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Return of the TV Wristwatch

Posted by michael on Fri Jun 04, 2004 09:03 AM
from the carpal-tunnel-syndrome dept.
Media Television Toys
An anonymous reader writes "20 years after the Seiko TV watch, another Asian firm has given it another go. The Globe and Mail in Canada got their hands on the NHJ TV Watch and have posted a review. The writer thinks it's still just way too huge to be a watch but is still impressed."
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  • I'd prefer the Seiko with the breakout box (Score:5, Interesting)

    by adzoox (615327) * on Friday June 04 2004, @09:04AM (#9334291) Journal
    The Seiko Wristwatch TV wasn't a watch and it wasn't just a "thing" on your wrist. It had a breakout box that carried audio and power that fit on your belt. The actual wrist part of the device was MUCH smaller than this device (at least as it appears in the picture)

    I got one of the Seiko's off eBay as a novelty item not too long ago. I actually would like it if someone did the same with the breakout box also being an iPod like MP3 player. I'd rather have as small a device as possible on my wrist and have it tell time, if I want higher functions - connect the breakout box.

  • Pulp fiction time! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 04 2004, @09:06AM (#9334315)
    Fabienne: Whose watch is this?
    Butch: It's a TV, baby.
    Fabienne: Whose TV is this?
    Butch: It's Zed's.
    Fabienne: Who's Zed?
    Butch: Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.
  • it's not like those of us who are actually trying to walk anywhere aren't already constantly dodging distracted pedestrians who's eyes are glued to the adverts on the bus shelters, instead of looking where they're going

    this is the sort of handy contraption that makes daily life for the rest of us that much more exciting!

  • What is it with these watches.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gorre (519164) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:06AM (#9334320) Homepage
    I really don't understand what it is with geeks and these big ugly plastic watches! Personally I just like a very simple analog wristwatch.

    • Re:What is it with these watches.... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by lukewarmfusion (726141) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:13AM (#9334376) Homepage Journal
      It's actually not a watch - it's a wrist-mounted TV unit. Which makes it a bit of a misnomer; as the article states, nobody would wear it on his wrist like he would a watch.

      Offtopic part:
      I used to have a calculator watch in 7th grade. It beeped when you pushed ANY of the buttons, and I couldn't find any way to turn the beeps off. So the teacher wouldn't let me use it on my tests, because it disturbed the rest of the class. So I was taking math tests with no calculator, too many problems to do in my head or on paper, and I was no less geek than when I had it on.

      Now I don't wear a watch at all.
  • Let me know when it's available as a pocket watch..
    • Let me know when it's available as a pocket watch..

      Oddly enough, the writer got sick of wearing it on his wrist "... is more repelling to women than a wet spot on the front of your pants..." and carried around attached to a lanyard in his pocket.
  • The Seiko thing is a pretty amazing piece of engineering for the time, IMO. But who would want to sit there staring at their wrist for more then a few seconds. I mean, after a couple minutes wouldn't your arm get tired?

    Why not make some "eyephones", not to be so gibsonesq, but wouldn't a small monitor suspended a few inches from your face make a lot more sense for 'ultraportable' TV?

  • In case anyone wants one... (Score:4, Informative)

    by antiracist (753047) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:07AM (#9334330) Homepage
    these have been available for a while now from Dynamism [dynamism.com]. they're cheaper than i would have thought at $219. probably the cheapest item dynamism carries...

  • bah (Score:2, Insightful)

    by abscondment (672321)

    TV on a watch is a waste of time. Shrink down a PDA and give me wireless access and then I'll give you a thought.

    • Re:bah (Score:3, Informative)

      by spidergoat2 (715962)
      Exactly. If the tuner is the size of a lego block, it should, ( and probably will) be incorporated into a PDA, (or better, cell phone). That would make the most sense.

    • Re:bah (Score:3, Interesting)

      by slobarnuts (666254)
      I do agree that TV is pretty much a waste of time except for the simpsons.

      But in terms of shrinking down a PDA.

      Honestly, ive always though that the PDA's were a decent size. Especially the Zaurus, given that i have to proofread my crap. The bigger the screen, the easier it is to read on the road in the absence of a laptop.

      I would refuse to do this on a wrist watch, 4-7 words at the most at a time, multiplied by the number of words, and you will see many peoples situation.

      At least for me, PDA's are an ex
    • 'TV on a watch is a waste of time.'

      I don't need a TV; I have a front loading washing machine [frigidaire.com];^) Now, if they could get that on my wrist, I'd be interested!

  • good grief! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Prince Vegeta SSJ4 (718736) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:08AM (#9334336)
    If I saw someone wearing that thing, I couldn't help but say:
    • Go Go Power Rangers

    It looks just like their wristband gadgets [powerranger.co.uk]

    • If I saw someone wearing that thing, I couldn't help but say: Go Go Power Rangers It looks just like their wristband gadgets

      Just one question... How do you know that? ;)
    • I had one of those big Casio remote control watches.

