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Handhelds Wireless Networking Hardware

The Wristphones are Coming 149

Posted by michael from the beam-me-up-scotty dept.
kpogoda sent in this article about small GPRS wristphones from Samsung and DoCoMo, plus a very cute wireless sub-notebook.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

The Wristphones are Coming More

The Wristphones are Coming

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  • This sounds pretty neat, but is it really necessary? I mean, talking into your wrist like your 007 or something.

    I guess the next step is to have a badge on our left breast that we hit and say "beam me up!" :)

    • Re:What's next? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Drakon ( 414580 )
      check out Vocera's system [vocera.com]...

      it has 802.11b, which, iirc, requires more silicon than GRPS.

      They say it's for nurses or something, but honestly, I can't wait :-)

    • Re:What's next? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by redherring22 ( 579425 )
      well that's where the bluetooth headsets come in... even though those things currently look like some kind of borg-wear or at least a futuristic cochlear implant. this begs the question-- what will look weirder? talking into your wrist? or talking to nothing at all?
      • Other people on the road already get that impression of me. When I'm riding my motorcycle, I use a handlebar mounted HAM radio with a hidden speaker and microphone mounted inside my helmet. It's a full face helmet, so from the outside it looks like I'm talking to myself.
    • Whats next?

      Well, it seems that Microsoft [microsoft.com] has been working on some pretty cool moble devices too. They call the techonology SPOT [microsoft.com] (Smart Personal Objects Technology).

      They have devices, like watches, alarm clocks, toasters, key chains, that know where they are and what is around them.

      So your next watch will be something that keeps acurate local time, updates you on sports scores, stock quotes, weather, instant messaging, traffic reports, and news. And they are actually kind of stylish [microsoft.com]!
      • if only they can make a freaking tv remote control that can locate itself. i don't wanna know how much time i've wasted searching around for the damn remote after the wif^^^^^^someone has misplaced it. i just might have to get me one of those keychains too!
        • get me one of those keychains too!

          You mean the ones where you whistle and they would answer? I remember them from back in the 80's and GOD, they were anoying.

          The even had a place in a Bond movie ("The Living Daylights" I believe).
          • no, i want one that's wi-fi. and can be "found" from a control box like my cordless telephone. i just press a button on the main box and the phone starts beeping. i need a keychain that does that and tv remotes that do that too. i'm (we're) always loosing that stuff.
    • I guess the next step is to have a badge on our left breast that we hit and say "beam me up!" :)

      What I like about that Idea is being able to walk up to a complete stranger and ask her if I can use her cell phone.....

  • All I need now... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Faust7 ( 314817 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:34AM (#5861795) Homepage
    ...are a yellow coat and fedora, and I'm good to go.

  • Accidental calls (Score:5, Funny)

    by Harald Paulsen ( 621759 ) * on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:34AM (#5861799) Homepage

    Imagine calling someone by accident whilst exercising your wrist.

    "What, mom?! No, I was just churning butter, honest!"

  • No way (Score:3, Insightful)

    by FortKnox ( 169099 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:35AM (#5861802) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • Re:No way (Score:3, Insightful)

      by goldcd ( 587052 ) *
      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.
    • No way is correct. The first watch described in the article has bluetooth support for headsets. So I would imagine your watch could be in your backpack, around your belt, or whatever other oddball location should strike your fancy and it would not impair your ability to make calls.

      Who knows, with bluetooth being what it is, but it is entirely possible that you could dial from your PDA, and use it as an access point for your PDA when you are not in a hotspot.

      Which would be really fsking cool, in my mind.

    • Re:No way (Score:3, Insightful)

      by sporty ( 27564 )
      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'.

      • Re:No way (Score:4, Funny)

        by Xerithane ( 13482 ) <xerithane@@@nerdfarm...org> on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:03AM (#5862014) Homepage Journal
        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 :)

    • Re:No way (Score:3, Informative)

      by Mwongozi ( 176765 )
      Did you read the article?

      The wrist-phone has a speakerphone and also support for bluetooth wireless headsets.

      Holding it up to your ear would only deafen you.

    • have been out for a long time now...
    • And you really think a wireless earpeice+mic are better? That way people will really think you're nuts!
      I know I still do a double take every time I see someone yapping into thin air without holding a piece of tech.
    • Yer an idiot, did you even read the spec's on the watch? Not only does the Samsung model support Bluetooth, but it also supports a ton of heatsets. Plus holding your hand up to your ear/mouth is how making phone calls have been done for years.

  • Marvellous (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:35AM (#5861804)
    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.
    • (Some) People will look like fools with or without a gigantor wristwatch.

