The future is finally here...

Remember when you were a kid and people in sci-fi shows had really cool gadgets in their watches, like Dick Tracey's video watch, or Michael Knight talking to KITT through his watch...?

Well, that future has arrived.

A few years ago I heard tale of a mobile-phone-in-a-watch called 'Wristmo' - it looked really clumsy and was remarkably feature-free. And you only got it in Japan.
Now you can get something so much better that that, in the UK, for a surprisingly reasonable price. The sWaP watch. Get one (appropriately enough) from iwantoneofthose.com for a mere £250.

How cool is that? It is a watch combined with all the features of a contemporary mobile phone. So you can send and receive texts and multimedia messages, it can play mp3s or even mp4 video clips, it has a built in speaker / microphone so you can actually use it as a phone without attaching any extra bits. But if you want to attach stuff you can include a wired 'hands free' kit or even a bluetooth headset.

Here's the features list:

• A watch, a mobile phone and a media centre all rolled into one.
  
• Choose from a number of different watch faces stored in the sWap Watches' memory.
  
• Pop your SIM card into the watch and it's easy to make and receive calls
  
• 1.5 inch TFT colour touch screen so you can watch movies!
  
• Includes a hands free kit, Bluetooth headset and a stylus (plus one spare) for negotiating the touch screen.
  
• The stylus is stored in a handy slot built in to the watch strap.
  
• No need to buy a new SIM card - simply take it out of your mobile and pop it in the watch.
  
• Receives SMS, MMS and can display recent and missed calls.
  
• Store up to 300 contacts.
  
• Built in alarm clock has 5 different tones to choose from.
  
• Compatible with all UK networks except 3.
  
• Record audio using the hands-free kit's mic and use the craftily concealed 1.3 megapixel camera to take pics and record video.
  
• 128MB memory can be expanded up to 2GB with a Micro SD card (not included).
  
• Supports MP3, MIDI, WAV, AAC and MP4 files.
  
• Standby time: 100 hours.
  
• Talk time: 150-180mins.
  
• Requires a 650mAh rechargeable battery (included).

Sounds fantastic! The only alarm bell I get while reading that list is the word 'stylus' - can it not be operated using fingers?

But can I justify buying one? No.

:o(

I already have a gadget phone that does all that and more. And I have an iPod. The combination of those two satisfies most of my portable gadget needs. And the sWaP doesn't do wi-fi, e-mail or mobile internet (well, it does GPRS, but...).

But it is highly cool.