OpenPandora and smartwatches

[mstn]

Hello,

while I am waiting my open pandora (unfortunately, I have to wait more than two weeks ), I am having day dreams about the possible uses of my new toy. 

I would like to share the Internet connection of a phone with OpenPandora. However, I do not want to buy a smartphone because I do not need it. Hence, I thought it could be cool to find a phone smartwatch with gsm and gps embedded. In this way I can throw away my dumb phone and make phone calls using bt headsets.

However, most of them are smartphone accessories, that is, they use a smartphone for Internet connections and calls. There are few standalone phone smartwatches, but they run Android and are quite big and I do not want to replicate Open Pandora functionalities on another device. I need just a simple gsm/gps access point. The feature to display some notifications on the watch could be nice, but nothing more than very simple text messages.

Do you have any idea? I am looking for a smartwatch, but anything portable with a screen is ok.

Thanks

Marco

 

[elwing]

I wonder what kind of smiley I could use after nearly 5years of wait...

 

[WizardStan]

Note that I'm not aware of any US retailers selling such things. What you're going to need to do is trust a Chinese manufacturer.

That being said, the VEGA 3G watch has some good recommendations. The site looks a little flaky but it's the only place to get it it seems, such is the nature of "niche" products.

edit: a general google search for "3g phone watch" returns a lot of options. You're going to need to do a LOT of research in order to find something in your price range with the features you want that won't scam you.

 

[Fzero]

Have you looked into the sWaP?

http://www.s-w-a-p.co.uk/media/videos/swap-promotional-demo-video/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F188zs2gjc

 

[EssoAir]

The i'm Watch is pretty cool too

 

[mstn]

Thanks for your suggestions. However, i'm Watch and Vega are too much smart.

I need something very simple, a sort of MiFi plus some logging capabilities.

NanoSmart from WiMe seems cool, too (but it does not have gps).

It is cheap and it runs a custom linux, but I was not able to find out more information (I sent them an email) about the OS (can I ssh on it?)

and on how much hackable it is (the same holds for the sWaPs).

An alternative could be a MiFi running linux (it is not comfortable like a watch, but it is portable anyway). I am doing some research...

But I do not think it is possible to make calls easily.

 

[WizardStan]

The LG GD910? It's about $100, very basic phone, 3G, Bluetooth, no GPS though. You'll need to ask some questions from the manufacturer though: it doesn't have wifi but it may be possible to share the internet via bluetooth.

That's going to be the most difficult feature to find, I think, getting a phone watch that can also share its data connection.

 

[comradekingu]

Data connection uses massive amounts of battery, if you want to use it over bluetooth its even worse. If you only need that, why not a usb 3g dongle. Or one of the new fancy SD card 3d dongles.

Ask the guys at #replicant on freenode about free software 3g dongles or use it as a resource for free phonery.

 

[mstn]

Thanks comradekingu, you are right. A dongle or a MiFi access point.