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TinyPod – Apple Watch case with scroll wheel
- chant4747 2y agoSeizure warning. Edit for clarification: The scrolling implementation here flashes rapidly on Firefox for Mac OS.
- mrstone 2y agoI'm on Firefox and it doesn't flash for me.
- RIMR 2y agoFirefox for MacOS?
- leidenfrost 2y agoI'm usinf Firefox for MacOS and it does indeed flash
- Zambyte 2y agoI'm on Firefox Focus on Android and it is flashing for me.
- Clamchop 2y agoFlashes on first scroll for me as well, Firefox on Android here.
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- pipeline_peak 2y ago[flagged]
- chant4747 2y agoDon’t quit your day job.
- pipeline_peak 2y agoThat's not the proper use of the phrase lol...
- chant4747 2y agoIf it wasn't clear enough, I was saying your joke didn't land. Hence - don't quit your day job for a career in comedy. Which is indeed proper usage of the phrase. Sorry if you were offended - it was intended to be repartee. For what it's worth, while I didn't like your comments, none of them deserved to be flagged - which this site has an annoying obsession with using to censor anyone's opinion who comes across with bite or even just contrarian, which has its place on the internet despite what the mods here believe.
- sqeaky 2y agoDumping on other peoples software baselessly? Haven't decades old flamewars... gotten old? Looking back at your comment history, I can at least I can thank you for recycling. Too bad you can't get carbon credits recycling jokes.
- pipeline_peak 2y ago[flagged]
- sqeaky 2y ago> I just think it's silly when you guys cry that modern sites don't support your decrepit charity browser. > > Clearly you took it so personally that you dug through my comment history. I look through most comment histories before responding. Because of this, I know that you are mostly reasonable on other topics. I find it interesting that you think prodding back is "crying", can you not take it as well as you deal it? What did Mozilla do to you that makes you go from reasonable javascript coder to raging troll on this one specific topic?
- ioshaan 2y agoYes, the top half of the webpage acts as a power point presentation, with image flashes - instead of a smooth animation. - firefox on linux
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- kva 2y ago[flagged]
- tantalor 2y ago[flagged]
- laweijfmvo 2y agoi seriously hate this design
- rtkwe 2y agoIt's been around for a half decade or more I think it's here to stay. If it really impacted sales you'd expect people to have figured it out and stopped using it by now.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mmanfrin 2y agoShould probably check that your site works in firefox before submitting to hn.
- stronglikedan 2y agoSeems like they did, considering it works well for me on the latest version of FF.
- LegitShady 2y agodo you have javascript disabled via noscript or ublock origin? It works fine on firefox for me.
- wvenable 2y agoWorks fine for me on FF and I have copious plugins installed.
- robofanatic 2y agoTinyPod -> TinyPhone -> TinyPad
- RIMR 2y agoWow, this pitch really hooks you, and then halfway through the glitch-heavy presentation you're made aware that this is just a cheap controller for your Apple Watch, and that literally every feature they are advertising is a feature of the Watch, not their product. I would never buy this because it sounds like drop-shipped garbage. The marketing should be more straightforward and tell you what this thing actually is upfront, instead of burying the lede and acting like they made a new kind of phone.
- snapcaster 2y agoWere you actually confused? Did you not read the title of the article but still somehow clicked it? really baffling comment
- aketchum 2y agoa lot of negative comments here but i think this is really neat! It is unclear what the case adds besides the form factor and buttons. Is that the main value or does the case provide charging or additional memory or anything like that? Thanks for sharing!
- chadhutchins10 2y agoHow does the scroll wheel work? Is it mechanical or it has some connection/interface with the software?
- asadm 2y agoI feel it must be mechanical since it interfaces with crown?
- laweijfmvo 2y agotried to find that as well. the "How it works" section is completely useless.
