[HN Gopher] TinyPod - Apple Watch case with scroll wheel
___________________________________________________________________
TinyPod - Apple Watch case with scroll wheel
Author : herbertl
Score : 360 points
Date : 2024-07-17 16:08 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (thetinypod.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (thetinypod.com)
| chant4747 wrote:
| Seizure warning.
|
| Edit for clarification:
|
| The scrolling implementation here flashes rapidly on Firefox for
| Mac OS.
| mrstone wrote:
| I'm on Firefox and it doesn't flash for me.
| RIMR wrote:
| Firefox for MacOS?
| leidenfrost wrote:
| I'm usinf Firefox for MacOS and it does indeed flash
| Zambyte wrote:
| I'm on Firefox Focus on Android and it is flashing for me.
| Clamchop wrote:
| Flashes on first scroll for me as well, Firefox on Android
| here.
| ioshaan wrote:
| Yes, the top half of the webpage acts as a power point
| presentation, with image flashes - instead of a smooth
| animation. - firefox on linux
| mmanfrin wrote:
| Should probably check that your site works in firefox before
| submitting to hn.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| Seems like they did, considering it works well for me on the
| latest version of FF.
| LegitShady wrote:
| do you have javascript disabled via noscript or ublock origin?
| It works fine on firefox for me.
| wvenable wrote:
| Works fine for me on FF and I have copious plugins installed.
| robofanatic wrote:
| TinyPod -> TinyPhone -> TinyPad
| RIMR wrote:
| Wow, this pitch really hooks you, and then halfway through the
| glitch-heavy presentation you're made aware that this is just a
| cheap controller for your Apple Watch, and that literally every
| feature they are advertising is a feature of the Watch, not their
| product.
|
| I would never buy this because it sounds like drop-shipped
| garbage. The marketing should be more straightforward and tell
| you what this thing actually is upfront, instead of burying the
| lede and acting like they made a new kind of phone.
| snapcaster wrote:
| Were you actually confused? Did you not read the title of the
| article but still somehow clicked it? really baffling comment
| aketchum wrote:
| a lot of negative comments here but i think this is really neat!
| It is unclear what the case adds besides the form factor and
| buttons. Is that the main value or does the case provide charging
| or additional memory or anything like that?
|
| Thanks for sharing!
| chadhutchins10 wrote:
| How does the scroll wheel work? Is it mechanical or it has some
| connection/interface with the software?
| asadm wrote:
| I feel it must be mechanical since it interfaces with crown?
| laweijfmvo wrote:
| tried to find that as well. the "How it works" section is
| completely useless.
| JadoJodo wrote:
| > "What goes around, comes around! Rediscover the delight of
| tactile scrolling with tinyPod's physical scroll wheel. And
| yes, it actually scrolls. How? Through carefully mechanized
| components inside, tinyPod's wheel makes direct rotation
| contact with your Apple Watch crown, letting it naturally
| scroll anything across the OS."
| Etheryte wrote:
| The how it works section says the following when you expand it:
|
| > Through carefully mechanized components inside, tinyPod's
| wheel makes direct rotation contact with your Apple Watch
| crown, letting it naturally scroll anything across the OS.
| orenlindsey wrote:
| It has to be mechanical, there are no input ports on the
| (current) Apple Watches.
| flemhans wrote:
| Wonder if the diag port would allow for it.
|
| > It's basically Lightning minus the PWR and ID1 pins,
| because those are for satellite accessories.
| Kirby64 wrote:
| There's no diag port any more on anything Watch 7 or later.
| They switched to a 50 GHz non-contact protocol for
| diagnostics on the Apple Watch.
| ldayley wrote:
| this kinda serves of a proof of concept for just how minimal we
| can get with a smartphone while retaining most of the "smart". I
| might even try this for a bit...
| LegitShady wrote:
| I dont think the average consumer wants this. They want a big
| screen, and flashy features, and a camera that makes ugly
| people beautiful.
| ecjhdnc2025 wrote:
| Finally I am not the average consumer!
|
| I think the parent comment's point is good -- if Apple are
| watching (pun not intended): you could make a truly tiny
| phone out of watchOS, please do it.
| LegitShady wrote:
| isn't apple getting so far out of the tiny phone game
| they've cancelled all the minis and even cancelled the next
| iphone SE?