      I always had a chuckle in other people's houses... They would be flicking through the channels quite happily until I held down one of the buttons on my watch. The signal from the watch would block their remote (that's the way I like to think of it) and they would press the buttons harder and harder until finally giving up.

      I'm guessing I cost my friends enough cash over the years with their constant replacing of batteries. Did they not put two and two tog

  • Cell phones (Score:3, Insightful)

    by awhelan (781773) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:09AM (#9334346) Homepage
    Cell phones have become the piece of technology that everyone wants to show their friends now. A lot of people even use them as a replacement for their watches. There may be a market for cell phone TV's, but I can't see anybody buying this.
  • I'm not going to be satisfied until I get my flying car [moller.com]. I've given up on the personal jet pack, but I'm not backing down on the flying car.
  • What is their obsession with digital watches?
  • This is about the equivalent of when one of the members of RunDMC (I believe) wore the wall clock around his neck as a wrist watch.

  • The beginning of the end? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Synesthesiatic (679680) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:10AM (#9334356) Homepage
    Aside from the woman-repelling aesthetic, I wonder how much longer over-the-air TV will even be available. It seems like it's on the way out, with cell phones slowing creeping into its airspace.

    Without broadcast TV, gadgets like this would be useless, and perhaps replaced by those same next-gen cell phones (with an expensive TV subscription plan of course).

    • Without broadcast TV, gadgets like this would be useless.

      Except that when the time comes, these gadgets will get streaming broadcasts via WiFi.

    • In the UK, we are going to have broadcast TV indefinitely, but they are going to turn off the analog broadcast in about 2008 and have digital only. Digital broadcast - not satellite - is already up and running.

      I would imagind that the same is likely to be true in the US in due course, because there are some places which it will never by appropriate to run cable, and cutting someone off fram access to TV is downright un-American.

      Apart from anything else, what \re you going to wathc in your RV. And will the

  • Making progress (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Lord_Dweomer (648696) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:10AM (#9334363) Homepage
    Yeah...its still too huge, but its still a helluva lot smaller, and doesn't have a wire that has to go up your sleeve to the battery pack/antenna strapped to your arm. Fact is, there's been a lot of progress and once they've really worked out these flexible OLED displays, we will start to truly see a lot more miniaturization, as the display is the largest part of most of todays electronics.

  • Excellent quote (Score:5, Funny)

    by spellraiser (764337) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:11AM (#9334364) Journal

    The writer of the review is quite the humorist. For instance:

    Sacrificing my public image in the name of science, I wore it as a watch for about an hour at the local mall. If you're into female repellant, wearing it this way will give you better results than a wet spot on the front of your pants.

    In light of this, I propose that slashdot's motto be changed to: News for Nerds. Stuff That Repels Females.

    Hmmm ... maybe not. Don't see it catching on, somehow.

  • What they need to do... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by The Ultimate Fartkno (756456) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:14AM (#9334398)
    ...is have motion sensors in the watch that will let you wave the display in the air and use persistence of vision to make a bigger virtual display - kind of like they do with those LED wands that show messages in the air. That way if, y'know, your wrist was moving back and forth really rapidly then you could see a much larger image of, well, um... ...Star Trek. That's it. DS-9 all the way! w00!

  • of this thing is pretty high IMHO, it's usefullness is almost zilch. First, when was the last time you watched broadcast TV? In my case, it's been years ago; then again, I rarely watch TV at all. The only good use I can think of for this thing is at sporting events when you want the camera's view. I grow tired of "gadgety" gadgets. I want smaller, lighter and multi-functional---the first thing that comes to mind is something like a Treo 600. A good, clear screen (OLED?) coupled with broadband wireless
  • ...the Japanese can make ir smaller!

  • There is a cultural difference (Score:3, Interesting)

    by superpulpsicle (533373) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:19AM (#9334447)
    In Asian countries there is a fashionable trend and social acceptance to wearing these newly looking watches.

    Like the Casio G-shocks and other hi-tech watches, they sold like hot cakes in the mid 90s. It wasn't until the year 2000 before they start making an appearance in the U.S. This TV watch will probably be a super trend in Asia for years before people start buying it in U.S.

  • Try MY Television wrist watch (Score:3, Funny)

    by Esion Modnar (632431) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:20AM (#9334453)
    It's a 12-inch b/w tv, with lead acid battery, inverter, and little cart with wheels, like the kind used for luggage. And I have some velcro straps to lash the TV to your wrist.

    Um, so you can call it a watch.

  • As with all gadgets... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by WormholeFiend (674934) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:23AM (#9334479)
    The usage bottleneck is still the battery... limited to one hour of tv in this instance.

  • In Berlin, they turned analog VHF/UHF off and switched to digital DVB-T this spring. The rest of good old Germany will follow suit in the next couple of years, which would make this the most expensive display of white noise around :-). A DVB-T wristwatch with a USB port would be very cool though: watch TV while they send that 2gigabyte file to your Notebook...