- JadoJodo 2y ago> "What goes around, comes around! Rediscover the delight of tactile scrolling with tinyPod’s physical scroll wheel. And yes, it actually scrolls. How? Through carefully mechanized components inside, tinyPod's wheel makes direct rotation contact with your Apple Watch crown, letting it naturally scroll anything across the OS."
- Etheryte 2y agoThe how it works section says the following when you expand it: > Through carefully mechanized components inside, tinyPod's wheel makes direct rotation contact with your Apple Watch crown, letting it naturally scroll anything across the OS.
- orenlindsey 2y agoIt has to be mechanical, there are no input ports on the (current) Apple Watches.
- flemhans 2y agoWonder if the diag port would allow for it. > It's basically Lightning minus the PWR and ID1 pins, because those are for satellite accessories.
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- ldayley 2y agothis kinda serves of a proof of concept for just how minimal we can get with a smartphone while retaining most of the "smart". I might even try this for a bit...
- LegitShady 2y agoI dont think the average consumer wants this. They want a big screen, and flashy features, and a camera that makes ugly people beautiful.
- ecjhdnc2025 2y agoFinally I am not the average consumer! I think the parent comment's point is good -- if Apple are watching (pun not intended): you could make a truly tiny phone out of watchOS, please do it.
- LegitShady 2y agoisn't apple getting so far out of the tiny phone game they've cancelled all the minis and even cancelled the next iphone SE?
- orenlindsey 2y agoYeah, the lack of a camera is a big reason why the Apple Watch isn't a great phone replacement.
- roughly 2y agoThank god they’ve got every existing product on the market to choose from, then.
- darby_nine 2y agoHard to say without phones available that cater towards other needs. I'm waiting for one that brags about not having access to most functionality outside of phone, gps, sms, and camera.
- compscistd 2y agoOne thing the Apple Watch is missing is being able to call a Lyft or Uber. Not something I do super often but it really would let me leave the phone at home more often. Also would have liked to see a little hole in the corner to thread a loop to.
- testfrequency 2y agoMaybe an iOS shortcut could do it? Could even add inputs for address or current location… Looks like Maps lets you “request ride”, so possibly even the native maps method could work here.
- m0dest 2y agoFrom what I can tell, the "Request Ride" intent for Uber is broken (throws error on any request) and has been like this for at least 2 years. The Ride Request API [1] seems closed off to developers now, too. [1] https://developer.uber.com/docs/riders/introduction https://developer.uber.com/docs/riders/introduction
- rcarmo 2y agoShortcuts was massively downgraded within one or two Apple-first releases (the original app was amazing, let me do local automations on the watch that included texting and API calls)
- colingoodman 2y agoUber used to have a watch app that allowed you to do this. I assume they canned it due to lack of usage.
- jon-wood 2y agoThe one time I used the Uber Apple Watch app it requested a car but no destination. I assumed they’d just ask me where I’m going but the driver was adamant that I had to provide one, which was impossible because the reason I was using the watch app is that I’d left my phone at home.
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- camillomiller 2y agoI don’t get it. The Watch locks itself everytime it’s remove from the wrist and doesn’t stay unlocked if you unlock the screen when you’re not wearing it then let it go to standby. So… you would have to input a pin every single time you use this contraption? Seems quite annoying compared to, you know, wearing the watch.
- asadm 2y agocant that be disabled? I think it can be
- borski 2y agoYes.
- laweijfmvo 2y agoi guess it's the same as phones, before biometric authentication? but in general yeah, the watch was not designed to be used like this and anyone who's used a watch should be able to predict how bad the UX is gonna be...
- thoughtsimple 2y agoYou can turn off wrist detection so it stays unlocked.
- 0vermorrow 2y agoIt's funny how we went from using iPod Nano as a watch with a third party case, to using an Apple Watch as an iPod Nano with a third party case.
- chant4747 2y agoWe did? I don’t recall an accessory like that for the nano. Seems it would have been too tall (wide?) to function as a watch. Happy to be proven wrong though.
