"Support incoming calls with big head sticker..." "Support incoming call vibration..." "Personality design and delicate craftsmanship, having flown line figure." These are some humorously translated and hefty promises for these quirky Chinese made phones that will operate on some US GSM phone carriers. All you need to do it place in your SIM card and you are good to go. Make sure your carrier is on the correct GSM frequency.
I would have whined up a storm for something like this when I was a kid. Totally secret agent kind of stuff. I mean, its not just a phone on your wrist, but the little color touch screen, pull out stylus, promise of media play back, Bluetooth, and other features just about makes me want to sink the under $200 into one of these phones to play with it. Prices start at about $130. Wearing one of these will make me look like a dork socially (note to Bluetooth headset wearers everywhere), but my young relatives would love it!
You can visit the spec pages to read about the long list of features these wrist watch phone purportedly have. Don't count on it all, but it is probably safe to say that they at least work. These aren't going to be streamlined tools having gone through testing, but the low cost and ability to swap SIM cards might make them worth it for those interested enough. Check the links for an eBay seller who has a good deal of them. They each come with chargers and data transfer tools. I'd imagine the English translated software is about as good as the English on the eBay pages.
One of the pictured models has a key pad right on the strap. That is pretty cool actually. Now you just have to imagine holding your wrist up to your ear to talk, Dick Tracy style. "Whats that chief?" You've got the picture. There is actually nothing particularly outstanding from a technological standpoint about these watches. We can make very small cellphones, but we are really limited by practicality, battery size, and sheer ergonomics. Thinks of watch phones like these are social experiments in what might come next. If they grow popular, more will pop up. Right now it is nice to know that watches phone exist, at least somewhere, and it is cool that they will work in the US (AT&T and T-Mobile).
See Chinese Watch Phone Store on eBay.
 10PC Hello Kitty Cell Phone mp3 watch Bags HKB020  US $.01
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 32 PCS SCREWDRIVER PHONE Watch CAMERA TOOL TOOLS US $.99
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 Jaguar Quad Band Touchscreen Mobile Phone Watch Keypad US $154.50
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 Cell Phone Watch Quad Band - Touch Screen + Bluetooth! US $199.95
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 Cute phone Necklace Pendant Watch + Gift Box w023 US $.99
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 Cute phone Necklace Pendant Watch + Gift Box w022 US $.99
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[...] pricing) watch with built in phone paves a new direction for watch phones everywhere. Last week I talked about Chinese watch phones that follow a similar principle here. While the Chinese watches are designed with a more “techy” direction in mind, the [...]
Well, I DO care if the cell phone watch I have ordered (the “Jaguar”) works well, and I care much less about “cool.”
If this gadget does everything it’s supposed to do, and does it well, it will be of great assistance to a road warrior like me.
As for the Finnish watch mentioned above, it appears that it is far less functional while considerably more expensive than the Chinese models.
The new devices put out by LG, Hyundai and Samsung are also far too costly -especially the LG, even if it does feature voice recognition and e-mail functions.
The Chinese have been learning to combine advanced technology with astute capitalistic marketing practices, so we are going to see a rerun of what happened to to IBM, Compaq et al when the Japanese and Koreans stepped in.
Thanks for the comment. I agree that while many Chinese products are getting better, they suffer in a few key ways on a wholesale level. First, they lack originality. Most of the time China is producing cheaper versions of other products without any originality. Second is that many Chinese manufactures seem to lack pride in their own products. As such, they have little interest in products that work, or that they themselves would. This is the difference between European and US goods (for the most part) with Chinese goods. The former is not inclined to release products that they themselves are ashamed of. In China, it seems to be all about supply and demand, and nothing to do with (is this even worth selling).
I really want China to use its incredible industrial capacity to make good products. While China does make some fantastic products, the problem is that those good products, are over shadowed by so many terrible products. As such, in the sole intent of undercutting the costs of item made in other countries (and even in China), quality, engineering, and originality suffer. I am not one who enjoys paying extra necessarily, but I’ve had enough bad experiences to often realize that you get what you pay for when it comes to goods from China. It would be ideal if countries like the US, Japan, and Korea invented products while China perfected and industrialized them. But the reality is that China takes the ideas and often bastardizes them. Again, while this is not always the case, it happens enough to make the educated consumer highly weary of Chinese goods.
This wrist watches is super cool! I would recommend it to all my friend.