| orenlindsey wrote:
| Yeah, the lack of a camera is a big reason why the Apple
| Watch isn't a great phone replacement.
| roughly wrote:
| Thank god they've got every existing product on the market to
| choose from, then.
| darby_nine wrote:
| Hard to say without phones available that cater towards other
| needs. I'm waiting for one that brags about not having access
| to most functionality outside of phone, gps, sms, and camera.
| compscistd wrote:
| One thing the Apple Watch is missing is being able to call a Lyft
| or Uber. Not something I do super often but it really would let
| me leave the phone at home more often.
|
| Also would have liked to see a little hole in the corner to
| thread a loop to.
| testfrequency wrote:
| Maybe an iOS shortcut could do it? Could even add inputs for
| address or current location...
|
| Looks like Maps lets you "request ride", so possibly even the
| native maps method could work here.
| colingoodman wrote:
| Uber used to have a watch app that allowed you to do this. I
| assume they canned it due to lack of usage.
| jon-wood wrote:
| The one time I used the Uber Apple Watch app it requested a
| car but no destination. I assumed they'd just ask me where
| I'm going but the driver was adamant that I had to provide
| one, which was impossible because the reason I was using the
| watch app is that I'd left my phone at home.
| camillomiller wrote:
| I don't get it. The Watch locks itself everytime it's remove from
| the wrist and doesn't stay unlocked if you unlock the screen when
| you're not wearing it then let it go to standby. So... you would
| have to input a pin every single time you use this contraption?
| Seems quite annoying compared to, you know, wearing the watch.
| asadm wrote:
| cant that be disabled? I think it can be
| borski wrote:
| Yes.
| laweijfmvo wrote:
| i guess it's the same as phones, before biometric
| authentication? but in general yeah, the watch was not designed
| to be used like this and anyone who's used a watch should be
| able to predict how bad the UX is gonna be...
| thoughtsimple wrote:
| You can turn off wrist detection so it stays unlocked.
| 0vermorrow wrote:
| It's funny how we went from using iPod Nano as a watch with a
| third party case, to using an Apple Watch as an iPod Nano with a
| third party case.
| chant4747 wrote:
| We did? I don't recall an accessory like that for the nano.
| Seems it would have been too tall (wide?) to function as a
| watch. Happy to be proven wrong though.
| jmah wrote:
| Just search for "iPod nano watch".
|
| https://www.macworld.com/article/667363/ipod-nano-6g-with-
| st...
| DHPersonal wrote:
| It's a web search away, but here's an example from an article
| posted at the premiere of the watch:
| https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/2015-apple-watch-vs-
| the-201...
| ujeezy wrote:
| It was called the TikTok: https://ujeezy-
| blog.tumblr.com/post/2869125971/unboxing-the-...
| euvin wrote:
| I thought you were making a joke about TikTok the social
| media app at first. I wonder how many other products were
| named TikTok.
| kylebenzle wrote:
| It was a ver common phrase. I think its been lost to
| history but right before "TikTok" the phrase "tic tock"
| was getting popular as a way to say, "the second-by-
| second run down", e.g. give me the tic tock.
| simonklitj wrote:
| Yeah, my cousin did this years ago. Wore it religiously too.
| sen wrote:
| I still own multiple nanos with the watch bands and the kids
| love playing with them as a "more kid-safe Apple Watch". Even
| after all these years they're still immaculate and work great.
| More than can be said by lots of other more recent technology.
| gnicholas wrote:
| This claims multi-day battery life, since wrist detection can be
| turned off. I'm curious to know how much of a difference this one
| change makes. I haven't bought an AW because the battery life
| isn't good enough for a "watch" in my book, but if it can get
| multiple days of life, and it's more like a phone replacement,
| then I'd be more likely to give it a try.
| nicce wrote:
| My charged watch (series 6)on the table without any use runs
| out of battery in 24 hours...
|
| My main reason why I don't use my watch anymore is that it
| needs to be charged all the time.
| dangus wrote:
| Get your battery replaced?
| nicce wrote:
| It is still at 90% capacity. It never lasted much longer.