- jmah 2y agoJust search for "iPod nano watch". https://www.macworld.com/article/667363/ipod-nano-6g-with-strap-vs-apple-watch-comparison-review.html https://www.macworld.com/article/667363/ipod-nano-6g-with-st...
- DHPersonal 2y agoIt's a web search away, but here's an example from an article posted at the premiere of the watch: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/2015-apple-watch-vs-the-2011-ipod-nano-watch/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/2015-apple-watch-vs-the-201...
- ujeezy 2y agoIt was called the TikTok: https://ujeezy-blog.tumblr.com/post/2869125971/unboxing-the-tiktok https://ujeezy-blog.tumblr.com/post/2869125971/unboxing-the-...
- euvin 2y agoI thought you were making a joke about TikTok the social media app at first. I wonder how many other products were named TikTok.
- kylebenzle 2y agoIt was a ver common phrase. I think its been lost to history but right before "TikTok" the phrase "tic tock" was getting popular as a way to say, "the second-by-second run down", e.g. give me the tic tock.
- gnicholas 2y agoThis claims multi-day battery life, since wrist detection can be turned off. I’m curious to know how much of a difference this one change makes. I haven’t bought an AW because the battery life isn’t good enough for a “watch” in my book, but if it can get multiple days of life, and it’s more like a phone replacement, then I’d be more likely to give it a try.
- nicce 2y agoMy charged watch (series 6)on the table without any use runs out of battery in 24 hours… My main reason why I don’t use my watch anymore is that it needs to be charged all the time.
- dangus 2y agoGet your battery replaced?
- nicce 2y agoIt is still at 90% capacity. It never lasted much longer.
- gnicholas 2y agoI have never understood why AWs consume so much battery at rest. I have a Garmin that lasts for several days, and I would be happy to have an AW what doesn't do all the stuff the AW does, but which is made by Apple. It could be a dumbed-down version that just vibrates and displays messages that I receive. I basically want a smartwatch so I can avoid phantom vibrations, and so I can quickly see what messages have come in so I don't have to get out my phone all the time. Is this an issue with WatchOS, the chipset being used, or the size of battery they have chosen? I know a lot of people out there who do not consider an AW or any other smartwatch because they don't want to have yet another device to charge daily. There are other companies that have achieved very good battery life (Amazfit, Garmin, Pebble), so it is clearly possible to have weeks-long battery life with a feature set that is more than enough for people like me. I feel like I'll never have an AW until they decide to make an AWU-sized device, but with more battery and fewer hardcore workout sensors. I don't need to dive with my watch, or have it utilize multiple satellites for GPS. What I do need for a watch is to have it last for more than a day or two, so I don't have to bring a charger whenever I go on a trip.
- adregan 2y agoI've always wanted to take an apple watch and use it like a flip phone! This is pretty fun! I've never wanted the distraction of an apple watch and I appreciate the ability to put this thing in a pocket.
- sithadmin 2y agoAlong similar lines of thought: there is an Apple Watch case from Japan that replicates the once-popular Infobar 'candybar' phone handset: https://www.multicore.blog/p/infobar-apple-watch-case-review-kddi-fukasawa https://www.multicore.blog/p/infobar-apple-watch-case-review... Unfortunately the buttons are purely for aesthetics.
- nirav72 2y agoThat is neat. I wonder if the antenna is there for aesthetics ? Also, would've been better if it folded up like a clamshell phone from the early 2000s.
- peppertree 2y agoWatch Ultra are very capable mobile devices. This came out of left field but I can see it working for some.
- neolefty 2y agoWhich Watch Ultra do you mean? Both Apple and Samsung products come up in web searches for "Watch Ultra" for me.
- mynameisvlad 2y agoThis article is pretty clearly about an "Apple Watch case with scroll wheel". Pretty sure which one it is can be inferred from context.
