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Sony Ericsson MBW-100 unboxing

by Chris Ziegler posted Dec 11th 2006 @ 2:31PM

Yeah, early reviews seem to indicate that Sony Ericsson's MBW-100 Bluetooth (along with its Fossil and Abacus cousins) watch isn't all that, mainly on account of its bulk, its price, and the fact that it only seems to work with Sony Ericsson phones -- but that doesn't mean it isn't still cool. Reader Gareth was kind enough to send us some comprehensive eye candy of his MBW-100's unboxing, and he reports a pretty positive experience with it so far. In pairing it with his P990i, he found that setup was super easy and the controls / caller ID were quick to operate, but the crown jewel might be the "out of range" functionality that notified him quickly when he left his abode sans phone. Click on for the rest of the pictures!

[Thanks, Gareth M.]

Continue reading Sony Ericsson MBW-100 unboxing

Fossil's Bluetooth watches earn FCC thumbs-up

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 28th 2006 @ 4:14PM

It pretty much goes without saying that these little morsels of wrist tech were going to be finding their way into the FCC's clutches, but it's still always interesting to browse the documents nonetheless. It appears that this filing represent approvals for Fossil's own FX6001, along with the Abacus branded AU6001 and AU6002 and the Sony Ericsson MBW-100, which makes sense considering the guts are identical among all four variants. Most notable for folks anxiously awaiting the arrival of these timepieces in their friendly local Fossil shop will probably be the user's manual, which while short and sweet, still manages to convey the stuff you absolutely need to know for when you tear that box open. Enjoy the reading material!

Sony Ericsson's MBW-100 Bluetooth watch reviewed

by Conrad Quilty-Harper posted Oct 28th 2006 @ 11:57AM

The concept of a watch that does anything more than just display the time and date has so far been a commercially unsuccessful one. Plenty have tried to make gadget phones that people actually want to wear, but all have failed. The most recent attempt to do a gadget watch properly is Sony Ericsson and Fossil's MBW-100 Bluetooth watch, which PC Magazine recently reviewed. Rather than going all out and designing a watch with full PDA functions, the partner companies decided to design a watch that could display simple information -- caller ID, text messages -- sent to it from a Bluetooth enabled phone. It's this "watch first, gadget second" approach that gives the MBW-100 immediate appeal to non-geeks, but unfortunately this particular watch isn't going to usher in a new era where everyone wears such a device. The MBW-100 is too expensive ($399), too limited (it currently only works with Sony Ericsson phones), and is too bulky for mainstream appeal (men with skinny wrists need not apply), although it's the closest that anyone has come to successfully integrating gadget functions into a wrist watch without sacrificing style and the whole displaying-the-time thing. Hopefully future iterations will really get it right: watch this space for more.

Fossil drops three more Bluetooth watches

by Paul Miller posted Sep 28th 2006 @ 12:01PM

Sony Ericsson and Fossil didn't just get their hands dirty with a single power-user Bluetooth watch, it turns out they have 'em for the unwashed masses as well. On the left we have the Fossil Caller ID FX6001, while they other two answer to ABACUS MobileWear AU6001 and AU6002. Unfortunately, these watches look to be lacking any sort of music playback controls, and are still beholden to Sony Ericsson compatibility -- though it doesn't seem like it'd be too hard to hack up a phone from a different manufacturer for some Bluetooth watch fun. The good news is that these watches are headed straight for the States, on the cheap. The FX6001 will be available in late October for $250, while the AU6001 and AU6002 will be out in mid-October for $200, with some UK and Germany availability as well. Friends, these are good days to be in possession of a wrist.

Sony Ericsson and Fossil team up for Bluetooth watch

by Paul Miller posted Sep 28th 2006 @ 10:00AM

We're just not sure what there isn't to love about Sony Ericsson and Fossil joining forces to bust out sexy Bluetooth watches. The duo's new MBW-100 effortlessly pulls off that "I'm probably a secret agent, but I don't need to parade it around" look that we've been trying to pull off ever since we can remember, and the watch packs in some useful Bluetooth 2.0 stuff as well. First off, there's a straight-up analog watch face, which keeps this thing classy, while a small OLED display below helps you manage the Bluetooth functions, shows incoming caller and notifies you of new SMS messages. If receiving a call, you can tap a button to silence the phone ringer, twice to reject the call, while another button handles play/pause and track skipping on your music player. The stainless steel watches will come in the silver color pictured, along with a limited-edition black version, and Sony Ericsson hopes to be shipping these globally Q4 2006 for around 300 Euros ($382 US). Head over to Engadget for a few hugemongous pics and a pre-release user guide snippet we got our hands on.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]