| gnicholas wrote:
| I have never understood why AWs consume so much battery at
| rest. I have a Garmin that lasts for several days, and I
| would be happy to have an AW what doesn't do all the stuff
| the AW does, but which is made by Apple. It could be a
| dumbed-down version that just vibrates and displays messages
| that I receive. I basically want a smartwatch so I can avoid
| phantom vibrations, and so I can quickly see what messages
| have come in so I don't have to get out my phone all the
| time.
|
| Is this an issue with WatchOS, the chipset being used, or the
| size of battery they have chosen? I know a lot of people out
| there who do not consider an AW or any other smartwatch
| because they don't want to have yet another device to charge
| daily. There are other companies that have achieved very good
| battery life (Amazfit, Garmin, Pebble), so it is clearly
| possible to have weeks-long battery life with a feature set
| that is more than enough for people like me.
|
| I feel like I'll never have an AW until they decide to make
| an AWU-sized device, but with more battery and fewer hardcore
| workout sensors. I don't need to dive with my watch, or have
| it utilize multiple satellites for GPS. What I do need for a
| watch is to have it last for more than a day or two, so I
| don't have to bring a charger whenever I go on a trip.
| mikestew wrote:
| _Is this an issue with WatchOS, the chipset being used, or
| the size of battery they have chosen?_
|
| It is the screen (and cell radio, as I'll note below). Note
| that when Garmin started putting OLED screens in their
| watches, the battery life dropped dramatically compared to
| a watch with similar innards, but a MIP display.
|
| However, Garmin will still beat an Apple Watch for battery
| life even with an OLED display, because as you point out,
| the AW is doing a lot more in the background. And firing up
| that cellular radio is not cheap on battery, either. I've
| got a Garmin 945LTE with an LTE radio, and let me tell you
| that when that thing can't find a cell tower, it'll crank
| that radio up and burn through a battery in no time. Not so
| much that I've run out, but enough that I definitely
| noticed a large difference. It makes me wonder if that
| isn't the reason the 945 LTE has been neglected and no
| other adult watches have been made with cell radios.
|
| But, yes, make a "not so much stuff in the background"
| mode. If I'm in the middle of a 50 mile race, I don't need
| email. I don't need a lot of background refreshing. The AW
| does have a mode like that, but without going into a long
| spiel, I think Apple could do better.
| macintux wrote:
| I've found the Ultra comfortably lasts for two days if I
| don't wear it overnight, but that might change if I used it
| more actively in this form factor.
| adregan wrote:
| I've always wanted to take an apple watch and use it like a flip
| phone! This is pretty fun! I've never wanted the distraction of
| an apple watch and I appreciate the ability to put this thing in
| a pocket.
| sithadmin wrote:
| Along similar lines of thought: there is an Apple Watch case from
| Japan that replicates the once-popular Infobar 'candybar' phone
| handset: https://www.multicore.blog/p/infobar-apple-watch-case-
| review...
|
| Unfortunately the buttons are purely for aesthetics.
| peppertree wrote:
| Watch Ultra are very capable mobile devices. This came out of
| left field but I can see it working for some.
| neolefty wrote:
| Which Watch Ultra do you mean? Both Apple and Samsung products
| come up in web searches for "Watch Ultra" for me.
| mynameisvlad wrote:
| This article is pretty clearly about an " _Apple Watch_ case
| with scroll wheel ". Pretty sure which one it is can be
| inferred from context.
| ykl wrote:
| I unapologetically love this thing. It's of course very silly,
| and I'm sure commenters here are going to talk about all the ways
| that it isn't practical or that it's a niche idea, but I love
| whimsical silly niche hardware ideas that make it into actual
| hardware. I love that they put in all of the effort to figure out
| a mechanical linkage between the clickwheel and the digital
| crown!
|
| I don't think all hardware needs to be take-over-the-world
| hundred-million-unit ideas; I think sometimes it's fine for
| hardware to be whimsical niche things like this Apple Watch case
| or Andrew McCalip's doomscroller doo-dad [1]!
|
| [1] https://doomscroller.xyz
| jsheard wrote:
| Funnily enough the inspiration may have come from Apple
| themselves, before the Watch was announced they covertly tested
| it in cases made to resemble an iPod knock-off.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmgFk5hT6d8
| nsxwolf wrote:
| Does it at least do anything well? An iPod replacement would be
| fun, but the best thing about an iPod was the wired headphones.