- ykl 2y agoI unapologetically love this thing. It's of course very silly, and I'm sure commenters here are going to talk about all the ways that it isn't practical or that it's a niche idea, but I love whimsical silly niche hardware ideas that make it into actual hardware. I love that they put in all of the effort to figure out a mechanical linkage between the clickwheel and the digital crown! I don't think all hardware needs to be take-over-the-world hundred-million-unit ideas; I think sometimes it's fine for hardware to be whimsical niche things like this Apple Watch case or Andrew McCalip's doomscroller doo-dad [1]! [1] https://doomscroller.xyz https://doomscroller.xyz
- jsheard 2y agoFunnily enough the inspiration may have come from Apple themselves, before the Watch was announced they covertly tested it in cases made to resemble an iPod knock-off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmgFk5hT6d8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmgFk5hT6d8
- Xeyz0r 2y agoAdds a layer of authenticity and nostalgia to the product
- nsxwolf 2y agoDoes it at least do anything well? An iPod replacement would be fun, but the best thing about an iPod was the wired headphones. This would only work with my AirPods, which almost never work without fiddling with something either in the UI or by taking them in and out of their case.
- Jeremy1026 2y agoThis looks amazing. I do wonder though, how long it'll last before Apple C&Ds it.
- RandallBrown 2y agoThey might be able to C&D the name, but I doubt they'd do anything (or get anywhere if they tried) about the case.
- Jeremy1026 2y agoThe website is trade dress to the max. The average user would probably scroll through the page and assume this is an official product from Apple. Their logo is deceptively similar to Apple's, the name of the product is similar, the click wheel design is possibly infringing on some patent Apple owns.
- segasaturn 2y agoThis is great, it's the streaming iPod I always wanted! Preordered.
- miniatureape 2y agoI think my perfect phone would be if Apple chopped an inch or an inch and a half off the bottom of the iPhone 12 mini and ran a slightly improved watchOS on it.
- makmanalp 2y agoOK, in this vein, why oh why did Lyft and Uber remove their apple watch apps? I just need an app that's a single "take me home now" button so I don't have to worry about my phone battery dying when I'm out and about. Pretty please?
- atlasunshrugged 2y agoYes! This is one of the critical things I need from an on the go device
- free_energy_min 2y agoif your watch can call https://www.uber.com/au/en/ride/call-to-ride/ https://www.uber.com/au/en/ride/call-to-ride/ https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/make-phone-calls-apdc38d7a95e/watchos https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/make-phone-calls-apdc3...
- hrrsn 2y agoAmazing, they've reinvented a taxi.
- throwaway55110 2y agoA taxi with pre-calculated price, driver and vehicle rating, that actually arrives on time and the driver can't take you around the city with a boosted taxameter to overcharge you. Amazing indeed.
- praisewhitey 2y agoWould be cool if it also had a headphone jack
- rtkwe 2y agoIt's a fully mechanical shell with no electronics so you're asking for a jack in the watch itself which would be pretty comical. For this to add a jack you'd need Apple to have put in a port for 3rd party accessories and provide an API for using it.
- praisewhitey 2y agoThere are Bluetooth adapters for wired headphones on Amazon that work with the Apple Watch.
- luxuryballs 2y agoHow does it provide 32gb of offline storage? I can’t figure it out.
- oaththrowaway 2y agoI'd love to replace my phone with something like this. If only I could get Slack and Telegram to run natively without requiring a linked phone
- thih9 2y ago> What if sometimes you could just… leave your phone at home? With all the essentials to stay connected, tinyPod makes that actually possible. But that’s a feature of an Apple Watch, this case doesn’t impact this in any way - I already leave my phone at home like this and I don’t own this case.
- colingoodman 2y agoI also thought it was funny that they are listing features like apple pay and magnetic charging as if these features have anything to do with the case.
- lawlessone 2y agoIt also tells the time.
