Those of us into high-tech watches have been wondering who would be the first to release a Bluetooth watch, and how long it would take. Just when we all thought it was going to be Seiko, Citizen has beaten them to the punch. Starting July 7th, The Citizen VIRT will be the first commercially available Bluetooth watch. Features will include:
- Pairing with your Bluetooth mobile phone.
- Vibrating call alert.
- Caller ID of incoming calls. This feature requires that the you transfer your phone’s phone book to your watch in advance. Up to 1,000 records are supported.
- Phonebook. Transferring your phone book to your watch not only enables caller ID, but also allows you to look up numbers right on your watch.
- Dropped link alert. If you phone is too far away from you, your watch warns you that the link has been dropped so you don’t end up leaving home without your phone (how dare you!).
- Call log (up to 10 numbers).
- Alarm.
- OLED display (which means it’s nice and bright without using too much battery).
- Rechargeable battery capable of functioning about five days between charges (personally, I would expect more like three once the battery gets broken in). The watch takes about three hours to fully charge.
- Available in black and silver.
- Dimensions: 40mm wide, 42.4mm tall, and 14.6mm high. (Not too bad — I definitely have watches bigger than that.)
Citizen will initially limit production to 5,000 pieces, probably to gauge market viability, and no word yet on price. Of course, none of those 5,000 watches will be sold here in the US. I just hope us poor backwater yanks can one day get our hands on some innovative wrist technology like this.
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