LAS VEGAS—Is CTIA this year the smartwatch show? I certainly started wondering that when I walked up to AT&T's big case of smartwatches at its Digital Life event, picking out the two new ones from the bunch: an updated Filip watch for kids, and Timex's new Ironman health watch. I slapped them both on my wrist to see how they're improving over what's already out there.
I reviewed the existing Filip with my 8-year-old daughter. She had a couple of complaints about the Filip that I'm happy to see the second model solves.
The original Filip doesn't lock all the way around the wrist; this one does, and it has spacers to expand the band as a kid's wrist grows. The first device also had a really irritating star-shaped cutout on the underside for the proprietary power adaptor; this one has a much smoother, round cutout that's less likely to irritate a child's wrist. In general, the new model also just seems like a more natural shape. It isn't as flat at the top, which should make it more comfortable.
Filip says in a press release that the device will be more durable, and I certainly hope so. My Filip started looking banged up within a week or so, and several of our readers have reported problems with reliability and durability of the first units.
AT&T reps told me that the Filip 2's functionality would stay pretty much the same as the original model: it tracks a kid, lets her make calls to five numbers, and lets her view short text messages. I'm pretty sure it'll have the same slightly inaccurate location tracking as the first model did, too. That's just the way cell-phone GPS chipsets work, especially indoors.
The Filip 2's danger is in its price. The original Filip was $199 plus $10/month, more than most parents wanted to pay for a device for little kids. Hopefully the Filip 2 will be a bit cheaper up front.
The Timex Ironman
I also got a demo of the Timex Ironman One GPS+, a fitness smartwatch with a whole bunch of unique features.
The Ironman One GPS+ is large, and feels rugged. Its screen has the dim, but ever-visible color of Qualcomm's relatively rare Mirasol technology - it isn't as vibrant as an LCD indoors, but looks absolutely terrific in sunlight.
The Ironman One GPS+ also has its own SIM card and 3G connection. The idea is that you can run without a phone, receiving text messages on the watch and letting the watch upload your fitness data to the Internet in real time.
An AT&T rep walked me through a demo mode showing various Ironman One GPS+ features. It has a touch screen, a built-in MP3 player that shows album art, various workout trackers, and fitness-related messaging features - not regular SMS, but "help me" emergency texting, and automatic sharing of your run and location with your friends.
Interestingly, the Ironman One GPS+ doesn't have a lot of sensors, AT&T reps said. Rather, it can pair with fitness bands and other sensors via Bluetooth LE and transmit that data to the cloud. The MP3 player connects to Bluetooth headphones
The Ironman One GPS+ will cost $399 plus $40 per year starting the second year for data. It will be available "this fall," AT&T said.