Back before cell phones were ubiquitous that was pretty novel. I remember being struck by how cool it was to step off the plane in Taipei and see it update to local time while I watched. Getting pages about server downtime using the email gateway was also a nice way not to lug a pager around.
The system didn't outlive Y2K, however, and since it was clear where the market was going they simply shut it down rather than fix the Y2K bugs.
Microsoft also tried to build a smart watch in 2004 with the SPOT watch.
It’s remarkable how a concept can stick around for decades waiting on an implementation that’s good enough to be viable.
Instead of trying to think of new things it’s perhaps better to go read tech magazines of prior decades finding failed ideas and trying to breathe new life into them.
Smartphones are a great example: I had Richochet wireless on a Handspring Prism almost a decade before the iPhone, including a web browser. The concepts were there but it needed generations of hardware and software improvements to make it viable as a mainstream product.
I had an iPaq too, along with a range of HTC/HP/O2 Pocket PC and Windows Mobile devices. The overall experience was dismal with a very slow Mobile IE browser and awkward UX using a stylus. Using the iPhone was like experiencing an alien technology. Flew to San Francisco from Singapore just to buy an iPhone and ordered a SIM delocker to allow me to use it on an non-AT&T network.
Having a 206MHz ARM iPaq in ~2003 blew my mind. I had the addon pack for the back and used it over WiFi without issues.
Built and sold several applications for it as well, so easy to develop for as well.
Hell you couldn't even install apps when the iPhone came out, so if you were using what was at least 5 year old technology it's no wonder you found the iPhone to be a better experience.
I bet you think the iPhone was better than the Newton too eh? Kudos on flying to SF instead of just having one shipped to you.
That Epson RC-20 model looks ready for a re-issue, and with a programmable Z80, I wouldn't even mind an exact copy (with modern battery technology). The future looked so cool back then.
Unfortunately, the UC-2000 seems to have a 1.5-year battery life, so your extrapolated 2044 watch will only work for 6 minutes before needing charged. :-)
I wear my HP-01 every day, except when working out and wearing a Fitbit. It has a few minor electrical problems but is going strong almost 40 years later. I am returning from Tokyo and visited many watch shops but there was a decided lack of new watch features this trip. I already have a Seiko e-ink watch with radio frequency setting, a Seiko Astron with GPS setting and also self charging, a Citizen also with self charging and RF setting, various smart watches like the Fossil Q, etc., but my go to since acquiring it is this HP-01. If it had “raise wrist to enable LED display” it would be even better. I would love this form factor with modern innards.
I have a bunch of these: pocket and wrist. I like them. They still work and I would wear that over an Apple watch any day. That is just taste though. I would buy a small programmable, none networked, ‘infinite battery’ watch like this now.
Do you have a bunch of this particular model, or do you have a range of these types of watches. I'd love to hear what other watches like this there are!
I saw a cool project that uses an Android phone in lieu of the original keyboard. The signal from the keyboard is spoofed via the magnetic field of the phone's speaker
MIT Wearable Computing, circa 1996:
https://imgur.com/a/AlnEYkW