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Topic: Mobile OS

Wristy Business: The evolution of iWatch

Summary: From calculator watches, to smart watches, to intelligent wristbands, the wrist computer has had a storied history.

Jason Perlow

By for Tech Broiler |

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Dick Tracy's 2-way TV watch

The world's fascination with the gadget watch began in the 1930's, with the introduction of the comic book character Dick Tracy. 

Tracy was a hard-hitting police detective, outfitted in bright yellow garb and carried among other things, a Two-way wrist communicator that over time also included video capability. 

 

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Topics: Mobile OS, Smartphones, After Hours

About

Jason Perlow, Sr. Technology Editor at ZDNet, is a technologist with over two decades of experience integrating large heterogeneous multi-vendor computing environments in Fortune 500 companies. Jason is currently a Technology Solution Professional with Microsoft Corp. His expressed views do not necessarily represent those of his employer.

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9 comments
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  • Surprised you missed the Garmin Forerunner Range.

    Ok single focus units but pretty high tech all the same!
    martin_js
    Reply 1 Vote

  • Why do you all keep ignoring the imwatch?

    http://www.imsmart.com/en
    toddbottom7
    Reply 1 Vote

    • I'm a bit sus

      On the I'm think, can't find any proper contact details.
      Speaking of which, I'm all so a little sus on you! ;-)
      martin_js
      Reply Vote

      • No edit function

        I mean thing not think,
        martin_js
        Reply Vote

  • Where's the Timex Datalink/Beepwear?

    I really liked mine.

    You updated info on the watch by holding it up to your screen, which was super-cool. News came via the pager network. Think it was like $17 per year.

    Accd to the Wikipedia page, it's the "It is the first watch capable of downloading information from a computer." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Datalink)
    MammyNun
    Reply Vote

  • How about the Fossil Abacus running Palm OS?

    http://www.gizmag.com/go/1641/
    nokryptonite4me@...
    Reply Vote

  • Wrist grunge

    After a quarter century of both emotional and physical attachment to the Casio Data Bank, which I had to replace every few years, I finally gave it up for a smartphone in my pocket. There were times when having access to the data on that watch saved my bacon, if not my life (insert harrowing stories of dark streets in hostile territory, where the pin code access feature was especially useful). But, no, don't make me strap it back onto my wrist. I am happy to be free from the grunge growing under the watch band.
    wls
    Reply 2 Votes

    • Same here

      I used a Timex Datalink from the time they were first introduced, but I was happy to stop wearing it once I got a smartphone. Watches are clunky, catch on everything, gather filth in every crevice, give you a white stripe around your wrist, and these days, they look rather dorky when everyone is using a smartphone instead. An iWatch is a pointless waste of development resources.
      BillDem
      Reply 1 Vote

  • Battery life!

    Short battery life is the problem with all these watches. My ideal watch would have e-ink display, backlight, alarm with vibrate, bluetooth receiving capability and battery life of at least 6 months.
    If I have to charge my watch as frequently as my phone then I see no reason to have such watch. It is like having two smartphones for no good reason.
    paul2011
    Reply 1 Vote
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