Abstract
- The tinyPod is an Apple Watch case that has an iPod-inspired look.
- It enables you to deal with the Apple Watch’s smartphone-like options.
- There are points with usability, but it surely makes the case that the Apple Watch is extra succesful than it appears to be like.
The tinyPod, an Apple Watch case that synthesizes rising curiosity in dumbphones and retro tech into one fashionable gimmick, has made me assume loads about my wrist.
I’ve grown accustomed to sporting a watch since I began sporting one in center faculty, and in the previous couple of years, I’ve gotten extra connected to the Apple Watch than I anticipated to. My wrist feels empty with out one. Looking back, that is not all that stunning — it acts as every little thing from a bedside clock to a health tracker daily.
The tinyPod’s potential to show that smartwatch into one thing that appears and works extra like an iPod, however remains to be able to lots of the duties of an iPhone, is an fascinating experiment in restraint. However utilizing the tinyPod, I used to be much less shocked to be taught that you need to use the Apple Watch as a second, extra distraction-free cellphone, and extra shocked at how not having my Apple Watch made me really feel.
Associated
I never wear my Apple Watch without a case
An Apple Watch can break, however a very good case may also help
There is a decidedly mechanical part to this case
The tinyPod appears to be like like a basic iPod. That is completely intentional. The case is available in three sizes; 41/40mm, 45/40mm, or 49mm relying on the scale of your Apple Watch (tinyPod helps the Apple Watch Series 4 and up). When you’re wanting to avoid wasting cash or aren’t enamored with the case’s key gimmick, there’s additionally a smooth rubber model of the case and not using a scroll wheel referred to as the tinyPod Lite.
The tinyPod prices $79 for the 2 smaller sizes, and $89 for the bigger 49mm choice. The tinyPod Lite is $29 for the smaller sizes, and $39 for the 49mm mannequin. New orders for the tinyPod are presupposed to ship in three to 6 weeks, supplying you with loads of time to supply a brand new or refurbished Apple Watch should you do not have already got one. For my functions, I opted to place my Apple Watch Series 7, which has been a devoted companion for years, at this level.
In keeping with its creator Newar, the tinyPod went from an experiment to an precise product on the again of its scroll wheel, which emulates the resistance of the mechanical scroll wheel on the very first iPod. It feels good, with a easy movement, however a textured floor that feels fascinating to swipe throughout, even when it takes some getting used to. It is also one of many extra sophisticated components of the case.
From what I can inform, there is a pulley connecting the scroll wheel on the backside of the case to a gear that rests towards the Digital Crown alongside the within. Scrolling one scrolls the opposite, with the Apple Watch haptics vibrating by the case so as to add to the impact. The middle of the tinyPod scroll wheel is stable plastic and does not click on, however in any other case the case presents 1:1 management over the Digital Crown. You are still capable of push the Apple Watch’s primary button on the aspect of the tinyPod, and its bigger aspect button, too. The remainder of the case is shiny plastic, rounded corners, and a easy backplate that holds the Apple Watch in place and retains the entire thing collectively.
It’s a must to do issues like flip off wrist detection and rotate the orientation of your Apple Watch to make it work within the case, however when you do, you may have a bit of, phone-like gadget to play with. It was proper round then that I noticed that the Apple Watch actually desires to be a watch.
The Apple Watch can do loads, but it surely’s restricted
You have already got a smartphone in your wrist
The tinyPod remedy of the Apple Watch as a standalone gadget relies on actuality. Smartwatches are very advanced in 2024. They’ll have mobile radios, run shrunken-down variations of highly effective cell apps in your Calendar, Reminders, and Mail, and even have their very own App Retailer. Apple is extra devoted than most to letting the Apple Watch work like a separate gadget if it is advisable. The tinyPod is simply recontextualizing issues a bit by taking it off your wrist.
I’ve no good excuse for why I’m going for my iPhone when an Apple Watch can do the identical issues, simply barely in a different way or slower. Utilizing my Watch within the tinyPod case, I used to be struck by how phone-like the Apple Watch is from the bounce. Its display screen appears to be like large and vivid for one factor. Utilizing it on a stroll, I used to be in a position so as to add one thing to my procuring checklist for my grocery run later that day and play a podcast I had downloaded with out counting on my cellphone. At residence, I made a name and used voice dictation to shoot off a couple of fast messages. It felt, at occasions, like there was one thing to the concept an Apple Watch might step in as a extra purposeful sort of cellphone. However over time, issues added up.
watchOS shouldn’t be designed to switch iOS
Not like iOS or iPadOS, watchOS doesn’t deal with the Apple Watch’s grid of apps as its residence display screen. You will get there with the press of the Digital Crown, however when you’re inside an app, you possibly can’t return to that grid straight. Urgent the Digital Crown once more takes you again to your watch face. The Apple Watch is a watch, so displaying the time needs to be its first concern, however that places a reasonably large hamper on the goals of the tinyPod.
By default, watchOS desires to inform the time.
There are methods round it. If the app it is advisable swap to is already operating within the background, you possibly can press the Digital Crown twice and pull up the app switcher and entry different apps that means. You possibly can additionally put your most used apps as problems in your watch face to make it simpler to leap again into them. However neither choice feels as straightforward or presents as a lot flexibility as a basic residence display screen with a grid of icons.
By default, watchOS desires to inform the time. You may alter settings in order that it waits longer earlier than switching again, however finally, in case your Apple Watch show is asleep for lengthy sufficient, you may finish again up on the watch face fairly than no matter e-mail you have been taking a look at. These limitations bothered me, however primarily, I missed the watch-y issues I used to be utilizing my Sequence 7 for daily:
- As a silent alarm clock within the morning
- As a nudge to really use my standing desk
- To trace my steps after I go for a day stroll
- To provide me some perception into why I really feel horrible after staying up too late.
Contained in the tinyPod case, you do not get to reap the benefits of the issues that the Apple Watch is uniquely good at, simply the issues that it is surprisingly able to. It is the smartwatch in reverse, centered on the smarts (particularly the smarts that come from the smartphone) and never the watch.
The tinyPod makes me need to rethink how I exploit my Apple Watch
I have never been utilizing the smartwatch to its fullest
It looks like we’re removed from that world now, however at one level, the Apple Watch was anticipated to step in in your iPhone much more than it does proper now. Lots of the Watch’s abilities are remnants of the gadget it was at launch, a wrist-bound communication gadget that was a quasi-replacement in your smartphone.
tinyPod
The tinyPod is an Apple Watch case that makes the smartwatch appear like an iPod with a working scroll wheel, that is designed to reap the benefits of the Apple Watch’s smartphone-like skills.
I do not assume the tinyPod’s intelligent design makes the Apple Watch one thing it isn’t. Moreover how enjoyable it’s to play with, the principle factor the tinyPod has carried out for me is make me notice I am not utilizing my Apple Watch to the fullest. I needs to be letting my watch step in for my iPhone extra usually, particularly since I more and more have an issue utilizing my smartphone for one job and placing it down. I’ve realized I have already got a possible reply to a number of the issues of consideration the tinyPod claims to unravel, and I do not even want a particular case to make use of them.
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