Time ticking on watch phones status as gimmicks?

Polarising opinion once again in the mobile phone blogosphere today are watch phones. The cause of the all the kerfuffle is the LG GD910. First sighted during Feb this year, it has now resurfaced on news sites after LG quashed rumours it was due in the UK in July.

The Mirror and Tech Radar are very firmly in the fans’ camp and even go so far as to list five reasons to invest in the phone. But elsewhere, naysayers are dubbing the LG GD910 little more than a gimmick.

Whichever assessment proves true, it seems that watchphones have been a hit with the public. In an exclusive interview today on Top 10 Broadband, the manufacturer of the sWaP phone claims that demand is five times greater than they’d been expecting. The firm, which only entered the sector a matter of months ago, also outlines plans for a host of new watch phones due later this year.

Personally, I think watch phones are pretty cool – in a kind of retro modern, golden age of Sci-Fi kind of way. And if, as the chap from sWaP suggests, they keep getting high-end features, I even think they might even shed their gimmick tag, too.

LG confirms status as the one to watch

Let it be known, I’m a big fan of classic sci-fi. Actually let’s amend I’m a big fan of the set design and the optimistic worldview of genre staples like Star Trek and Space 1999. They speak of a world where in the near future anything was possible. And better yet, where domestic robots would do the hard work, so we don’t have to.

It’s perhaps not surprising then that I’m putting my name down for LG’s retro-modern watch handset. Dubbed the LG Touch watch phone, judged on looks alone it appears to be a truly wondrous thing indeed.

But I don’t think that the admittedly small demographic of fans of retro-modernism will be only the takers for the phone. Its standout design is likely to be a hit with anyone who is bored of the same old same old approach to the appearance of mobile phones. And given that we’re served a near-constant diet of candybars and sliders, that’s got to be quite a few disgruntled consumers hungry for something new.

The phone is no slouch in the specifications department either. HSDPA connectivity means fast downloads, while video calling, media playback and web browsing ought to seal the deal.

There’s no official release date yet, with LG stating only that it’ll be out “later this year”. I can’t wait.