The sWaP Rebel Mobile Phone Watch
Our presenter Carl is something of a watch guru. Here, Carl takes a look at the sporty little number that is the sWaP Rebel - The wearable mobile phone for kids.
What is the sWaP Rebel?
Mobile Phone watches have been around for a couple of years now... but they've very much been grown up gadgets. Now kids it's your turn. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
Leading the way for mobile phone watches is the sWaP range - First it was the 'Classic' then the 'Active' but now they've gone all rebellious with the 'Rebel'.
The Rebel watch is brightly packaged with even more to offer, and the styling and range of colours are clearly targeted at teens. Let's start with the aesthetics: The Rebel looks bright and fun, it feels good with its rubber finish and it's exceptionally lightweight.
The Rebel's made for people with small wrists comfortably fitting wrists between 145mm - 175mm, and the watch is advertised as being suitable for 12 years plus. It has a lovely 1.46 inch touch screen and comes with a 2GB memory card. With a 130 - 160 minute talk time and 85 hours standby time, this makes for a brilliant phone/watch.
The Rebel is something that concerned parents may want to think of as a good investment. Equipping your kid with a mobile phone in a watch, means there's less excuse for losing their wearable phone, and there aren't many people that would think of looking on your son or daughter's wrist for their mobile phone. As phone theft is a particular problem with the younger generation, this is actually a fairly near solution.
Just like the 'sWaP Active', this does feel like a product made with durability in mind - the rubberised casing is designed to take a few knocks and the occasional splash of water, although it's not a waterproof device.
sWaP Rebel UK Availability:The Dyal sWaP Rebel launched in November 2010 for around £189.99. Below is a list of UK suppliers: Know another supplier? Contact us |
Functions and Anatomy
The functionality of the Rebel is excellent, as with the others in the sWaP range. The overall design appears to be more compact but it retains all of the features, such as watch display, phone, media player, still / video camera and calculator, but adds a few extras, such as an FM radio and voice recognition (for call dialling).
The touch screen makes navigating around the various functions very simple, with the on-board microphone situated at the bottom of the watch face and the speaker at the top. These are used for many of the functions, including the voice recorder, mp3 player, video player and telephone.
Top of watch face, showing speaker grille
The Rebel is equipped with a camera, for capturing still images and short video clips. The camera lens is situated on the right hand side of the watch, making it handy for those covert photographs... as long as you wear the watch on your left wrist, that is.
Side of watch, showing the camera lens
The headphone cable cleverly acts as an aerial when you're listening to the FM radio, but the strap has to be complete for this to work and whilst you can listen to the radio through the built-in speaker, you do have to keep the headphones connected to get a good reception. Here's a shot of the Rebel with the headphones attached:
The Rebel has an easy-access flip off back, which makes it both simple and secure when installing the SIM card as well as changing the micro SD memory card if required.
The Rebel comes in a range of kid-friendly colours. As well as the orange version we reviewed, there's also black, pink, orange, white and green, all of which are encased in a good-feeling silicone rubber, which is both aesthetically pleasing and visually impressive - it's another timepiece of gadget filled engineering.
I must admit, I am a fan of these products, and in particular, the genius ideas behind the design. A good example of this with the Rebel, is the end of the strap, where the USB charger / data transfer connection has been located. It's a brilliant idea for cutting down the use of additional cables and plastic covers for inputs, although there is a risk that if the strap got broken in some boisterous activity, the strap couldn't be replaced with a £10 strap from your local watch store, as the Rebel strap contains some concealed cabling and connectors.
USB connector on the strap
The headphone connection is also located on the strap in the strap band. In order to use the headphones, the USB plug on the other end of the strap has to be plugged into it, to complete the circuit.
My only real concern with the Rebel, is the location of the stylus. This is needed for easy operation of the touch screen, but of course with little fingers this is not an essential tool. The stylus is in its own little holster attached to the outside edge of the strap, but I'm not too sure about its durability, and I can't help but think that this might fall out from time to time.
Unrealized Advantages
What I particularly like about the Rebel as a child's watch, is the range of features that one takes for granted. The Rebel, when idle, displays a clock face, but there's the option to set the time display to either analogue or digital. For children still learning how to tell the time in the different formats, this is very handy, as is the world time feature with its map of the world - another handy learning tool. The calculator, calendar and to do list also have their place for educational purposes, especially handy for the older child.
 |
 |
 |
What's in the box?
Here's what's supplied with the sWaP Rebel:
- Watch
- Stylus
- 2GB memory card
- Quick start instructions
- Headphones with in-line microphone
Summary
This watch is definitely desirable for any James Bond Jr, however many parents may not find the price of nearly £200 ideal, even if it will create the coolest kind in the playground. There is a key benefit though - making sure your child always has their mobile phone with them at all times. With a pay-as-you-go SIM, you'll always be able to call them, even if there's no credit on the SIM, so there are no excuses for not being reachable.
The product is good and solid, and it's an impressively powerful device that's well worth considering.
The sWaP Rebel is available SIM-free from I Want One Of Those and Amazon.co.uk. Note that it doesn't work with the 3 mobile phone network.
|
SWAP Watch - Audio Review
Got a question about the SWAP Watch? Ask in our forum
Handy Links:
- Review of the SWAP Watch - Our look at the original SWAP
- Interview with the sWaP Watch Team - We chat about the sWaP range at Gadget Show Live
- FrequencyCast Show 33 - Featuring our audio review of the original SWAP watch.
- Mobile Phones - Information about mobile phones in the UK.
- Mobile Phone Watches - More on connected timepieces
Share This Page:
