PrePaidGSM.net Forum (Archived) - View Single Post

adam917 · 13-07-2009, 03:09

I have three of these no-name Chinese watch phones (M600 since 2007-12-04, N388 since mid-2008, & W08 since later in 200

and the W08 seems to be the best one I got so far. The former two are only tri-band (900/1800/1900 MHz) while the W08 is quad-band. The W08 claims to be water-resistant to 3 bars but I doubt that. The N388 & W08 have cameras while the M600 doesn't. The units with cameras are very thick & wide (20 mm thick) compared to watches with phones in them, though someone used to wearing a Casio G-Shock would adjust easily. Firmware-wise, they all seem to have the same software with a few variations here and there. Only my W08 can vibrate, while the others just remain silent when calls come in even when the vibration setting is on. I bet that the much lower battery life on the W08 is due to the quad-band radio that unit has. The N388 seems to be the worst out of all three units I bought. It detaches from a plastic base, however what held it in the first place are just two plastic clips much like what one sees on a battery door. The N388 looks exactly like the 'Hyundai' W100. The M600 still works nicely these days even though I had to replace the strap twice. M600 has the worst reception but best battery life (once got 7 days standby from when the W08 would be lucky to last 2.5). By the way, all of these models I bought came with two batteries. It sucks that none of them have standard USB connectors on the devices themselves (though the W08 & N388 have jacks that look like mini-USB, they are not).

WAP works on these, however you must manually input all connection settings in the profiles. I have successfully got it working nicely with T-Mobile's & AT&T's set-ups. Even then, you can view only very small and extremely simple pages. The units run out of memory very quickly (anyone that uses older dumbphones probably knows what I'm talking about).

Firmware is very clunky if you ask me. You have to go through each and every menu and sub-menu to find some settings.

Using bluetooth or talking through the wrist-set's mic works OK for voice but my W08 has no mic on the device itself, forcing you to use bluetooth (not a big problem if you ask me). Expect maybe a couple hours talk time at most, maybe even an hour.

I mainly have an international SIM in whichever watch phone I am wearing to take advantage of the extra coverage one gets when using such SIMs. I find the display of the MCC/MNC in the alpha tag spot at times (this seems to happen more often with my int'l SIMs as opposed to local SIMs in the watch phone though) to be a cool geeky touch. Only placed two calls on these watch phones ever, just to show someone that it really works.

All in all, I find it cool to have one of these and have foregone regular watches for stuff that actually has connectivity. I do consider these at present to be novelty devices and wouldn't suggest replacing your regular phone with one of these. They are very cheaply made and using a tiny stylus for the resistive touch screen can get very frustrating at times. I do miss having the seconds and day of the week on the main display, as well as other wristwatch features such as a better stopwatch & countdown timer.

I can't wait till LG releases their first watch phone, the GD910, and hopefully shows us how it should be done.

If anyone has any questions relating to these, just fire away.

	(#14)
adam917 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 187 Join Date: 14 Sep 2008 Location: North America Country:	13-07-2009, 03:09 I have three of these no-name Chinese watch phones (M600 since 2007-12-04, N388 since mid-2008, & W08 since later in 200 and the W08 seems to be the best one I got so far. The former two are only tri-band (900/1800/1900 MHz) while the W08 is quad-band. The W08 claims to be water-resistant to 3 bars but I doubt that. The N388 & W08 have cameras while the M600 doesn't. The units with cameras are very thick & wide (20 mm thick) compared to watches with phones in them, though someone used to wearing a Casio G-Shock would adjust easily. Firmware-wise, they all seem to have the same software with a few variations here and there. Only my W08 can vibrate, while the others just remain silent when calls come in even when the vibration setting is on. I bet that the much lower battery life on the W08 is due to the quad-band radio that unit has. The N388 seems to be the worst out of all three units I bought. It detaches from a plastic base, however what held it in the first place are just two plastic clips much like what one sees on a battery door. The N388 looks exactly like the 'Hyundai' W100. The M600 still works nicely these days even though I had to replace the strap twice. M600 has the worst reception but best battery life (once got 7 days standby from when the W08 would be lucky to last 2.5). By the way, all of these models I bought came with two batteries. It sucks that none of them have standard USB connectors on the devices themselves (though the W08 & N388 have jacks that look like mini-USB, they are not). WAP works on these, however you must manually input all connection settings in the profiles. I have successfully got it working nicely with T-Mobile's & AT&T's set-ups. Even then, you can view only very small and extremely simple pages. The units run out of memory very quickly (anyone that uses older dumbphones probably knows what I'm talking about). Firmware is very clunky if you ask me. You have to go through each and every menu and sub-menu to find some settings. Using bluetooth or talking through the wrist-set's mic works OK for voice but my W08 has no mic on the device itself, forcing you to use bluetooth (not a big problem if you ask me). Expect maybe a couple hours talk time at most, maybe even an hour. I mainly have an international SIM in whichever watch phone I am wearing to take advantage of the extra coverage one gets when using such SIMs. I find the display of the MCC/MNC in the alpha tag spot at times (this seems to happen more often with my int'l SIMs as opposed to local SIMs in the watch phone though) to be a cool geeky touch. Only placed two calls on these watch phones ever, just to show someone that it really works. All in all, I find it cool to have one of these and have foregone regular watches for stuff that actually has connectivity. I do consider these at present to be novelty devices and wouldn't suggest replacing your regular phone with one of these. They are very cheaply made and using a tiny stylus for the resistive touch screen can get very frustrating at times. I do miss having the seconds and day of the week on the main display, as well as other wristwatch features such as a better stopwatch & countdown timer. I can't wait till LG releases their first watch phone, the GD910, and hopefully shows us how it should be done. If anyone has any questions relating to these, just fire away.