- yibbix 2y agoThis. Coupled with the fact that all their promotional material looks like renders and there isn’t a single photo/video of someone actually using it, makes the whole thing feel sketchy.
- zikduruqe 2y agoPlus I'd look goofy with my tan arms with my snow white watch tan mark. I also seldom, if ever, leave my house with my iPhone.
- pbronez 2y agoOne real feature: improved battery life. This might let me leave my phone in my bag and stop worrying about the watch battery.
- lokimedes 2y agoI bought an Apple Watch to get away from the “screen” but of all evils, Apple don’t let their watches pair to my car, not even for hands free coms. If only they would allow for regular stereo bluetooth and handsfree I would ditch my iPhone. Perhaps that is what they fear?
- nehal3m 2y agoI just wear one AirPod, good enough for podcasts and phone calls.
- askvictor 2y agoI'd jump at this (or even just a straight Apple watch) to replace my phone if it didn't require an iPhone in order to use it (I currently use Android; seems a bit silly to buy an iPhone purely to enable a watch). Hoping they consider this use case eventually, and it's worth remembering that early ipods required a mac to use, and early iphones required a computer to set them up.
- dmattia 2y agoIn my case, my wife has an iPhone, so I was able to setup an Apple Watch as my primary phone, while I do not have any phone other than my watch. So if you're on a family plan, maybe that's an option
- worthless-trash 2y agoI'm not getting a family just to get an apple watch, cmon ;)
- tomaskafka 2y agoHaving tried hard to only wear LTE watch instead of phone, I can confirm that yes, that is what Apple fears. They could easily turn AW into an iPhone replacement with a few fixes, but they won't.
- graypegg 2y agoDamn... I know it won't happen, but imagine Apple building out a device in a form factor similar to this case, using the extra internal space (compared to an apple watch) for a really nice DAC + headphone jack... I'd buy it. A streaming iPod! WatchOS would need some tweaks, but really most of the software is there.
- popcalc 2y ago>really nice DAC Is there a Tidal app for WatchOS?
- bastien2 2y agoOh look, carcinisation for Apple products. ipodisation: the tendency for non-iPod Apple products to evolve iPod-like features over time.
- jojobas 2y agoImplying apple products are not cancer on their own right.
- PaulRobinson 2y agoCancers are serious conditions that are the cause of 25%-30% of all deaths. 1 in 2 people will have a form of cancer in their lifetimes. Cancers can have devastating long-term consequences beyond the illness itself, even if you survive. Treatment, recovery and sometimes remission is physically and mentally damaging. But perhaps I'm the one who is wrong. Please, explain what you meant exactly so I can understand your perspective.
- ragazzina 2y agoI am not the OP, but "cancer" is used as, and I quote, "(figuratively) Something damaging that spreads throughout something else". In that sense, the commenter could be implying, for example, that Apple products damage the electronic gadgets industry with their closed and anticompetitive policies, spreading silently (because users buy more of them to use the whole ecosystem).
- jojobas 2y agoThat, and cause some hard to repair changes to people's understanding and evaluation of hardware and software.
- evilduck 2y agoCarcinisation is a term unrelated to cancer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation
- sqeaky 2y agoWhat a fun and cool idea on such a horrid web page. I am curious what it can do, but whatever is going on is illegible and busted for me. I literally couldn't read any text on the left half of the page. I managed to scroll down to a price and for what appears to be a tech toy $80 isn't the worst price, people burn more on a 3d only to make 1 toy boat that doesn't float then stuff it in a closet. EDIT - Why the rollercoaster of upvotes and downvotes? Their page is busted, the toy seems neat. If you are downvoting can you explain why? Do you disagree about the toy? Did the webpage work for you?
- cocacola1 2y agoI absolutely loved the page. Had a lot of fun scrolling up and down and thought it was cleverly designed. Similar, but better, than what Apple does on their own pages.
- chant4747 2y agoThen you’re not experiencing the bugs that some others are experiencing.
