Mobile Phone Watch review
Pictured to the right is the SWAP Mobile Phone Watch, from Dyal. We got our hands on one of these in early November, and now our Carl is wearing one with pride.
If you heard Show 33 of our podcast, you’ll know that this watch contains a mobile phone and a 1.3Meg still and video camera. It has Bluetooth, MP3 music player and a video player.
Since our audio review, we’ve had a stack of questions about the watch, so we’ve created a page dedicated to the SWAP watch, and to answer your questions. You can see our review, Carl’s comments, an FAQ and some screenshots on our SWAP Watch page.
The SWAP is supplied SIM-free, and works with the major UK mobile phone networks, except 3. It’s available from I want one of those (Want 5% off? Use code AOFF5 at checkout!).
Really tempted to buy the Sony Ericsson Bluetooth™ Watch MBW-150 Executive. But then again the SWAP watch looks kinda nice…
What do you think?
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/first-look/groping-sony-ericssons-non+geeky-mbw+150-bluetooth-watch-268826.php
There are many new Mobile Phone Watch models available now at reasonable prices!
Have a look at http://www.flying-penguin.co.uk
you say there is a stulus for this thing with virtual keyboard, but is it easy to use if you just wanna send a quick text or is it a pain?
I just wanted to quickly ask if the device supports custom SMS notification sound from an mp3/WAV file?
Well i got this for christmas,it was locked on my home network in Ireland.When I moved to England it worked,but the hands free headset would not to the watch.which meant talking in to it all the time.Then I lost the charger and the battery died.When i got a new charger the watch refuses to charge,its just dead.
Ant re the SMS questions-no its not easy to send quick txt’s as you have to hit tiny letters on the screen,or you can use the stylus to attempt to write the letters but the watch doesn’t do this well.
hey im from america and im wondering if this would work on cingular. does it? please respond
Hey, just found even more mobile phone watches at http://www.flying-penguin.co.uk/mobile_phone_watch
They are so cool!
i bought a swap watch but the screen is locked i cannot even enter my pin. what now
Hi With reference to the gentleman that has an iPhone and cvannot get the sim card out
I work on iphone and to remove the sim card simply put and opened out paperclip in the small hole beside the headphone jack and pull up. This wil lsafely remove the sim from the iphone
Does it support pdf? What if I want to insert text documents inside and read them later on?
What about greek language?
The problem again with the SWAP watch is that it’s so darn expensive! There’s a load at http://www.mobilephonewatches.co.uk/ – for a lot less, but more functionality.
Okay people – this may shock for you but this sWaP watch is absolutely disappointingly rubbish at times.
I have made a list of problems:
The manual included is not for the classic version of the watch. It is a standard for any of the sWaP selection, and therefore cannot be detailed. Their English is basically NOT English, as half of the intstructions are complete doubledutch xD
You cannot always access the shortcuts on the black ‘strip’ at the bottom of the screen. This means you hardly ever have the option of dialling in a number manually, which leads to having to create a new contact in order to dial a new number… On the odd occasion, the black shortcut strip works; but you can only acces three at the most, as the music player shortcut only works if you have: Gone through a very long, fiddly menu to find “Audio Player”. After that, if you start music going and go to the home screen, it may work… VERY unreliable…
Next, the “Calibration” option on the menu rarely works, so you end up not being able to do anything on your watch except use the two buttons on the side…
The day names do not always fit on the home screen, and consequently it says: “endesday”.
It is very restricted when it comes to playing video/music files, and if you click on a file type it does not recognise on video, the screen goes black and it crashes for a few seconds before returning you to the home screen, meaning you need to go through the fiddly menu yet again…
You cannot place your music files into folders for easy browsing – just the one “Music” folder – meaning you end up scrolling through 100s of tracks to find the one you want.
As I said earlier, the English in the manual was practically illegible, and further proof of their range of English vocabularly is shown when you remove the earphone/headset cable. It says Earphone “plugged-out”. At least they used the logic that it is the opposite of “plugged-in”.
If you buy the silver sWaP watch, you will have a slot for both the T-FLash/SD Card and the Sim Card, but the classic does not have slots – you are required to remove the battery on the reverse of the product to be able to access these two key features. Also, in the manual for the watch it clearly states you should have a slot, which can get confusing if you take the manual seriously.
