IT'S ABOUT TIME
For years, I've liked Casio watches for their ability to blend cool functionality, into relatively inexpensive and durable watches.
For a while, my preferences skewed towards big, thick watches with as much technology as could be stuffed into them. Lately though, I've been leaning towards slimmer, lighter, and simple watches, with this "Skin Chrono" Swatch model being my recent favorite.
Well, this post in WristDreams, one of my favorite sites to keep up with the latest on matters watch related, highlights a new model from Casio, called the i-Range, may become my next favorite:
"Casio announces two new slim design solar radio controlled wristwatches.
The watches are 7.65 mm thick and feature solar charging and Japanese and US atomic clock time synchronization. Other Casio i-RANGE features include: 48 cities world time, 5 alarms, stopwatch and EL Backlight.
The IRW-100DJ-7AJF is stainless steel, while the IRW-100BJ-1JF has a leather band. Both sell for 20,000 yen ($178.38)."
It incorporates a thin, light watch that automatically sets itself by radio to the US atomic clock.
The multiple times zones help, and it comes in black...the only thing that could make it better would be to have multiple, interchangeable faces as in the Microsoft Spot watches. By the way, "SPOT" stands for "Smart, Personal, Objects Technology"...Microsoft probably paid extra for that catchy acronym.
The multiple faces are the only cool thing about the Microsoft watches, in my humble opinion, the rest of the features being overkill in those otherwise bloated watches (see image below), that come with their own charger and yearly subscription plans! Here are two reviews from ZDNet and Infosyncworld, a year apart, if you'd like to learn more.
Back to the i-Range, now I've just got to wait for the US Casio site to catch up with their press releases, and list the thing in its online catalog.
I'd love to have a SmartPhone (a'la Treo 650) built in :-)
Posted by: Zoli Erdos | Friday, July 15, 2005 at 05:05 PM