|
| This would only work with my AirPods, which almost never work
| without fiddling with something either in the UI or by taking
| them in and out of their case.
| obmelvin wrote:
| The best thing about an iPod was most certainly not the wired
| headphones, it was how much music you could store compared to
| most preceding devices.
| xeromal wrote:
| The second best thing was the scroll wheel. Interfaces for
| music devices before it were so janky. I loved my iPod.
| Jeremy1026 wrote:
| This looks amazing. I do wonder though, how long it'll last
| before Apple C&Ds it.
| RandallBrown wrote:
| They might be able to C&D the name, but I doubt they'd do
| anything (or get anywhere if they tried) about the case.
| segasaturn wrote:
| This is great, it's the streaming iPod I always wanted!
| Preordered.
| miniatureape wrote:
| I think my perfect phone would be if Apple chopped an inch or an
| inch and a half off the bottom of the iPhone 12 mini and ran a
| slightly improved watchOS on it.
| makmanalp wrote:
| OK, in this vein, why oh why did Lyft and Uber remove their apple
| watch apps? I just need an app that's a single "take me home now"
| button so I don't have to worry about my phone battery dying when
| I'm out and about. Pretty please?
| atlasunshrugged wrote:
| Yes! This is one of the critical things I need from an on the
| go device
| free_energy_min wrote:
| if your watch can call
|
| https://www.uber.com/au/en/ride/call-to-ride/
|
| https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/make-phone-calls-apdc3...
| hrrsn wrote:
| Amazing, they've reinvented a taxi.
| throwaway55110 wrote:
| A taxi with pre-calculated price, driver and vehicle
| rating, that actually arrives on time and the driver can't
| take you around the city with a boosted taxameter to
| overcharge you. Amazing indeed.
| misiek08 wrote:
| On time? Here in europe (Germany, Poland, CZ) you get ETA
| 7 minutes, but real time is 10-12 minutes every time.
| It's going down and only the cost agreement is now better
| than taxi. Money, as always, is the only matter working
| here.
| xeromal wrote:
| I don't know anything about germany but here in the US
| except for a few select cities, taxi service was garbage
| and user hostile. Uber improved it in every way. Uber
| gives me confidence that almost everywhere in the US I
| can get a predictable ride.
| btown wrote:
| Completely speculating, but when an App Store review process
| can drive business decisions (we have to push the launch of X
| back because we're having trouble lobbying Apple to approve our
| changes), it's reasonable to see a second app as _doubling_ the
| likelihood that you end up in that situation. And even if it
| weren 't for the review processes, would every launch be at the
| mercy of reporters saying "this isn't supported on my watch,
| so..."?
|
| It's also possible that each company simply lost all the people
| who knew the watchOS APIs, and the incremental revenue
| generated wasn't worth hiring for that role again, or trying to
| convince someone else at the company to add it to their scope.
|
| Perhaps, as well, there was an expectation that Apple would be
| the one encouraging Uber to maintain and build the app, and
| give them favorable treatment on the App Store review processes
| as a way to sweeten that deal... and then when the larger
| relationships started to become more acrimonious, any ideas
| here fell by the wayside.
| praisewhitey wrote:
| Would be cool if it also had a headphone jack
| rtkwe wrote:
| It's a fully mechanical shell with no electronics so you're
| asking for a jack in the watch itself which would be pretty
| comical. For this to add a jack you'd need Apple to have put in
| a port for 3rd party accessories and provide an API for using
| it.
| praisewhitey wrote:
| There are Bluetooth adapters for wired headphones on Amazon
| that work with the Apple Watch.
| oaththrowaway wrote:
| I'd love to replace my phone with something like this. If only I
| could get Slack and Telegram to run natively without requiring a
| linked phone
| thih9 wrote:
| > What if sometimes you could just... leave your phone at home?
| With all the essentials to stay connected, tinyPod makes that
| actually possible.
|
| But that's a feature of an Apple Watch, this case doesn't impact
| this in any way - I already leave my phone at home like this and
| I don't own this case.
| colingoodman wrote:
| I also thought it was funny that they are listing features like
| apple pay and magnetic charging as if these features have
| anything to do with the case.
| lawlessone wrote:
| It also tells the time.
| zikduruqe wrote:
| Plus I'd look goofy with my tan arms with my snow white watch
| tan mark.
