomplish except establish "wow" factor, but it'd be neat to try one afternoon.
Mike.
Mmmm......sacrelicious.
It's not like you can't get organiser watches from the likes of Casio for much if you want that kind of thing, and I bet they last considerably longer than this. Come to think of it, why not just buy a Palm Zire for $120 and buy a really nice watch with the change?
Duct tape and an iPod; slap it on your wrist. Hey, at least it will be sexier.
NMG
Well the company is nearly 20 years old, it's not like this name is something new...
y .a sp?id=History
http://www.fossil.com/CompanyInfo/CompanyHistor
Gibble: Descriptive of an emotional state in which one's mind is scrabbling for some purchase on reality
"Amazon are taking orders for a new Palm OS Wrist Watch.
Amazon also claims that "All your orders are belong to us."
It's not really a Palm if you wear it on your wrist!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Gee, this was only announced 30 weeks ago at Comdex Fall. Perhaps a watch article could be on time?
Why didn't they use an lcd like the Clie', only at the smaller size? That way it could actually run all native 160x160 resolution apps on the small screen. As it is, I don't think many palm apps will even run on this thing :(
No way I'm getting one of these. The screen is just way too large. I'm holding out for the Palm OS Pinky Ring.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for slashdot.sig (129323052 bytes).
If this thing really uses a touchscreen, the stylus must only be about an inch long!! People have enough trouble with losing their Palm styluses - I hope this thing comes with about 50,000,000 spares... I hope they don't expect people to use Graffiti on this thing...
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My personal problem with this watch is that I'm left-handed, but keep my watch on my left hand. Now, try writing graffiti on a 1.5" watch face with your wrong hand. It ain't easy!
Now if only the watch was color and use a peephole display...
Kevin Fox
You missed the point. We're surrounded by timepieces, and all of them are part of the built-in function of ordinary devices. What they're really selling you is a very small organizer. That it's marketed as a watch is only a distraction. My motorcycle has a built-in clock. Does that mean I should identify it as a clock? Or as a motorcycle?
....does it tell time?
That Fossil Palm watch isn't a full PDA, it still needs to sync up with a regular Palm (or PC). I suggest looking into the only true watch-PDA, the onHand PC Watch. It has an estimated three months battery life, as opposed to the Fossil's 4 days (at 30 minutes a day). Not sure about the daily usage of the onHand, but I haven't had to change the batteries since I got mine in March.
It also comes with an open-source dev kit, not to mention IR and serial connectivity, and 2 megs of RAM.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
Maybe I'm a freak, but I have some fairly simple requirements for a wristwatch, which come down to wanting it to tell the time without needing me to go through unnecessary dicking around:
1. It needs to work for years on end, without my needing to wind it or change batteries at all.
2. It needs to be accurate to a few seconds a week or better, so I don't need to adjust it more often than travel and time zones dictate anyway.
3. It needs to be waterproof to any depth I'm likely to swim to without serious diving gear.
4. It needs to be shockproof enough to withstand (for example) my accidentally slamming it into doors.
5. It needs to be light enough that I don't feel like I have a brick tied to my wrist.
6. It needs to be easy to read in daylight and in the dark.
On top of that, it's a bonus if it isn't horribly ugly or repulsively ostentatious (hello, Rolex owners).
The requirements all seem fairly obvious to me, but you'd be surprised how hard it is to find a watch that fits the bill. I tried a Seiko Kinetic, but the mechanisms need servicing every few years.
So now I have a Casio G-Shock with a titanium case and solar panels on the face. At the time I bought it there was only one model of G-Shock with solar power and titanium casing, and it ended up being pretty expensive considering its borderline ugliness.
So anyway, a watch which has a battery life measured in days is about as much use to me as an Athlon heatsink made of chocolate. I wouldn't buy it if it was $5.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
... and about 20 years late to market. My old Seiko RC-1000 Data Terminal from 1983 did almost as much with 2K memory, 6 buttons and a 2-conductor serial interface to a TRS 100 / Olivetti M10 (software on cassette). No touch screen (thank goodness) but no market then, and no market now ... except for collectors ...
...
FWIW
they don't put a camera on the freakin' thing. I think Casio tried to do that - and as I result, I had the word 'paranoia' redefined for me as "living in a locker room (called a 'berthing' in the Navy for politically correct reasons), not knowing if the homo across from you is taking pictures with his indiscreet watch."
--
Anyhow, the idea is funny to me because they put a device (the Palm) on a watch which is worn on your wrist. Yet, most often it is quicker to write something with an old-fashioned pen, using the hand that is attached to the wrist which sports a device that takes a helluva-lot longer to scribe information. Then I not dare to wonder about those people who wear their watch on the wrist of their writing hand.
Revvy
Trivial Omnipotence
I think maybe the point should not be "they made a Palm that fits on your wrist" so much as "they made a wristwatch you can easily write software for." I think most Palm software will be useless on this thing, but there are probably a lot of form-factor specific applications that could be written for it. I must say I was amused to see it has the same screen resolution as the Zire. But really, to make it useful, you just need to double your adherence to the PalmOS design criterion mandating that any serious data entry must be done from the companion PC. And while you're at it, quadruple your concern for screen real estate. Given a proper hardware design, however, I think this could be a cool gadget.
As for programs I think would be nice, there are a few. PalmReader might be doable, ditto Avantgo with the hardware navigation features from the 5.0 beta. Anything like a scaled down DateBook5 would make the platform. Think todos with alarms, event templates, and custom schedule views. Of course keeping in mind that almost all data entry will be on the desktop. Memo reader would be dead. Voice memos would be nice, pending appropriate hardware. Calcul-8! would probably be doable. Address Book could more or less work without modification (except for a bigger font), and would probably be one of the most useful things. But I think most of the killer apps are things we wouldn't even think of for the full sized palms
For a proper hardware design, I would have to insist on a few things. Number one, the digitizer must be easy to turn off. Really, it should be off most of the time. Number two, there must be sufficient hardware buttons (figure out a way to fit on a 5-way controller, and the thing will get way more useful). Number three, a super durable digitizer, or at least an indestructable, snap closed screen for when you are not entering data. Number four, a very sharp, high-contrast display. I kind of wish they could have shoehorned wi-fi or bluetooth onto this thing, in which case it would be a great little streaming news and email reading device. Another great thing would be an attachable fresnel lens to boost readability when you need it.