Pimp, my watch

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

We’re including a Christmas gift guide in the upcoming issue of PC Pro, and I’m writing a page on watches. That means that my desk is littered with all sorts of mobile phone, GPS, Bluetooth and generally pretty cool watches. And, yes, I have tried wearing them all at once.

This one is my current favourite – the Pimp P2 Pusher from TokyoFlash. A terrible name, but a superbly impractical design. It doesn’t tell the time with archaic hands, or even numerical digits, but with LEDs.

The left-hand vertical column represents hours – five are illuminated here, and the 60 other LEDs represent the minutes past that hour. You can easily count blocks of five at a time, as each horizontal row is marked off along the right. In the picture above the time is five minutes past five. It takes a little getting used to, but it keeps the mind active. Or something.

I’ve been getting a bit of stick for wearing it in the office, even from our esteemed editor, Tim Danton, in this week’s podcast, but that’s probably just jealousy.

The future’s here, and it’s quite retro

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

I just got back after a couple of days off work to find two mobile phone watches have landed on my desk. That’s right – mobile phones, in a watch. Watches that are mobile phones. It’s official, the future is here, and it’s come in the form of a chunky plastic wrist accessory.

What next for Pro? Jet-packs? Flying cars? Meals in a pill? Who knows. All I can tell you is that I was running up and down Tottenham Court road at lunch pretending I was the Hoff in Knight Rider.

This particular one that I’m testing today, which strangely came with no product or manufacturer’s name but can be bought here, has Bluetooth, quad-band operation, video recording and an MP3 player, all controlled by a tiny, tiny touchscreen. Keep an eye out in PC Pro for the full reviews.