|
| I also seldom, if ever, leave my house with my iPhone.
| lokimedes wrote:
| I bought an Apple Watch to get away from the "screen" but of all
| evils, Apple don't let their watches pair to my car, not even for
| hands free coms. If only they would allow for regular stereo
| bluetooth and handsfree I would ditch my iPhone. Perhaps that is
| what they fear?
| nehal3m wrote:
| I just wear one AirPod, good enough for podcasts and phone
| calls.
| graypegg wrote:
| Damn... I know it won't happen, but imagine Apple building out a
| device in a form factor similar to this case, using the extra
| internal space (compared to an apple watch) for a really nice DAC
| + headphone jack... I'd buy it. A streaming iPod! WatchOS would
| need some tweaks, but really most of the software is there.
| popcalc wrote:
| >really nice DAC
|
| Is there a Tidal app for WatchOS?
| bastien2 wrote:
| Oh look, carcinisation for Apple products.
|
| ipodisation: the tendency for non-iPod Apple products to evolve
| iPod-like features over time.
| sqeaky wrote:
| What a fun and cool idea on such a horrid web page. I am curious
| what it can do, but whatever is going on is illegible and busted
| for me. I literally couldn't read any text on the left half of
| the page.
|
| I managed to scroll _down_ to a price and for what appears to be
| a tech toy $80 isn 't the worst price, people burn more on a 3d
| only to make 1 toy boat that doesn't float then stuff it in a
| closet.
|
| EDIT - Why the rollercoaster of upvotes and downvotes?
|
| Their page is busted, the toy seems neat. If you are downvoting
| can you explain why? Do you disagree about the toy? Did the
| webpage work for you?
| cocacola1 wrote:
| I absolutely loved the page. Had a lot of fun scrolling up and
| down and thought it was cleverly designed. Similar, but better,
| than what Apple does on their own pages.
| chant4747 wrote:
| Then you're not experiencing the bugs that some others are
| experiencing.
| popcalc wrote:
| Wait until you get RSI.
| sqeaky wrote:
| I suppose there is some novelty to this sort of thing. I have
| already had all that drained away years ago when this single
| all in one scrolling thing was a big fad.
|
| I never really liked this all-in-one scroll capturing pages,
| they violate so many user expectations. But I don't complain
| unless they are actually broken, others reported weird
| flashing, I am reporting bad Z-order and bad responsiveness.
| mesh wrote:
| Yeah, page is busted for me also, super janky, images flashing
| in and out.
|
| Firefox on macOS
| tills13 wrote:
| clearly built on a macbook with smooth scrolling. My mouse has
| a discrete scroll-wheel -- it snaps to the next position -- it
| makes this site a stuttering, jittery mess.
| serial_dev wrote:
| There are lots of things wrong with that page, but I didn't
| expect getting dizzy, motion sickness was going to be one of
| them.
|
| I guess it's my fault for putting up with such a garbage
| website because I was curious enough about the product...
| DistractionRect wrote:
| Firefox for Android here, it's a strobing mess. I have to
| purposely and very slowly scroll and wait for frames/images(?)
| to load in order to get any kind of cohesive
| experience/information out of the site. I think the product is
| really neat and I love the idea, but the site is insufferable.
| ninininino wrote:
| I want to know it's water resistance.
| Kirby64 wrote:
| There's 0 electronics in it. It should be fully water
| resistant, unless somehow there's an opportunity for the
| mechanical function on the scroll wheel portion to rust or
| something.
| rtkwe wrote:
| It's just a mechanical shell that connects the click wheel to
| the watch crown so in theory it should be about as good as the
| Apple Watch itself electronically. It might get a little gummy
| in the mechanism though.
| anon115 wrote:
| the website is adorable
| sktrdie wrote:
| Cool but doesn't the Apple Watch have all kinds of sensors to
| make it work against your wrist? Putting in this case will kind
| of remove the point of all those nifty hardware gadgets.
| mmmlinux wrote:
| Yep, How to make your smartwatch not have half of its
| interesting features.
| mikestew wrote:
| If I'm reading your comment correctly, most if not all of that
| can be turned off. Turn off the passcode, and it no longer
| cares if you're wearing it or not ("wrist detection " is just
| to save you entering the passcode). Apple Pay and some other
| stuff won't work, but if just want an iPod/tiny iPhone, it
| should be functional enough.
