Gadget of coolness

DoCoMo is shortly to put on sale a PHS wristwatch phone. Unfortunately it lacks the true 70s sci-fi ability to speak into the thing while wearing it, but it makes up for that by doing a very nifty 80s unlock-and-transform into something approximating a phone handset at the touch of a couple of buttons. The photo below will give the general idea. You can use it to browse the web and send and receive email, and it will synchronise with Outlook, thankfully (text input looks likely to be painful using the thing itself).

One English site quotes the price at US$290, though DoCoMo officials so far appear to have refrained from naming a figure. It's "under JPY50,000" or "between JPY30,000-40,000", depending on what you read. The official sites are just creaking into life after a couple of days of being inaccessable (not sure if this is because of a deluge of gadget freak visitors or simple unpreparedness), and information is thus far scant. The release is planned sometime from April onwards, apparently.

The one shortcoming of the design is that the speaker and mike are on the inside of the strap, meaning that using it during the summer could be a bit unpleasant (especially with Japan's humidity) unless you habitually deodorise your wrists, or the device turns out to be made of some niff- and germ-resistant material.