      The battery life however, is what will most likely
      be the big issue. I can't believe what the article says about battery life. 4-8 hours? Riiiiight.
      Unless that's with the phone part turned off.
    • If it takes off there will probably be a sudden increase of pedestrian/vehicle accidents. "Officer he just walked into my car with his wrist to his ear and his arm covering his face..."
    • Sort of like those wrist PDAs with AC adapters.

      Oh, just what I wanted! A watch that needs to be plugged into the wall every two hours!
  • ... plus a very cute wireless sub-notebook.

    Yea, based on Windows CE.NET 4... Real cute.

    • Re:.SubNotebook (Score:1, Insightful)

      by druske ( 550305 )
      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

  • Great! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:35AM (#5861811)

    Now I can run around muttering "I need you buddy! [davidhasselhoff.com]" into my watch.

  • Holy Dick Tracy Batman (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Torinaga-Sama ( 189890 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:36AM (#5861817) Homepage
    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?
    • Ah yes, it was a wrist band that would transmit sound up through your fingers, and you'd put a finger in your ear!

      Imagine a combination! Slashdotters have been scoffing at the idea of holding your wrist up to your ear, but try putting your finger in your ear: your wrist is naturally near your mouth.

      It could be a winner, once they get the battery life improved.
    • No way man. Subvocal processing and cochlear implants, all the way.

      On a side note, I could see this being cool if the speaker could be mounted on a ring. That way, you cup your hand to your ear and talk into the wrist-band of the watch. It could have some pretty good noise rejection if it has one mic on the band and another on the face.

  • Would anone else.. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nother_nix_hacker ( 596961 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:37AM (#5861824)
    ...not feel a little stupid talking to thier wrists?
  • Cool gadget. But, I wonder why it took them this long to come up with something like this!

    In near feature similar devices may also include holographic projector, wi-fi connectivity and those Philips disks that can hold GBs of data. (and a big cell in the users backpack)

    Freedom, at last.

  • Wait! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Gefiltefish11 ( 611646 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:38AM (#5861829)

    Hang on, isn't the shoe phone supposed to precede the wrist phone in the psuedo-spy tech tree??

  • Of course they are. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Vengeance ( 46019 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:38AM (#5861831)
    It only makes sense.

    After all, it's only within the past month that I signed both my wife and myself up for two years of new service, locking us out of upgrading for a while.

    To all those who are planning to get a wristphone: You're welcome.

  • Not the best place for a phone? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by yeoua ( 86835 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:38AM (#5861832)
    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? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      ... bathroom stuff, ... ,handling large objects, ...

      for some of us, these two are the same ;)

      sorry, couldnt' resist
    • I still think the best combination of technology was putting a watch into my phone. Now I don't have to wear a bulky chunck of metal on my wrist.
    • 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.

      So...you watched Spy Kids 2? Awesome.

    • 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
      • I'd like to see a forearm-mounted screen using some of that roll-up electronic paper and velcro. Think about it. You have a small velcro band near your elbow, and when you need a bigger screen, just unroll the monitor from the wrist mobile and stick it to the velcro.

        I know this won't be reality for another two or three decades, though. Sigh. 'Course, by then, there will probably be something completely unexpected and better to do the same job.

  • Wristphone ergonomics? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:42AM (#5861864) Homepage Journal
    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.
    • Rotate the band 180 degrees, so the watch is on the inside of your wrist. I learned that trick in the navy, so it wouldn't be smashing into bulkheads and coamings. Easier to see, definitely easier to hear. In fact, you can pretend you are scratching your head and nobody can tell the difference unless you want to talk also.
  • 2002 01 20 Monday.
    Actually 2002 01 20 was a sunday.
    All this technology, but they can't get the day right.

  • Good Idea (Score:2, Insightful)

    by brakk ( 93385 )
    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.

  • Looks like a good start (Score:4, Interesting)

    by RealErmine ( 621439 ) <commerce&wordhole,net> on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:47AM (#5861905)
    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.

  • Lighten up on the wrist thing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by binaryDigit ( 557647 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:50AM (#5861924)
    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... (Score:5, Funny)

    by A_Non_Moose ( 413034 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:53AM (#5861939) Homepage Journal
    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?

    .

  • Wireless earpiece? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by st0rmshad0w ( 412661 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:56AM (#5861958)
    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.

    • At first glance it is, but it has some advantages from the normal handset with bluetooth headset support. For one, say I have my phone in my bag and my headset in my shirt pocket. If I receive a call I'd like to see who's calling before answering... rather than fishing for my phone while driving it would be way more handy to just glance at my watch(phone) at the caller ID.

