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Caller ID Watches
kbielefe writes "On Thursday, Sony Ericsson and Fossil Inc. announced a line of bluetooth watches that vibrate when a call comes in on your cell phone, display the number of the caller, and allow you to press a button to send the call to voicemail. No more digging around in your pocket or purse before deciding if the call is important enough to interrupt a meeting."
I wonder what the battery life is like and how many calls you get before your watch goes dead.
This sounds useful for the land line as well.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
http://www.fossil.com/shopping/product/detailmain. jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&itemID=37060&keyword=blu etooth
That watch is butt ugly.
You'd think Fossil could come up with better looking packaging than that, especially given the launch of this new technology.
Of course in the next year or so, when they come out with the whole Cellphone IN the watch, this product will be obsolete... :) --Ray
http://www.beanleafpress.com
My phone won't attach to more than one bluetooth device at a time. Which means that if you use this watch, you can't use other BT doodads.
a) How nice it would be to not have to reach into your pocket to see who's calling
b) How lazy I have become to think that this it would be nice to not have to reach into my pocket to see who's calling
DAMN YOU, TECHNOLOGY!
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
I've been in the market for a new geek watch for about 8 months now, but nothing really strikes me as something I want to wear.
The watches themselves look ok, and I like the idea of having caller ID on my wrist and not having to fuss with the phone... but only supporting Sony/Ericsson phones? I won't buy Sony shit, and I Ericsson phones are notorious pieces of shit.
It's BLUETOOTH for gods sake... it's an open standard. Why won't it support generic Bluetooth phones?
Screw that... I'll buy from another company that actually has support for some of the more common phones out there. I can't think of anyone with an Ericsson phone off the top of my head.
I don't wear a watch, you insensitive clod!
Sounds like you're also missing the sense not to read stories that don't interest you.
And those will be obsolete in two years, when they introduce the wrist-mounted video phone.
Just think -- we'll finally catch up with Dick Tracy!
My Grandfather was a watchmaker, a good one. When I was about 6 or 7 my father bought a digital watch, it was well over $800 a hefty sum in the early 70's but it was gold with a thin black (red) slit that when the button on the side was pushed the time lit up in the little red-dot LED displays similar to first gen digital calculators.
We sat down at the kitchen table and as my dad leaned over to show my grandfather the watch, he pushed the button and the time displayed. My grandfather never one to show much emotion shook his head and looked at my dad.
He said, "I dont understand, how can they call that progress when NOW it takes 2 hands to tell time ?" as he show a quick glance at his favorite self winding chronograph.
My dads bubble was visibly burst, I never saw him wear the watch again, it sits still in his jewelry box.....
I LOVE the Idea of the Caller ID Watch as I have refused to carry a cell until about 4 months ago , it drives me nuts and spends most of its time in the car, but I could live with something like this.....BUT PLEASE OMIT THe function requireing me to PRESS A GODDAM BUTTON !
How pissed is your boss going to be thinking you're so bored in his meeting that you have to keep checking your watch?
-- pupkick
Sounds like a really useful concept. I would love to buy one! Oh, except that they've fallen into the usual corporate trap of taking an open standard and locking it down so it's not useful with anything but the products of the companies they've partnered with, it's way way too expensive, and Oh Lord is it FUGLY!
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
I'm wearing one. It's a Casio watch which receives WWV. It sets itself every night at 2 AM. Knows the date. Adjusts for daylight savings time. Solar-powered, so it doesn't need battery replacement. So it doesn't need any attention. Lights up if you rotate your wrist rapidly. Waterproof and rugged enough to survive outdoor activities. Costs about $50.
This definitively solves the "what time is it" problem for locations in the United States. Anything beyond this is bling.
Does anyone else really see an odd paradox here in that all the watches have analog dials with digital displays for the caller ID and Bluetooth? Some of the most modern technology coupled with the most archaic. I don't know why, but it's very hard to find a decent watch that is digital only. (NOTE: My search automatically excludes anything made of plastic, anything non water-resistant or anything that has calculator buttons.) I don't think I'm odd (well, OVERLY odd...) but am I alone in thinking that it's peculiar that it's the 21st century and the majority of us are still reading watch dials that were invented 500 years ago? I understand the romanticism of wanting to know how it was done in the old days (similar to knowing how to shave with a straight razor, navigate by the stars or shoot a bow & arrow) but why is it that 98% of all non-plastic watches are still analog? Sure, I know how to read an analog watch, but why should I have to? It's extra work. I can glance at a digital watch, and I know instantly what time it is. No calculating, no trying to figure out which number the little hand is pointing at. No counting up by 5's. Just a 1/10 second glance tells me unambiguously what I'm looking for.
After an exhaustive search, I found this and so far I like it, but is it possible that it's the only decent watch that's all digital? I found a couple more (Ammon, Quiksilver and RipCurl come to mind) that were designed as surfer watches, but I really don't need to know when the tide is coming in here in Ohio. So I put this question to other time geeks out there. Are there other decent watches that are digital only? I don't like the analog/digital combo watches. Lots of wasted space that I don't care about. Just a reasonably plain, waterproof, easy to read watch that tells me the time and date at a glance, with a stainless steel case and a mineral quartz face. Am I wanting too much?
-Arthur
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules
In recent years, sales of watches have been down because people carry other devices which tell the time anyway. I wonder if this will do anything to help the watch manufacturers recover.
Time will tell, I suppose. (No pun intended.)
Sent from my computer.
Now GET OFF MY LAWN!