K2008 GSM Watch Phone Review

I 've blogged earlier about the K2008 Watch Phone which is so far the smallest watch phone available. Palmdoc has a short review of it at MMA.

Palmdoc got “racuned” by Docfiles
Anyway rather than carry two phones around, why not 1 pdaphone and 1 watch. In this case, a watch phone. This is a cheap made-in-China mobile watch phone which is a simple GSM/GPRS (no Edge or 3G) phone the size of a wrist watch. It has Bluetooth which allows you to use a BT headset. Audio quality via BT is quite good.
You can even talk with the speaker phone and look like Dick Tracey!
This phone is qute light and slim. Has a free 512MB TF card installed and you can store MP3s and videos on it. It comes with a USB cable which is used to charge and this also enables you to access the watch like a thumb drive.

Cons:
Weak battery - only 350 mAH
Kludgy slow input using handwriting. Keying in SMS is a tedious affair
Audio via speakerphone is soft. You can’t use it in anything other than a quiet environment.
Not waterproof
Pros:
Cheap
Extraordinary Geek Factor (this overcomes whatever Cons there are)

In case you’re wondering I am using my Treo 680 as a data phone for push email, IM and SMS. The Treo of course is indispensible for all those medical and utility PDA applications.
The watch phone will be use purely for phone calls and the occasional SMS.

Close ups:

Here are more comparison pictures of the K2008.

K2008 vs M815 watchphone Size
Originally uploaded by docfiles.

Here is a picture of both. The K2008 is slimmer.

K808 Watch Phone
Originally uploaded by docfiles.

I had a chance to check out the new K2008 watch phone. It is the thinnest watch phone so far. Here it is next to my M815.Sorry about the dim picture, but this was taken at night outside McDonalds!

It is about 5mm thinner an lighter. It does not have a camera but has a micro sd slot which supports up to a 2 gig MicroSD. The screen is square compared to the M815. It does not have a camera or vibration mode. The analog watch mode does have a second hand, unlike the other models.

These are the specifications :

Specifications

Frequency	Tri-band 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
Style	Watch phone
Display	1.3", 65'000 colors, 128 x 160 px
Languages	Simplified Chinese, traditonal Chinese, English, some other languages according to the quantity
Ringtone	64 chord polyphonic, MP3, MIDI
Music	support to play music of MP3/WAV, and can use gifted Bluetooth stereo earphone to enjoy music
Video	3GP, MP4, support to play in full screen, speed and pause; support Bluetooth stereo output
File formats	JPG, GIF, MP3, MIDI, 3GP, MP4
Memory	505K/give a TF card(512M) as present, support to extend, Document management
Data transfer	USB data wire/U disc/ Bluetooth (file transmission, stereo, remote control)
Internet	WAP, GPRS
Phonebook	250 groups of contacts of carte de visit, support incoming call with big head sticker, grouping ring
Messaging	support SMS, MMS, SMS group sending
Power switch	support auto start/close, can set user-defined photo of starting/closing
Alarm	5 groups; can set from Monday to Sunday at random
Games	Intelligent Puzzle, QQ2007
Talk time	120 - 150 minutes
Standby time	70 - 100 hours
Dimensions	52 x 41 x 13 mm
Color	Black, White, GOLD or PINK
Miscellaneous	Handsfree, Voice recorder, Handwritten input, Bluetooth, Memory extended, E-book, calendar, memo, alarm clock, world time, stopwatch, health management, photo book, sound recording, calculator, unit, rates exchange etc

The main drawback of this unit is the battery life. It hardly gets through 1 day. It has a 350mAH battery(rated for 100 hour stand by) compared to the 550mAH battery(rated for 140-200 hours stand by) of the M815. Realistically I can get 2 full days of use of the M815 but only about 1 day from the K2008. Thats the price you pay for the thinner phone.

You can check out more pictures and get it at Mobile-Watch-Phone

The price is about RM 600.