Following LG's release of a similar model, Samsung's hybrid watch/mobile phone has made something of a discrete arrival on the market.

After years of providing the technology lover in all of us with fantasies about futuristic mini gadgets, the watchphone has finally become reality.  But, what's it actually like to use a watch as your phone?

Large wrists only

Although Samsung claims it's the the 'world's slimmest watchphone', at 57.5 x 41.1 x 12 mm, the S9110 is still pretty bulky.  And you can see why too: it has a 1.76'' AMOLED touch sensitive display, which has good contrast and is almost perfectly readable in direct sunlight, despite the obvious fingerprints on the screen--and plenty of features, too.  It passes on 3G (unlike LG's watchphone), but it does have Bluetooth 2.1 to connect to the headset, as well as an audio player, voice commands, the ability to send and receive SMS/MMS messages and e-mails, browse the web and it comes with a voice recorder, a stopwatch, a calendar, a calculator and so on …


Weighing in at 91 grams, it's an impeccably finished combination of stainless steel and leather.

In Practice

When you bring the future to the present day, it's sometimes worth leaving behind some of your more ambitious visions … Try this watch on, for instance, and it immediately becomes apparent that its rigid structure is not amongst the most comfortable.  It's the same for the headset, which could be softer.


Nevertheless, it's worth pointing out that the whole thing is very high quality, and that it's easy to adjust the size of the strap.  It takes 18 seconds to start up, which is reasonable and compares well to the average for other mobiles (between 25 and 35 seconds).

The next challenge is getting used to making calls in a very unnatural way--if you can describe calling somebody a 'natural' act, that is.  For example, whether you use the voice-activated dialing, or use the built-in speakerphone (everybody else in the room is bound to like you if you do that),  then you almost end up looking ridiculous: you're talking to your watch, quite simply.  I'm sure some of you think it sounds excellent and can't wait to play out this rather unusual futuristic scene in public.  Everybody else, though, will be happier with a good old-fashioned phone that you hold up to your ear … which, incidentally, can also tell the time. 


Apart from that, using the watchphone for everything else is reasonably intuitive thanks to its accurate, responsive touchscreen.  Then again, writing a text message on a screen this small isn't that much fun.

Finally, you can spend a day with this new-age phone on your wrist before you need to recharge it.  That's normal enough, because you demand a lot less from it than from a regular multimedia phone.