| alentred wrote:
| I love the concept! I think TinyPod is an outcry over the sizes
| of the smartphones today. The smallest most recent iPhone you
| could buy was iPhone 13 mini and it was discontinued. Don't know
| about other brands, but from what I am seeing nothing fits the
| pocket anymore. There must but a niche for those who don't read
| or watch movies on their hand-held devices, and if the apps are
| well designed a smaller screen is just fine.
| Etheryte wrote:
| Not even the pocket, all modern flagship phones are so large
| that I can't use them well with one hand. I'll stick with the
| mini till the day it does and just hope there's a better
| something out there by that time.
| hanley wrote:
| I'm hoping that Apple releases a new mini on a 3 year
| cadence. Maybe there wasn't enough demand to continue the
| line every year, but they'll bring it back occasionally?
| RulerOf wrote:
| > if the apps are well designed a smaller screen is just fine.
|
| This was the problem I ran into. They're not.
|
| I held onto the iPhone SE for quite a while. Everything became
| progressively more cramped as the years went by. Some app UI
| controls were cut off. All sorts of web stuff was laid out
| funny.
|
| While everything did _work_, I get too annoyed at knowing that
| I'm having a sub-par UX every time I see it.
| shinycode wrote:
| I have a pro max and even with this size some websites are
| cramped and badly designed. I can't imagine with a mini
| version... such a shame because it's really nice to have a
| small phone at all time
| meroes wrote:
| Pockets? So 20th Century. I'm seeing people wear their massive
| phones on lanyards around their neck all day.
| panopticon wrote:
| My hope was that the mini would be a success and they'd
| eventually had a Pro Mini line, but sadly the mini form-factor
| hasn't sold well. I would buy a Pro Mini in a heartbeat.
| heyrikin wrote:
| I'm a fan!
| serial_dev wrote:
| There is a reason "boring" websites are popular... It's cause
| they work...
| crazygringo wrote:
| Wow, I just assumed this was going to be another "design concept"
| page.
|
| But it actually has a price at the bottom and says "Shipping this
| Summer".
|
| As a design concept, I think this is funny and clever.
|
| But as a "business", I'm a bit confused. It's hard to imagine
| that more than a few hundred people might ever actually buy this,
| if even that. So then how does the hardware manufacturing work?
| This seems way too mechanically complex to just be 3D printed,
| but this seems far too niche to be manufactured at scale.
|
| I mean it's very cool if this is a kind of hobby project made out
| of love. I just don't understand how a hobby project can sell
| this at $80, and 3 size variants no less. Is it some kind of 3D
| printing of all the individual plastic parts, and then each one
| is hand-assembled by the creator on demand? But it looks way too
| smooth with exact tolerances for 3D printing.
|
| I just don't get how the financial aspect here works at all --
| not even to make money, but just not to _lose_ money. Can anyone
| enlighten me?
| its_ethan wrote:
| The main body could pretty easily be injection molded plastic,
| which can be very cheap and still quite precise. You could even
| overmold the plastic onto other components (at more cost, and
| depending on what the deisgn "inside" actually entails).
|
| A teardown of this thing would be pretty cool to see what's
| taking the scrollwheel motion and translating it into movement
| on the watches crown. That could be a (relatively) simple set
| of gears set onto some stamped aluminum sheet, which can also
| be fairly cheap.
|
| Also never underestimate a Chinese OEM when it comes to making
| something (at any scale) fast and cheap. They could maybe be in
| on a % of sales too or something? The company selling them may
| also be gambling and put an order in for 10s of thousands to
| get the price they want/need and may have to sit on their
| inventory for quite a while and are risking losing money on the
| whole. Who knows.
| herpdyderp wrote:
| All I need is for Prism player to make an Apple Watch app and
| then I'll be all over this.
| paxys wrote:
| Have to resist the urge to spend $80 on a cool gadget that I will
| use exactly once and throw away in a drawer somewhere..
| popcalc wrote:
| It's a piece of molded silicone.
| its_ethan wrote:
| Cool gadgets can't be made of molded silicone?