The touch screen regularly “dies”, meaning you cannot do anything but use the buttons.
WEIGHT. This is a HUGE problem. With the stylus, SD Card and Sim Card, this enormous chunk of metal weighs an enormous 191g / 6.7 oz according to my new scales! So not only does the watch double up as a phone, but it’s also a brilliant wrist-worn dumbbell too!
When you would like to call one of your contacts, it stated “IP Dial” instead of saying normal “Dial”. I am under the impression that IP Dialing is VoIP Dialing – over the internet, and maybe the sWaP company didn’t even know the difference between VoIP and normal Dialing?
The final little annoyance of this phone that I am aware of so far is of the mobile internet WAP/GPRS function. Due to its unique and new creation, the sWaP Watch is quite tricky to get online, as hardly any of the mobile phone service providers support it. I still have not managed to get it online with ASDA Mobile, which is to my knowledge the cheapest, and I bought this sWaP on the 17th of April at the Gadget Show Live…
My overall view of this little sWaP is that it is great to show off to your mates, but is not a replacement for your current phone. Just something to show your mates, then sit in a cupboard for ages. It is, sadly, still a work in progress. Being as it is, it is too heavy and fiddly for daily use. Lets hope the sWaP v2 is released soon :)
I have a few ways around the problems above, but they aren’t fixes, so if you would like any help, feel free to reply. :)
I was wondering is anyone recognised this? :O
http://www.flying-penguin.co.uk/mobile_phone_watch/w600-stainless-steel-mobile-phone-watch-tri-band-p-3
and
http://www.mobilephonewatches.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=175&name=ds800-mobile-phone-watch-in-stainless-steel
Ohh after looking at the sWaP website, it says that the weight of the watch is 160g :) I think I must have made a mistake, or I could be because I had the stylus and the wrist strap too? :P Sorry abotu that.
Ohh after looking at the sWaP website, it says that the weight of the watch is 160g :) I think I must have made a mistake, or I could be because I had the stylus and the wrist strap too? :P Sorry about that.
SORRY about the name I gave myself. Just to clarify, i am not owner of the company – I am the proud owner of oine of the sWaP Watches. ;)
Dear sIrs,
I got a Swap with German language I want to change the face language to English how can I do it?
Thanks
I got new swap watch, but the problem is the moment I open Video recorder, everything Hangs Up, Only choice to open battery dial(restart watch).
Is there any solution to this problem?????
Even If I wanna restore factory set-up which code shud I use to do it??
Plz. help me out on this.
Kaps
Dear Sir,
I got new swap watch on 14th of March 10 from Flight KL 0567, Sales Id 261812, Transaction 70500731706551, FB 002028051696, I had completed online registration on 15th of March10.
Some problems which I am facing are as below:-
Audio Player
I can easily add my favourite songs (mp3) in micro SD card & it is visible in PC but as soon as I put into the watch, Its disappears. Its shows only three default songs.
I want to listen mp3 though my BT handset, for this I am going to Audio player, then option, then setting, then BT stereo Headset. It shows None, then I select Inquiry BT Device then after searching finally its shows Empty.
Video Player
I can easily add my favourite video clips (mp4) in micro SD card & it is visible but when I want to play, its shows Invalid video file. Its play only one default songs(3gp).
Image Viewer
I can easily add my favourite image (jpg) in micro SD card & it is visible but when I want to view, its shows image size too large limit.
Plz. help me out on this. Plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Yes,Neeraj Arora. We are all experiencing the same problems… It’s as if the sWaP has ben released but not finished!! It has…
Hello–Can you disable the screensaver so that the watch always displays the time?
For instructions on disabling the screensaver, see https://www.frequencycast.co.uk/swapwatch.html#faq
i’m thinking of getting one of these but apparently the qwerty keyboards are fiddly :L would you be able to pair it with a mini bluetooth keyboard :D
I got the same problem with sWap phone, i kept it for a month in my closet and when i tried to charge it, its totally dead. It’s not charging anymore.why?
Unfortunately, it’s a hugely disappointing gadget. Incomplete and impractical.
i have just got a swap watch im on virgin sim and all i get is no service can any one help
I need a mwb -100 charger can any one help it’s a old phone watch regards Ian.