So, for the past few weeks I've been playing around with a new toy - a smart watch (obtained through AliExpress) that is fully 4G capable. That means it can be used standalone to make calls or use the internet without a smartphone.
This thing runs Android 9, has 4GB RAM, 128GB ROM, a camera, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth - in other words, it's a smartphone replacement that can be worn on your wrist. As I type this I'm listening to music being played through this device to bluetooth headphones (I used its built-in Google Play Store to download some apps, then transferred music from my computer to the watch). It can play virtually any music format, including OPUS (and that's from its own music player, never mind the apps).
I did put a SIM card in it, and it immediately connected to the carrier I use - Telus, via LTE or 4G. I don't think I'd keep a SIM card in it, or even keep WiFi running while wearing it on my wrist - I'm a little paranoid about the radiation exposure. But you don't need to - you can selectively turn things off. Bluetooth is sufficiently low power that I don't worry about it, especially since I don't usually wear a watch and won't wear this all the time.
Now for the bad things. Virtually no instructions, although it's pretty easy to figure stuff out. There are unexplained crashes, particularly of downloaded apps. The built-in ones seem to work OK, although Play Store is iffy (but it works well enough to get apps, and you don't do that every day). The battery doesn't last all that long if you do lots of smartphone-like things, such as transfer data. But it does OK playing music (including streaming Artisan Radio) and doing watch-like things such as telling time. I think it's 750mah and since most battery use is taken up by screen display, is reasonable (although I've seen watches with 1500mah+ batteries).
It was also pretty inexpensive, under C$100 when I bought it. Although now I see it at more than double that price on AliExpress - I guess I just got lucky when I bought it.
It's an interesting bit of tech, and I might use it to play music and/or Artisan Radio on my runs.
What will they think of next. But they can get 4gb of ram and 128gb storage in that little thing but not in an laptop with loads of space where they could give you TBs of storage with the space.
I don't know how you could see the internet on that tiny thing the size of a watch. Bad enough trying to see the tiny text and pictures on a smartphone.
Wow, how novel to hear about 'wrist phones' and their state-of-the-art. It reminds me of a device I tried in the early 1960s. At the time I was working in FM radio which was just starting to build in popularity with the big AM stations still dominating the market place. I read an ad in a magazine for an 'FM Wrist Radio'. As I recall it was released by a big name in wrist-watches, I think it was 'Timex' brand. It did not contain a clock... the surface had small perforations for a mini-speaker and the side of the watch contained two twisty-knobs... one for tuning and the other for volume. It tuned in the stronger stations and played them at a very feeble squeaky low-level that usually required holding the wrist up to the side of the head to get near an ear. I returned it for a refund, but it sure was an attempt to advance the science of wrist devices.