Citizen i:Vert — Digital Watch that Syncs with Cell Phones
Citizen watches don’t get a lot of ink … er … pixals, on GMT+9. Petew’s recent review of a long-sought-after Campanola is a noteable exception. Without objection, I’d like to focus on another unusual Citizen today. The Citizen i:VERT is a digital watch that syncs with Sharp 3G cell phones — a combination remote control, pager, message displaying and storage device. Oh, and it also tells time.
Here are some of the things the watch can do via Bluetooth technology:
- Synchronize day/time with a cell phone
- Transfer up to 10 e-mails (70 characters per e-mail) from phone to watch
- The phone can be used to operate the cell phone’s camera remotely (pictured above)
- The watch can be set to vibrate when a call is received; the call can be paused, or hung up
- The watch shows caller ID on calls the phone receives, with up to a 10 call history
- Latest news stories can be read on the watch, received from the phone
- The cell phone can be turned off using the watch interface
- The cell phone battery level can be checked using a display on the watch
It’s easy to become blasé about new technology, but imagine the work that went in to designing the integrated circuit for this watch.
Released in November 2007, the model above sells in Japan for around ¥20,000 ($200 USD). It’s a large watch at 53.1 × 45.5 × 17.3 mm. The i:VERT works with Sharp’s 3G SoftBank cell phones, including models 920SH, 820SH,and 821SH. The phones use LCD technology developed for Sharp Aquos televisions.
Investors in markets from Mumbai to Wall Street are banking on mobile devices to lead the way in computer technology sales in the coming years. Sounds like Citizen, the company that in 1993 released the first watch that syncs with atomic clock signals, is leading the charge in here too. I wonder what Seiko and Casio have up their sleeves?
For more, visit Citizen Japan’s Web site.
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