Hands on with sWaP Active: the watch that's also a phone

 

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Posted on 12 Feb 2010 at 16:53

Fed up of lugging around both a watch and a phone everywhere you go? No, we thought not, but apparently sWaP, innovators of mobile watchphone technology, think you should be. sWaP stands for smart watch and phone, and the firm's product range is larger than you might expect considering it consists entirely of watches that are also phones.

The new Active edition is a touchscreen "watchphone" and operates with all networks except 3 - you merely need to supply the SIM card. It weighs 74g, measures 240x59x16mm and costs £300 including VAT from www.amazon.co.uk.

It's water resistant (although can't be submerged) and is aimed at sporty types who enjoy outdoor activities. The watchphone can connect to any Bluetooth device and has a hands-free mode so you don't have to keep your wrist pressed against your ear to make calls. sWaP’s own bright orange Bluetooth headset is also provided.

sWaP claims the Active has 100 hours of standby time and up to 180 minutes of talk time. It can be recharged via a USB connection, which can also be used to transfer data from a PC or laptop onto the included 2GB Micro SD card.

There's a built-in camera which can take stills and record videos with sound. You can also listen to music and watch video clips on the move with the stereo headphones provided or via the built-in speaker. Sadly, video playback is at only 15fps and, when we got our hands on a demo watch at the launch, it didn't impress us much.

We were left less than convinced that we'd use most of the functions so generously packed in: particularly once we'd lost the tiny stylus which is stored in the strap and were reduced to poking at the menu with our sausage-like fingers. True, with the headset stylishly ensconced in our ear, it was almost like using a normal mobile; but with a good deal more prodding about. Texting on the 1.5in touchscreen is done with a vaguely absurd full QWERTY keyboard, and there are other functions such as the calendar, alarm, calculator and to-do-list.

We have to admit that the target market will be those who will go mad for the gadget aspect. But that leaves it in novelty territory, and we can't help feeling that both the price and experience would be a lot more attractive if the whole package was simplified a bit.

We will, of course, wait until we've had a proper evaluation before lamenting the lack of lasers: in the meantime you can find out all the info you need here.

Author: Jim Martin