|
| There's definitely more to it inside that's taking the
| scrollwheel motion and translating that to motion at the
| watches crown.. I'm personally curious what the _gadget_ that
| does that looks like.
| popcalc wrote:
| https://files.catbox.moe/nwvrf5.png
|
| Based on this screenshot of the render gif you could argue
| at this point it's vaporware. The tolerances and geometry
| for the scrollwheel housing just don't make intuitive
| sense. Maybe we should get some actual footage of a
| prototype working?
| its_ethan wrote:
| What about the screenshot supports the claim it's
| vaporware?
|
| And in what way do the tolerances not make sense? Just
| from your vibe check? We don't know anything about what
| tolerances are being used/held on any of the parts
| involved with the product, so this doesn't even make
| sense as a thing to talk about?
|
| Here's the video you're asking for:
| https://x.com/thetinypod/status/1813589903722311784
| popcalc wrote:
| >Just from your vibe check?
|
| Yes.
|
| Thanks.
| jimkoen wrote:
| I wonder if there is a market for a spiritual iPod successor.
| its_ethan wrote:
| I've thought for a while Apple itself could probably have some
| pretty decent success bringing back a new generation of the
| iPod. There's a (somewhat) popular community of people who mod
| old iPods to give them ssd's, better batteries, bluetooth,
| better screens, etc.
|
| Apple could make a really cool product again, and pitch it as
| like the "anti-phone" or "anti-social media" vibe that seems to
| be gaining some popularity.
|
| I'm imagining like a weeks long battery life, large screen (but
| not like an iPod touch), bluetooth for wireless headphoens,
| ability to have more apps (basically just allowing watch apps),
| WiFi+GPS, maybe speakers if they're feeling bold... idk it
| could be cool but maybe it'd be too niche still
| spaceisballer wrote:
| I took my old iPod video and swapped out the hard drive for an
| adapter that just uses micro sd cards. I suppose you can't use
| wireless headphones but it's now ultra light and the battery
| life is great.
| callalex wrote:
| I'm unable to scroll this website on a stock iPhone running the
| latest software. It just says "Say Hello to tinyPod". Why do
| people think it's ok to hijack scrolling? You're never going to
| get it right and now I have no idea what your product is even
| though I'm the exact target audience.
| petsfed wrote:
| If its any consolation, their scroll hijacking is also hot
| garbage on desktop firefox.
|
| Granted, its a hardware company, so I'm not _that_ upset that
| their web design is atrocious, but the fact that a minimal
| level of review would 've told them this was a problem suggests
| to me that the product itself won't be as polished as the
| videos suggest.
| popcalc wrote:
| >a hardware company
|
| They are pseudonymous individual(s) promising a piece of
| molded plastic. This is marketing, not technology. As such,
| you'd expect them to know how to put together a website that
| sells.
|
| Northrop Grumman is a hardware company.
| HumblyTossed wrote:
| The device is really neat. The web site is shit. Good grief, I
| can't even put into words how much I hate having UI/UX like this.
| chankstein38 wrote:
| Agreed the pages that override scrolling are horrible.
| amelius wrote:
| That's because you don't have the tiny scroll wheel ;)
| ClassyJacket wrote:
| I despise the flickering, it's intensely distracting.
| localfirst wrote:
| was just gonna mention this it feels annoying having to scroll
| multiple times to see a fancy animation
| devin wrote:
| When did this scrolly website thing come back into fashion?
|
| I feel like it was hot about 10 years ago, and recently that
| daylight computer website and now this one use it. It's an
| incredibly bad experience that I thought we'd grown out of.
| MrJagil wrote:
| I really like this product, but I have been on this journey, and
| will repost a comment i made to a recent thread about replacing
| your phone with an apple watch. --
|
| on: One year of using an Apple Watch Ultra as a phone ...
|
| I have done this as well, but with series 4. Some notes:
|
| - Apple Watch receives calls forwarded from your phone which
| creates a bunch of weird problems: 1) Imagine you're at a bar and
| get a phone call. You need to either answer on your watch
| immediately on speakerphone which means its hard to hear the
| caller and hard for them to hear you, and your conversation is
| not private. Or, dismiss the call, go outside, put your airpods
| in, hope they connect, call back, hope they answer, and hope the
| traffic isnt too bad around you because airpods do not have best
| mics. 2) connecting airpods really suck, especially at home. You
| have to have your phone in the charger for it to forward calls to
| your watch, so when you put on your airpods, they will likely
| connect to your phone, so you run to your phone, then your
| airpods "magically" connect to your watch all the while your
| caller is shouting "hello" into the void. Not ideal for work
| calls.