- popcalc 2y agoWait until you get RSI.
- sqeaky 2y agoI suppose there is some novelty to this sort of thing. I have already had all that drained away years ago when this single all in one scrolling thing was a big fad. I never really liked this all-in-one scroll capturing pages, they violate so many user expectations. But I don't complain unless they are actually broken, others reported weird flashing, I am reporting bad Z-order and bad responsiveness.
- mesh 2y agoYeah, page is busted for me also, super janky, images flashing in and out. Firefox on macOS
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- ninininino 2y agoI want to know it's water resistance.
- Kirby64 2y agoThere's 0 electronics in it. It should be fully water resistant, unless somehow there's an opportunity for the mechanical function on the scroll wheel portion to rust or something.
- rtkwe 2y agoIt's just a mechanical shell that connects the click wheel to the watch crown so in theory it should be about as good as the Apple Watch itself electronically. It might get a little gummy in the mechanism though.
- anon115 2y agothe website is adorable
- sktrdie 2y agoCool but doesn't the Apple Watch have all kinds of sensors to make it work against your wrist? Putting in this case will kind of remove the point of all those nifty hardware gadgets.
- mmmlinux 2y agoYep, How to make your smartwatch not have half of its interesting features.
- mikestew 2y agoIf I’m reading your comment correctly, most if not all of that can be turned off. Turn off the passcode, and it no longer cares if you’re wearing it or not (“wrist detection “ is just to save you entering the passcode). Apple Pay and some other stuff won’t work, but if just want an iPod/tiny iPhone, it should be functional enough.
- alentred 2y agoI love the concept! I think TinyPod is an outcry over the sizes of the smartphones today. The smallest most recent iPhone you could buy was iPhone 13 mini and it was discontinued. Don't know about other brands, but from what I am seeing nothing fits the pocket anymore. There must but a niche for those who don't read or watch movies on their hand-held devices, and if the apps are well designed a smaller screen is just fine.
- Etheryte 2y agoNot even the pocket, all modern flagship phones are so large that I can't use them well with one hand. I'll stick with the mini till the day it does and just hope there's a better something out there by that time.
- hanley 2y agoI'm hoping that Apple releases a new mini on a 3 year cadence. Maybe there wasn't enough demand to continue the line every year, but they'll bring it back occasionally?
- BSTRhino 2y agoAgreed. The moment the iPhone mini comes back, I am buying one straight away
- maxboyd 2y agoThey'll pry my mini from my cold dead (regular sized) hands
- WhereIsTheTruth 2y agosame, but they'll ruin it by putting a stove in the back.. iPhone 5 still is the perfect form factor for a phone, at least for me
- teaearlgraycold 2y agoMy issue is I want a mini with the pro features. I’d happily pay the same price as the pro. But I doubt I’m a common type of customer.
- heyrikin 2y agoI'm a fan!
- serial_dev 2y agoThere is a reason "boring" websites are popular... It's cause they work...
- crazygringo 2y agoWow, I just assumed this was going to be another "design concept" page. But it actually has a price at the bottom and says "Shipping this Summer". As a design concept, I think this is funny and clever. But as a "business", I'm a bit confused. It's hard to imagine that more than a few hundred people might ever actually buy this, if even that. So then how does the hardware manufacturing work? This seems way too mechanically complex to just be 3D printed, but this seems far too niche to be manufactured at scale. I mean it's very cool if this is a kind of hobby project made out of love. I just don't understand how a hobby project can sell this at $80, and 3 size variants no less. Is it some kind of 3D printing of all the individual plastic parts, and then each one is hand-assembled by the creator on demand? But it looks way too smooth with exact tolerances for 3D printing. I just don't get how the financial aspect here works at all -- not even to make money, but just not to lose money. Can anyone enlighten me?
