back to article LG GD910 Watch Phone

Smartphones we are familiar with. Watches too. But combining the two is quite rare. Sure, there are sports watches that can collect information about training sessions and share it with a computer. Those with longer memories will recall things like Casio’s data bank watches with their weeny keyboards, and there was the Palm OS …

COMMENTS

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  1. censored

    Yeah, but forget all that....

    This is the future we were promised! It's here! A wristwatch-video-communicator!

    Show this to someone from 1965 and their head would explode out of sheer awesomeness, because this is EXACTLY what they're waiting for yet not really expecting.

    Now, where's my personal jetpack?!

  2. K
    FAIL

    Water proof?

    I take it you didn't test that ;)

  3. Greg J Preece

    First of its kind?

    Please stop calling it that! It just isn't!

  4. Anon'anon'anon

    Somethng tells me

    That this phone doesnt have 80GB of memory..........(end of page 1 ;)

  5. Sampler

    Bridge

    Instead of bundling a phone into a watch why not have it act as bluetooth bridge to your existing phone.

    Allowing full screen browsing and emailing with a decent keypad/onscreen and a second decent camera whilst retaining the plus points of the wristwatch for checking texts, appointments and video calling - best of both worlds.

    Hopefully the colour e-ink will make it into a future version allowing you to check the time without having to flick the switch.

  6. shaunm
    Happy

    @ censored

    Spot on mate...Has anyone seen where i left my hover car??

  7. Neil 4
    Thumb Up

    Now I can be halfway to being

    Michael Knight.

    Just need someone to invent the sentient, indestructible, self-driving, slightly camp car now.

  8. It'sa Mea... Mario
    WTF?

    svelte

    is this the El Reg 'word of the month' or something?

    Read this word several times on here in the last week even the commentors have started using it - and I wasn't counting the one that was complaining about it's use twice in one article!

    and @ K - Plan on making many calls underwater? ;-)

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    @censored

    well, I'm for '66 and my head isn't even starting to swell (oh er missus).

    @bridge - look at Sony's version. Is that what you really want ?

    Now what do I want.....

  10. SmallYellowFuzzyDuck, how pweety!
    Go

    Jetpacks for everyone!

    But can I use this phone watch to book my holidays to the moon?

    The future is nearly here, only a few years I hope!

  11. david bates

    robust faux leather...?

    on a £500 watch? Dream on...I want titanium for that money!

  12. Colin Miller

    swap?

    The swap watch/phone has been around for about a year, has a better (1.3MP) camera, but is only 2.5G.

    http://www.s-w-a-p.co.uk/ - hideously slow flash site.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's either the season for surrealist bikes

    Or that is one lousy camera lens.

  14. Damian Skeeles
    Thumb Up

    Sounds alright

    So... It looks alright, feels alright, handles calls, uses Bluetooth audio, syncs calendars, even supports SMS, plays music(!?!), AND lasts longer than an iPhone on a single charge.

    And it's a freakin' watch... And you're complaining because it plays calls through the speaker? What would you expect instead? A fold-out handset? Maybe an inflatable one would fit under the wristband!?

    It actually sounds like a well-thought-out, well-executed design to me. A gimmick manufacturer probably wouldn't invest in a capacitive touchscreen, or decent battery life. So, how about the more pressing issues for someone who'd actually consider using one? Like signal strength? Call quality?

    There are compromises. Remember that Nokia phone that was the size of a lipstick? No keypad, just a rotary selector. There was no way anyone would live long enough to write an SMS using that, so, instead, they supported only Voice MMS, put it front and centre, and made it easy to use. And it worked fantastically.

    anyway, it sounds like LG have made similar unconvential decisions, and it's worked. Did Dick Tracy have a handset on his watch?

    And it's a freakin' watch!!

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Think you guys missed a trick here...

    For someone who drives a lot I think this watch is a good idea, especially if the Bluetooth can be used to pair with in-car systems. Some enterprising third-party vendor might do well partnering with LG to write software which can use the watch as a bridge to interface and control various things within the car. Done properly it would very quickly become intuitive and to my mind is a lot safer for a driver doing things by touch than fannying around on the centre console with their eyes off the road.

    Battery life seems OK as does the list of features but it's let down a little on the memory side. According to the O2 website an iPhone 3GS 32Gb is about £40 more. I'd much rather have this watch phone but I do more driving than I do sitting on a train with my phone out hoping someone will notice I have a big shiny personality substitute on public view.

    "Hey, you have an iPhone! You must be a better person than me. I'll go and hang myself immediately, shall I?"

    The watch phone might not have immediate mass market appeal but I think it has it's uses which, with a little thought and development, could see it occupy a strong position in some specialist markets.

  16. Robert Hill
    Thumb Up

    Wrong rating methinks...

