Tag Heuer Meridiist Mobile Phone Is Official: Costs More Than Your Tag Watch

This could be an answer to a question the market did not ask, or it could be a great device that is (economically) ahead of its time. When Vertu came out with their ultra-high end phones, the mobile phone enthusiast world scoffed. A) why pay so much money for a phone that is going to be obsolete before I can finish paying it off, and B) why again am I paying $5000 for a phone that isn't solid gold (and even if it were...). The answer to these questions is probably obvious to most people who like cell phones, but that isn't who the Vertu or the new Tag Heuer Meridiist phone is aimed toward. Didn't see a Vertu at your local AT&T dealer? That is because you can only find them at high-end watch stores, and the same will be true for the Tag Heuer Meridiist phones. I will spare all the marketing hype and tell you what is important to know about the Meridiist. Tag Heuer decided it wanted a mobile phone. Finding success with other branded products such as eyeglasses, it felt the brand was strong enough to enter other markets. Vertu proved that at least someone was buying super expensive phones, and LVMH (Tag Heuer's parent company) felt that Tag Heuer was probably the best bet for the endeavor. About three years ago, Tag Heuer teamed with a company called Modelab, which helps companies build branded mobile phones. Tag Heuer could likely offer lots of input and engineering as to the materials and construction of the phone itself, but the actual electronics inside and software were things Tag Heuer has had no experience with. Better leave it to the experts.

Linde Werdelin Land Instrument (discussed here)

However, unlike most diving computers that go on your wrist, the Sea Instrument has a very inviting display. Well spaced information and charts take the 12 week training course out of diving computer use. Suunto for example, has an excellent range of diving watches. The top ones connect to your computer to sync all types of data. While this is interesting, I don't see how it helps you in dire situations. If the Sea Instrument has its use, it will be in easy of use and legibility. That is where Linde Werdelin can expect to collect such a high premium, not on looks and materials alone. Despite the above, one has to ask themselves what market this watch is made for. Tech couture divers? Sure. Movies wanting to depict futuristic diving tools? Sure. Mainstream divers with enormous diving equipment budgets? Sure. That seems to be just about it. Liden Werdelin will be happy selling 1000 of these watches a year. Watches like this are not designed to be mass produced. In fact most watches are not. That is part of the beauty of many watches, ownership is entrance into a small selective club. Here however, you best like the Sea Instrument from the bottom of your heart, which you may. Just don't expect to find a ton of use for it on the surface.

New Linde Werdelin Sea Instrument: Luxury Computer Diving Instrument

As if the existing range of diving computers was not enough, Linde Werdelin felt it necessary to expand their "Instrument" lineup with the Sea Instrument to compliment the Land Instrument. Sounds reasonable enough. If you recall, the Linde Werdelin Land Instrument (discussed here) is a high-end computer that sits on your wrist either in a little watch harness or on top of a Linde Werdelin Biformeter watch (they don't come together). While the Land Instrument covered such areas such as weather, altitude, and heart rate (among other functions), the Sea Instrument is meant to be a diver's companion thus showing different important pieces of information related to being underwater. Included among the Sea Instrument's features are depth gauges, dive times, decompression times, temperature, and other important data. Unlike the Land Instrument, this new model has a color display, and shares the nice sapphire crystal. The case itself comes in anodized aluminum, as well as a limited edition 18k gold case (just what every styling diver needs). The module itself has a battery rated to last for 28 hours, and presumably can be shut off when not in use. The unit comes with harness so that i can be worn like a watch along with a recharging station. Prices are high, but not "crazy" high. The aluminum version will run you about $3,000 - $4,000, and I don't really want to think about the cost of the limited edition gold version. Well, then again, prices are high for diving computers, roughly 3 to 4 times the prices of other well featured units out there. The pricing is more inline with other luxury designed watches, not diving computer watches.

Chinese Cell Phone Wrist Watches For US

"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.

The Wearfone is the first watch phone for the masses

To promote battery life, the Wearfone will not be a 3G phone, but use more traditional frequencies instead. Regardless, you'll still have to charge it every couple of days at least. They also boast the ability for the Wearfone to connect to computers and other mobile devices (meaning other phones as well?). I tend to take this to mean the watch will have Bluetooth, but not specific reports on this yet. The TV screen looking case and face are apt for the purposes this watch is designed for. While not a small watch in size, the Wearfone is humble, and makes for a respectable piece of wrist technology. I like that it features a metal (probably aluminum) bracelet, which ups the style a bit. A rubber strap would have made the thing just look cheap. Expect a number of colors and options to be available. The Fins know how to make computer based watches. Suunto is Finland based, and has been making excellent watches for years with dizzying amounts of technology that still manage to look good. If the people behind the Wearfone have their way, they should be available by the end of the year for purchase. Pricing is between about $700 - $1,500. This price, while high for a mobile phone, is reasonable for a watch that does this much. Look forward to more information as it becomes available.

Finnishly Styled ‘Wearfone’ Is Another GSM Phone Watch

From Finland comes the Wearfone, a GSM based watch phone, that is more than a concept. This production ready (with 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 Finnish Wearfone, has minimalist elements, attempting at a highly functional watch with a build in phone, that won't have you branded "nerd." Thats not to say they aren't cool. but you can really only show them off in selected nerdling cirlces; myself included. The Wearfone is the first watch phone for the masses. The bright OLED screen displayed has a traditional analog watch face as a default. It is unclear what the specific touch screen input method may be (keyboard on screen, etc...) but suffice it to say that you'll be able to make calls and SMS text message with the Wearfone. The designers indicate that the clock screen would be the default input screen for accessing functions of the phone, meaning that you'll probably have to use the tip of your finger or some stylus to input data and use the device.

Linde Werdelin Biformeter watch making it pretty slim in reality

Everything is displayed on the Land Instrument's surprisingly sharp gray four-tone 128x128 pixel LCD screen. There is a backlight that can be activated during low light situations for a few seconds at a time. Linde Werdelin's other Instrument, the Sea Instrument, features a color screen. I don't really think that a color screen is necessary on a device such as this. To properly display different colors the backlight would need to be on too much and significantly reduce the battery life. A gray scale screen is just fine here, and accordingly, it has a good level of battery life with about 60 hours of standby time. This will give you a good day or two of usability, but it will need to be recharged. It is important to note that Land Instrument is not a watch per se, meaning that it is not made to be worn all the time like a watch. If you do, you'll need to charge it pretty regularly (makes me think of the Microsoft SPOT watches). Right out of the box, the Land Instrument cannot be worn on your wrist by itself. However, a special wrist strap can be purchased separately from Linde Werdelin that you'd probably want to get if you don't have a Biformeter watch. The Land Instrument also comes with a world charger. If you take your Land Instrument on adventures, it'll be a good idea to bring along a solar charger or other types of charging equipment. The Land Instrument is a nice feeling device, and is built to be light (41 grams) yet durable. The body is constructed from aircraft grade aluminum, with a mineral glass screen. While the device looks thick, most of the underside in concave allowing for it to fit on a Linde Werdelin Biformeter watch - making it pretty slim in reality. Size wise, it is about 44mm long, 52 mm wide, and 18mm tall at its highest point. Two little hinged clips on the side of the case allow for it to be clipped on to a Biformeter watch, charger, or the Land Instrument's accessories that come with it or can be purchased from Linde Werdelin.