What do you call a man with a suit made of leaves?
Russell!
What do you call a new cheap watch with a strange name from Fossil?
Russell!
Cheap at $125, but certainly not leaf-sized, this is a 47mm watch, in a stainless steel case.
The crystal is mineral and it is water resistant to 50 meters.
Movement is Japanese quartz.
A quick bit of news now.
Fossil’s on-again, off-again Meta Watch is definitely on-again, having passed the FCC certification.
Release date is now slated for September 29th, although given its chequered history we wouldn’t recommend you holding your breath for it .. just yet ..
Are you eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Fossil Bluetooth Meta Watch?
Yep, so are we.
Unfortunately for us watch geeks, delivery of this smartphone loving piece has been delayed for another month – Fossil citing ‘component shortages’ as the culprit.
In the meantime you’ll just have to satisfy yourself by re-reading the technical details, winding your old-school manual watch and sobbing quietly into your Horlicks.
Or is that just us?
Whilst Fossil may not produce the highest-end watches, they definitely have a range of interesting options.
And who could complain about a GMT model for the princely sum of $145?
Made from stainless steel and measuring 52mm x 14mm, this one has a mineral crystal and is water resistant to 100 meters.
Movement is a Japanese quartz module.
You may remember the Casio Bluetooth watch, announced a while back but properly released at the recent Baselworld event.
Further to that fairly simple model, Fossil have upped the Bluetooth ante with their ‘Meta’ watch.
Based on TI’s CC2560 Bluetooth platform, the watch is capable of receiving push notifications from smartphones and tablet devices.
The interesting part here is that the watch is essentially a remote display for apps that live on the phone or tablet. This allows for the host device to do the heavy lifting for most of the application processing resulting in a lower watch power drain (battery life of seven days or so between recharges).
An SDK/developer toolkit will be available, which really opens this up to a huge range of possibilities.
Pre-order it now if you’re super keen or wait until July for the release and no doubt more extensive reviews. Looks really interesting!
[Press Release] Richardson, TX, May 3, 2011 – Meta WatchTM is proud to announce a wearable development system that enables rapid development of ‘connected-watch’ applications. With Meta Watch, developers can quickly and easily extend the interfaces of devices and applications to the wrist. The Meta Watch platforms utilize embedded Bluetooth® technology to connect to smartphones, tablets and other electronics devices. The Meta Watch SDK/API makes it easy for the watch to display information from mobile applications or Internet services. For complete information, visit www.metawatch.org.
Meta Watch platforms are available in analog digital or digital versions, and include: a 3 ATM water resistant stainless steel case; leather strap; mineral glass crystal; vibrating motor; three-axis accelerometer, and ambient light sensor. Optimized for low-power operation, both watch platforms are based on the MSP430TM ultra-low-power microcontroller and CC2560 Bluetooth host controller interface solution from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI).
“Meta Watch makes our everyday mobile experience much better by enabling us to view important mobile notifications at the right time with virtually no effort”, said Bill Geiser, Vice President Watch Technology, Fossil. “Of course, you can get this information today, but it requires many different steps. Meta Watch simply makes it more convenient and, in the process, it opens the door to new partnerships like we have with TI and a growing network of development partners.”
“TI welcomes the opportunity to work with the Meta Watch team on creating a new channel for the community, and to helping developers push the watch’s capabilities to the next level,” said Eran Sandhaus, Director of marketing, wireless connectivity solutions, TI. “TI’s MSP430 ultra-low-power microcontroller and CC2560 Bluetooth host controller interface provide a solid foundation for the next- generation, connected devices based on the Meta Watch’s sleek form factor. We look forward to seeing the Meta Watch community flourish with ideas for wearable technology that will spark new consumer experiences for years to come.”