      It's gimmicky in some ways, but I can see the advantages for certain situations. Myself, I wear a watch all the time. I wouldn't mi

      • Mmmm, how about they come up with a Voice-Synth caller ID feature that's integrated into the ringer?

        I too wear a watch all the time, a good watch, chronograph. It's nearly indestructable and is perfect for any occasion. I can't see this watch-phone thing being better than my watch.

        I'd rather see a small PDA with an integrated phone w/bluetooth (are these out? I'm heavily outta the loop). Something that lives on my belt or an eHolster is much more preferable to the wrist. And considering the beatings my wa
        • Yeah, I too shudder when I think about the durability (or lack) of this type of device. I also have a pretty damn durable watch, and over the years it's taken quite a pounding. It's outlasted several cell phones.

          This might be a nice niche for a watch manufacturer to get into with a cell phone company instead of just the phone guys making a go of it themselves.

      • At first glance it is, but it has some advantages from the normal handset with bluetooth headset support. For one, say I have my phone in my bag and my headset in my shirt pocket. If I receive a call I'd like to see who's calling before answering... rather than fishing for my phone while driving it would be way more handy to just glance at my watch(phone) at the caller ID.

        Well, you could achieve the same thing by creating a watch that is bluetooth enabled so that it is able to recieve the caller ID inform
  • ...and provides Bluetooth connections for headsets...

    By the way, samsung has actually had a wristwatch phone for a long time - since 1999. I think it's been available for sale in limited quantities in korea, but I can't verify it and the page on samsung's site that said so seems to be gone.

  • my shoe works fine! (Score:3, Funny)

    by peter303 ( 12292 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @10:58AM (#5861979)
    "hello, Agent 99. Agent 99?"
    "PhXx pejjdd"
    "Whoops, wrong shoe ..."

  • There's one thing the articel doesn't mention... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mac Degger ( 576336 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:02AM (#5862005) Journal
    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.
  • Good luck getting a service provider here in the states. If you buy it now, you MIGHT be able to use it by 2006...
    • Good luck getting a service provider here in the states.

      Especially since it uses the 900/1800 MHZ and in North America GSM is currently on 1900MHZ and is starting to roll out on 850Mhz.

      It would be fairly trivial for Samsung to change the radio for the North American Freqs, IF they thought it would sell here.

  • Do I want one (Score:2, Interesting)

    by 91degrees ( 207121 )
    Plus side - Having a wrist phone would be pretty cool. Be nicer if it was 3g with a video phone, of course.

    Minus side - I like a keypad. Texting on these things will be a pain, and since about 70% of my mobile comms is text based, this is a big issue.

  • Wrist phones or the return of disco...you decide (Score:3, Funny)

    by Phoenix ( 2762 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:05AM (#5862034)
    Can you imaging if the device comes with a booster antenna that you can put on your other hand? Say on the finger.

    Now you have the phone arm bent to have it closer to the face and the other arm in the air. You now look like you're in the "Staying Alive" video.

    It's a conspiracy to bring back disco I tells ya.

    Phoenix
  • I'm not sure if I would want one of these phones. It is *known* fact that any radio equpment should not be close to the body for long periods of time. That radio equpment includes even walky-talky's, what to speak of cell phones.
  • I'm gonna replace my ring tone with a sound byte of "calling Dick Tracy!".

    Boy I'm a geek.

  • "KITT!!! I need ya buddy!"

  • Ugh. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Lally Singh ( 3427 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:10AM (#5862071) Journal
    The phones are too big & ugly. I'll stick to my digitally-controlled analog watch, thanks. As for cute laptops, check out dynamism.com [dynamism.com], they import the best from japan.
  • Where are the watches that will dynamically change time depending on what time zone you are in? I need that way more the a phone on my wrist!
    • GSM phones generally synchronize their clocks to the network's time. Wherever you go, if there is a GSM cellular network, your cell phone watch will pick up the local time.
  • While I question the eurgonomics of such a device, I feel a solution is simple. Just join it with an ear bud.

    http://www.greatbuyusa.com/product_detail.asp?p r od uct_id=MA12W-A&site=DDI
    http://www.functionalb.co m/watch.html
    http://home.kimo.com.tw/waterradio20 01/radiowatch. htm

    I remember the first time I saw such a device in the early 1980's. While it was technicaly impossible to actually create a radio watch that wasn't remarkably tacky, I welcome this idea. No fear of loosing the cellphone, only y

  • Battery Life (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SlightlyMadman ( 161529 ) <<slightlymadman> <at> <slightlymad.net>> on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:17AM (#5862122) Homepage
    The battery life on these things may not be too bad for a phone, but it's really short for a watch. With a phone, you just stick it in a cradle when you walk in the door, but with this thing you'd have to actually take off your watch in the evenings.