    I played with an early, non-functioning sample of that phone at the MWC in Barcelona this year, and it felt nice and of reasonable quality, just like you say.

    And it works as a FREAKIN' VIDEOPHONE ON YOUR WRIST!

    Forget the other details, it deserves a higher rating than it got...at least an 80% - simply because they dared build it and didn't mess it up badly (which it could have been easily). I don't want one only because I will never part with my beloved 14 year-old Tag SE/L on my wrist...

  17. Gavan Fantom
    Alert

    Handheld mobile phone

    While this seems a really neat thing for people using bluetooth hands-free in their cars, would the authorities consider it as a hand-held device for the purposes of law enforcement?

    The law of unintended consequences strikes again.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    The time sposored by LG is....

    Why so odd to be told the time? Think barely awake in the morning, don't want to open my eyes, but need to know the time. Have I slept in or is it only 4am... Possibly useful for blind people too in conjunction with voice dialling.

    Wow looks great too and I reckon that strap is the best I have ever seen (clip straps are often a problem with my skinny wrists).

  19. unitron
    FAIL

    5 pages of pictures....

    ....and not a single one of the watch in watch mode.

    Will I need a magnifying glass to tell the time or not?

  20. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
    FAIL

    I for one...

    don't want to take my phone everywhere I go....

  21. Jon Green
    FAIL

    And for left-handers??? FAIL!

    It wouldn't have been that difficult to design it so that the user can wear it on either hand. The screen image can be given a 180deg. rotation, and you're away, particularly if you can put the "LG" bezel on the other way up.

    Way to watch 10-15% of your market walk away...

  22. Haku
    Alien

    Frying pans

    I've tried searching the web but can't find any info on this;

    Does anyone remember an advert from the 80s where Peter Davison I think it was called home to say he'd be home in 10 minutes for dinner, his wife picks up a frying pan and the handle breaks off - but she gets a Tefal one (?) with a 10 year guarantee, skip forward 10 years and the guy calls his wife on a video phone wristwatch to say he'd be home for dinner in 10 minutes, and the frying pan is still ok.

    Maybe I'm going mad but I could swear that advert once existed. If so, we should have had phone watches at least 15 years ago. And I want my flying car, too.

  23. Bob 61
    Paris Hilton

    Left handers fail??

    I can't tell if this is a wind up or not (no pun) but... The picture on page 3 shows a chap with the watch/phone on his left wrist. So like most watches the device in ambidextrous.

  24. Peter Gathercole Silver badge
    Coat

    Come on - Thunderbirds

    Alan uses a video watch in the episode "Move - and You're dead" (1965)

    Brains uses a video watch in the episode "Day of Disaster" (1965)

    and I'm sure one actually features in the movie "Thunderbirds are Go" (1966). I remember seeing a picture of the oversized model wrist with I believe that it was an early colour TV or possibly a projector behind it. Good effects for the time, all done with models, camera tricks and pyrotechnics (not for the watch, of course, unless you include "30 Minutes After Noon")

    That's mine with a copy of "The Complete Gerry Anderson" in the left pocket, and the copy of "Century 21" in the right.

  25. Ed 11
    WTF?

    Lefties

    As a leftie who is pratically disabled when I try and use my right hand, I still wear watches on my left wrist and have no issues operating them. If I wanted a watch phone (and it is very awesome if wholley impractical) then me being left handed would not stop me getting this watch.

  26. cmaurand

    Dick Tracy Lives

    Dick Tracy is alive and well and living in Korea, apparently.

  27. Sandtreader

    More lefties

    Bob61: Left handers usually wear watches on our *right* wrist, so we can use our (functional) left hand to press buttons, which even with contortions is better than using our (disfunctional) right hand at all. That's assuming you could even get the thing on using your right hand to do up the strap - try your watch on your right wrist to see the effect!

    But actually, I was thinking it looked remarkably leftie-usable - you'd just have to press the call buttons with your left thumb instead of your right index finger, just like any other stopwatch etc.

    But the inability to make calls without a headset is a killer for me. Maybe it should have the mic and a small speaker on the buckle, so you could put it to your ear like Spooks...

  28. Bob 61
    Coat

    I'm a right handed lefty?

    @Sandtreader: Well call me a weirdo*. I've always worn my watch on the right wrist and used the left to operate - ever since my first red led digital watch - a fact more irrelevant than this post.

    I've never noticed a watch wearers handedness.

    There's a project for a Tuesday.

    *you're a weirdo

    (in context I'm right handed, except for card manipulations which seem to be universally destined for the weakest hand)

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    @Mike Richards, undoubtedly others

    Take a look at the brickwork on the floor. It looks to me like the bike's up against a curved bit of wall.

    And is the talking-clock mode sponsored by accu-wrist?

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