  • Another product for the same old sports niche (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ianscot (591483) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:24AM (#9334489)
    Wow, a portable video player with a tiny, tiny screen. This one, rather than storing stuff on a HD, limits you to VHF and UHF signals -- so I guess it's in a different niche than the various "iPod killers" we see coming down the pike lately.

    Instead it's the "I want to hear (and kinda squint to watch) the broadcast while I'm at the game" niche. This has the same appeal as an old lug-it-to-the-game TV from 1980ish. The article's right: it's for the "news/sports junkie" and that's about it. Only, of course, news junkies want CNN and sports junkies want ESPN, neither of which'll come in.

    What this article mainly does is impress me with the product Seiko made 20 years ago. The market for the new version isn't any better now -- if anything it's smaller, because people don't think of broadcast signals as the entire universe of TV any more. Eh (shrugs).

  • Phones, maybe. Watches, no way. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Octagon Most (522688) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:30AM (#9334520)
    Phones with TV reception are far more likely to receive mass acceptance than these wrist monstrosities. Toshiba and NEC have working models in Japan, check this WSJ review [wsj.com], and SprintPCS is brining MobiTV [mobitv.com] to some of its models in the U.S.

  • Wow, the thing is huge! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Judg3 (88435) <jeremy.pavleck@com> on Friday June 04 2004, @09:33AM (#9334545) Homepage Journal
    I used to have a Timex BeepWear Pro, and let me tell you - that thing wore out it's welcome real fast. It was 3 times the thickness of a normal watch, larger overall then a normal watch, and took 3 batteries which lasted about a month. I think I wore it for about 5-6 weeks before finally getting rid of it.
    It just screamed "I'm a geek!" and was way to cumbersome to be useful.
    From the looks of this TV watch, it would be the same way. Neat toy for a few hours/days, then relegated to the drawer of forgotten tech

  • jesus this is dumb (Score:4, Interesting)

    by sbma44 (694130) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:36AM (#9334568)
    Enough with the Dick Tracy fantasies! The idea of a TV watch is asinine. Practical considerations about size aside, there's no point to it. The point of a wristwatch is that it can be looked at immediately at any time. If you feel like checking the time, your wristwatch allows you to do it immediately, anywhere. The operation takes about half a second.

    These attributes do not apply to watching television. Whatever video you watch will probably be of sufficient length that the time wasted fishing a larger, more useful device out of your pocket is negligible. This is why wristphones are stupid, too. If the device's use takes more than a split second and/or it doesn't need to be accessible on an instant whim, there is no reason to put it on your wrist. I'm all for video-enabled cell phones. I see no reason why my portable electronics need to reside somewhere other than my pockets. Hey, why not attach an ipod to a headband? The controls would be SUPER accessible!

    Now can we please forget these stupid wristwatch gadgets and get on with the flying cars?

  • LCD screens (Score:3, Interesting)

    by zymano (581466) on Friday June 04 2004, @10:08AM (#9334880)
    Can't compare to OLED screens. They still use too much power. The light emitter is always on therefore wasted energy. An Fed (field emitting display) is more efficient but is not mass produced by anyone.

  • TiVo? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MellieMel (784726) on Friday June 04 2004, @01:10PM (#9337125)
    Why do we need this? Seriously. What do you have to watch that is so time-critical that you MUST see it real-time? The News? What self-respecting geek watches TV news, when there's Google? Sports? Use a radio, check the scores online, or go to a sports bar.

    If there's something on that I want to see, but will be out of the house for, I just TiVo it. If I wanted to be low-tech about it, I could use my trusty VCR to tape it. Either way, I can watch Good Eats when I get home. I see no reason to carry a postage-stamp-sized TV with me. Are y'all that addicted to Jerry Springer?
    • WHY?

      So you can have a convenient WebTV based interface with which to interact with your toaster remotely from the mall, silly.

      KFG
    • I want a watch that tells the time and just tells the time. A cell phone that only makes calls. A keyboard without Internet Keys. Why do I end up paying a premium for these simple devices? :(

      Please note that you are not forced to purchase this TV watch. You can buy a watch that just tells time at any number of stores. In fact, I understand that they are rather common and have gotten less expensive over time.

      As far as the cell phone goes, I want one that can receive calls as well, and find the fact that mine can store numbers to be very useful. Oddly enough each cell phone I have purchased it less expensive than the previous one and superior in every way.

      I have an IBM Model M keyboard that just had its tenth birthday. Why pay a premium for a new keyboard when you can just keep using your existing keyboard? If you want one, head to your local thrift store.

    • Re:I used to have a TV watch (Score:4, Funny)

      by Phisbut (761268) on Friday June 04 2004, @09:15AM (#9334413)
      And with the cable constantly following you, you could always know how to get back home... now, it's a little riskier to go outside with no string leading you home... maybe you should invest in a wristwatch GPS too? ;-)

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