    Wouldn't that kinda defeat the purpose of having it always available on your wrist, if you have to take it off all the time, and remember to put it on in the mornings?

  • How many phones have you lost? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MrBandersnatch ( 544818 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:28AM (#5862211)
    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.

  • Just a ringer, please (Score:3, Interesting)

    by moral kiosk ( 532671 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:34AM (#5862254)
    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.
  • The GPRS Wristphone is just the next evolutionary step towards the ultimate personal communication device, the GPRS Suppository.

    This sleek cylindrical object requires no physical interface elements since all your needs are covered with built in Bluetooth, GPRS, and wireless power [splashpower.com].

    The GPRS Suppository is also an intimate personal area router, supplying Internet connectivity to your various hand held devices.

    At last, self-conscience individuals everywhere will be free of the uncomfortable feeling of wea

  • Poor Teachers (Score:3, Funny)

    by RightInTheNeck ( 667426 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:40AM (#5862295)
    There will be drawers filled with these things by the end of the school year.

  • Neat idea! (Score:5, Funny)

    by IainHere ( 536270 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:46AM (#5862327)
    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... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mdwong ( 586868 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:47AM (#5862337) Homepage
    ... 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 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ianscot ( 591483 ) on Friday May 02, 2003 @11:53AM (#5862369)
    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.

  • And the question is: "Imagine how stupid you'll look holding your wrist up to your head to talk/listen?"

    Next time, geniuses, RTFA.

  • Seeing wrist-gadgets like this always makes me think of Seiko's Ruputer [ruputer.com], which never seemed to make it to these shores. They never even bothered to make English web pages (or at least I never found them.) I noticed that Seiko has upgraded it to the Pro4 model, with a whopping 4MB RAM. Then again, the copyright notice (one of the only things I can read on that page) says 2000, so that doesn't sound so bad for then.
  • Can it communicate with my car [knightrideronline.com]?

    Michael: Kitt, Kitt, I'm in trouble!!1
    Car: I'm coming Michael.
  • Out of about 80 comments, only three or so mention Dick Tracy, who pioneered the first wrist phone. He called it a "wrist radio". Those who refer to the others (007, Startrek etc) probably have never seen a vacuum tube either.

    Next step in the series of wireless products is... (Well, what does Wonder Woman use to call that invisible airplane?)
  • Two rings. One -- with the ear-piece -- for the thumb, another -- with the microphone -- for the pinkie. Spread your fingers, raise them to your head and talk. The third piece -- with the antenna -- can be somewhere else on the body, like some other form of jewelry (belly chain, or an ancle bracelet). The pieces will communicate with the antenna over something very short-range, like bluetooth.

    The dialing done by rotating the little dial (!) on one of the rings or something. Click the rings together to han

  • For instance, does it have a clock?
  • All you guys are doing is complaining about something you didn't even take the time to read. I read 80% of the posts to this summarized as "It's too difficult to use", "I don't wanna look like a nut holding my wrist to my ear". For christ sake guys we've been palming small objects to our ears for years. And it supports Bluetooth and has a built in speakerphone so the most your ever gonna be doing is talk into your watch. Fools, read the goddamn article so you can at least reserve the right to an educated op
  • So what happens when you get a huge tumor on your wrist from having a cell phone strapped to it 24/7?
    Or do we "not go there" with the whole cancer from cell phones thing anymore.
  • Hey, I don't want to have a clunky wristphone slowing me down!

    Where is my waterproof, robust, bluetooth containing, Wifi internet searchable, buzzword compliant RingPhone(TM) with fold out 152 dpi 24 bit color screen?

    Then I can make a call and look like Mini-Me [austinpowers.com] !
  • The ongoing scorning of practicality and usability, in favor of fluff and glitter, never ceases to amaze me where the cellphone manufacturers are concerned. It seems to go hand-in-hand with their delusion that "Smaller is Always Better!"

    Consider: An awful lot (heck, most) of the portable phones made today have keypads that Tinkerbell would have trouble working with, and they just seem to be getting smaller. Anyone with large hands (like me!) is going to have trouble with pressing only a single key. I quest
  • ....may day ravers already wear wristphones.
    http://sinirinta.sigmatic.fi/~techno /laite/progres s_30_04_2003/slides/DSC04394.html

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