sWaP Smart watch and phone-Nova

This phone is stylishly packaged and incredibly light holding the Guinness World Record at just 40.3g

The smart sparkly red is attractive.

Ok so it looks good but how did it perform?

It should be noted that whilst the packaging says Smart Watch and Phone, the manufacturers see this particular model as being first and foremost a phone. Unlike some of their other models it does not come with any form of wristband but does come with a lanyard so it could be hung round your neck. It also comes with a pouch, headphones, USB cable,  keychain strap and spare stylus and instructions. Interestingly no plug! It however has a USB plug that pushes down from the base and can be plugged into a USB socket to charge. There is a micro SD card hidden within the USB plug at the bottom but on are review unit despite pulling it in and out the phone still declared that it did not have a storage card. I suspect this was purely an issue with the review unit.

As a phone it is certainly the smallest that I have ever seen and first impressions are that it is very stylish. I think with anything this small you have to make allowances for the fact that the manufacturers will always have to make compromises.

The SIM card was in all honestly quite a fiddle to get in! I don’t know if my review copy had been handled a lot but getting the card to click in seemed to take ages.

All the testers were given my standard test…to get it to make a call without an instruction manual! I work on the theory that a well designed device it will be obvious. Four puzzled people later…I logged on for the instruction manual…well what use is a phone that you can’t actually make a call from.  It was actually simple you just held the stylus on the clock face and it would bring up the dialling pad. The catch with that is you need to find the screen lock or you find it dialling in your bag or pocket.

The operating system seemed dated to me… it was like having a phone from about 5 years ago.

With SMS there are none of the conversation style messaging you get with modern phones and it was not particularly obvious when you had keyed in a message how you got to send it. Once you’d guessed your way there you were confused with a list of  puzzling choices. One of these was send only and if you clicked that you finally got the chance to enter your number.

It supports Bluetooth, has  a radio, audio and video player, photo gallery and a sound recorder… so quite a lot for a small gadget.

The lack of internet access and old style WAP while novel left me feeling I was missing something or maybe I have just become spoilt by the modern gadgets I have.

The only thing I managed with the WAP is to get charged for something I can see within my data connection with no extra charge. Oops.

The touch screen was a little insensitive for all the testers who found it took some very firm pressure before it would respond.

I could see it being useful as an occasional ‘fob watch’, using the lanyard, if I was out for the evening and did not want to carry a bag…but in all honestly I don’t think I would use it as my main phone but this is only due to the operating system.

The stylus is quite stiff to remove but if it was too loose then it would be forever lost. I think a man would find it uncomfortable to use over an extended period of time due to it’s size. Unfortunately the silver trim on the stylus in the demo unit fell off but again I suspect this is down to the demo unit being well used.

The call quality is not bad but has quite an echo for the person you called.  Battery life is limited but due to the small size of the phone I am not unduly surprised.

It’s a novelty for sure and I like small things a lot but on this particular device I’d love to see it have a software upgrade then I think it would be far more attractive to me.

The specifications of the phone are:-

Main

Screen
TFT 1.76” Touch Screen colour 176 x 132 Pixels

Frequency
GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz

Music
Supports Midi, WAV, AAC and MP3 formats

Video
Supports 3GP, MPEG-4 formats for playback

Sound and storage

Internal Storage
256 + 64MB (used by OS)

External Memory
2GB Micro SD Card expandable up to 8GB

Data Transfer
In-built slide out USB port in the body as well as supplied USB Cable

Bluetooth
CSR original V2.0, A2DP Supports Bluetooth stereo output for music

Loudspeaker
Incorporated with sensitive microphone for hands free operation

Size

Dimensions (box)
(L) 100.6 x (W) 80.6 x (D) 70.6mm

Dimensions (watch)
(L) 68.5 x (W) 38.0 x (D) 16.2mm (conventional mobile phone)

Weight (box)
261g (approx.)

Weight (watch)
40.3g (conventional mobile phone)

Battery

Battery
230mAh

Talk Time
120 – 150 Mins

Standby Time
82 Hours

Operation

Alarm Clock
5 optional ring-tones

Features
Time/ Date/ SMS/ MMS/ Calendar/ World Clock/ Calculator/ WAP/ Recent Calls / Missed calls / File Manager/ E-Book Reader/ FM Radio/ 500 Contacts/ Supports audio/video recording/ SOS support and much more

Language
English/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Italian/German/Russian/Arabic

Profiles
7(General/Meeting/Outdoor/Indoor/H/set/Bluetooth/Flight Mode)

Accessories
Phone, Unique slide out USB charging/data transfer point built into the body as well as supplied USB cable, Wired stereo earphones, Incorporated mini stylus, Spare additional Stylus, Faux Leather protective case, Leather keychain loop, Leather Neck lanyard, 2GB Micro SD card & Quick Start User guide. Complete with black & Silver presentation box