|
| - I really hated not having a notes.app
|
| - messages are kinda bad, especially if you're non-english. And
| again, if you're out at a bar and meeting someone, you cant
| really wait to get home to message back, you have to noodle
| around on the small screen.
|
| - Your friends will tease you. I didnt mind, but its good to be
| prepared.
|
| - its a teeny bit annoying wearing a tech-watch. Can get a bit
| hot etc.
|
| - You need an iphone to update the watch. This really suck
| because you never really feel you actually let go of your phone,
| its a hassle updating over bluetooth, installing apps etc. I
| would LOVE an ipad/mac watch.app.
|
| - You need Siri for many things, like maps.app, searching for
| certain things etc. It really sucks, like, completely unusable.
|
| - doesnt work well switching from wifi to celluar. So many of the
| watches problems stems from connectitivty issues between wifi,
| bluetooth and celluar. That said, i agree with every upside the
| OP mentioned. I will go back to watch+airpods again when it can
| work without an iPhone for calling and software updates. I think
| one new way to get around it is to setup watch with Family Setup.
| That way it can get calls without iPhone.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39982713#39988624
| giobox wrote:
| I think the biggest issue for many is using it in a car? As far
| as I know, the watch will not pair like a phone does for calls
| using the typical bluetooth standards that work just fine
| across all conventional cellphones.
|
| Not being able to field calls in the car would make this an
| instant deal breaker before I even tried. If I have to bring a
| phone along to ensure car support, I'm stuck bringing a full-
| size cellphone with me most days anyway.
|
| Losing Apple CarPlay (potentially no navigation app at all in
| your car) will also be massive detractor for a lot of folks. If
| you don't own a car, it's probably a ton more feasible with how
| the watch functions today though.
| insane_dreamer wrote:
| brings back good memories of the iPod Nano 2nd Gen; still the
| best music player ever
| ethagknight wrote:
| I love this! I doubt I would buy it because I'm perpetually
| frustrated with WatchOS's reasonless limitations (someone texts
| you a photo and you want to zoom in on your tiny screen? sorry
| nope! plus a thousand other little things). Reminds of the 'naked
| robotic core' discussions from Accidental Tech Podcast, could
| create some really interesting possibilities and a way to sell a
| whole lot more 'watch cores'.
| imoverclocked wrote:
| Pocket watch!
|
| All it needs is a little loop for a chain. Neat concept.
| higgins wrote:
| i love that the content is organized as:
|
| What > How > Why > Buy
|
| i don't mind the shiny scroll effects and didn't know it was such
| a hot topic!
| anonygler wrote:
| This is hilariously brilliant. I love it.
| idle_zealot wrote:
| I love this thing! Phones are so huge nowadays. This nails hand
| feel and covers all the essentials (provided you pair it to an
| iPhone, ugh). Though at this size, it has me thinking... if it
| were just a little smaller, maybe if they moved the wheel to the
| side, you could probably wear this on your wrist, and then you
| wouldn't even need a pocket or bag for it! Imagine that, a little
| portable computer on your wrist. Pretty futuristic.
| ClassyJacket wrote:
| If only the Apple Watch worked without an iPhone, I would buy
| this today.
| sssilver wrote:
| You're in luck because it does and that's exactly how my
| daughter uses it at school.
| adamwong246 wrote:
| Good grief, just make me a smaller phone. Like, the size of pack
| of playing cards would be perfect. Just big enough to be useful,
| not big enough to be distracting.
| ymir_e wrote:
| This website is impressive. It's almost more apple than apple.
|
| Are pages like this typically "storyboarded", then designed in
| framer (or another tool) and from there the code is generated, or
| how does it work?
|
| People do amazing things with pure CSS, but this seems beyond
| what is sensible without some sort of tool to make the job a bit
| easier.
| racl101 wrote:
| This is cool!
| racl101 wrote:
| One way they could take the watch analogy full circle is to give
| the case a hook and sell a little chain with it. Then it's a
| pocket watch.
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