- its_ethan 2y agoThe main body could pretty easily be injection molded plastic, which can be very cheap and still quite precise. You could even overmold the plastic onto other components (at more cost, and depending on what the deisgn "inside" actually entails). A teardown of this thing would be pretty cool to see what's taking the scrollwheel motion and translating it into movement on the watches crown. That could be a (relatively) simple set of gears set onto some stamped aluminum sheet, which can also be fairly cheap. Also never underestimate a Chinese OEM when it comes to making something (at any scale) fast and cheap. They could maybe be in on a % of sales too or something? The company selling them may also be gambling and put an order in for 10s of thousands to get the price they want/need and may have to sit on their inventory for quite a while and are risking losing money on the whole. Who knows.
- herpdyderp 2y agoAll I need is for Prism player to make an Apple Watch app and then I'll be all over this.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- paxys 2y agoHave to resist the urge to spend $80 on a cool gadget that I will use exactly once and throw away in a drawer somewhere..
- popcalc 2y agoIt's a piece of molded silicone.
- its_ethan 2y agoCool gadgets can't be made of molded silicone? There's definitely more to it inside that's taking the scrollwheel motion and translating that to motion at the watches crown.. I'm personally curious what the gadget that does that looks like.
- popcalc 2y agohttps://files.catbox.moe/nwvrf5.png https://files.catbox.moe/nwvrf5.png Based on this screenshot of the render gif you could argue at this point it's vaporware. The tolerances and geometry for the scrollwheel housing just don't make intuitive sense. Maybe we should get some actual footage of a prototype working?
- its_ethan 2y agoWhat about the screenshot supports the claim it's vaporware? And in what way do the tolerances not make sense? Just from your vibe check? We don't know anything about what tolerances are being used/held on any of the parts involved with the product, so this doesn't even make sense as a thing to talk about? Here's the video you're asking for: https://x.com/thetinypod/status/1813589903722311784 https://x.com/thetinypod/status/1813589903722311784
- popcalc 2y ago>Just from your vibe check? Yes. Thanks.
- awesomeMilou 2y agoI wonder if there is a market for a spiritual iPod successor.
- its_ethan 2y agoI've thought for a while Apple itself could probably have some pretty decent success bringing back a new generation of the iPod. There's a (somewhat) popular community of people who mod old iPods to give them ssd's, better batteries, bluetooth, better screens, etc. Apple could make a really cool product again, and pitch it as like the "anti-phone" or "anti-social media" vibe that seems to be gaining some popularity. I'm imagining like a weeks long battery life, large screen (but not like an iPod touch), bluetooth for wireless headphoens, ability to have more apps (basically just allowing watch apps), WiFi+GPS, maybe speakers if they're feeling bold... idk it could be cool but maybe it'd be too niche still
- spaceisballer 2y agoI took my old iPod video and swapped out the hard drive for an adapter that just uses micro sd cards. I suppose you can’t use wireless headphones but it’s now ultra light and the battery life is great.
- jordemort 2y agoThere is at least some market for it, judging by the amount of money raised by Tangara: https://www.crowdsupply.com/cool-tech-zone/tangara https://www.crowdsupply.com/cool-tech-zone/tangara
- callalex 2y agoI’m unable to scroll this website on a stock iPhone running the latest software. It just says “Say Hello to tinyPod”. Why do people think it’s ok to hijack scrolling? You’re never going to get it right and now I have no idea what your product is even though I’m the exact target audience.
- petsfed 2y agoIf its any consolation, their scroll hijacking is also hot garbage on desktop firefox. Granted, its a hardware company, so I'm not that upset that their web design is atrocious, but the fact that a minimal level of review would've told them this was a problem suggests to me that the product itself won't be as polished as the videos suggest.
- popcalc 2y ago>a hardware company They are pseudonymous individual(s) promising a piece of molded plastic. This is marketing, not technology. As such, you'd expect them to know how to put together a website that sells. Northrop Grumman is a hardware company.
- HumblyTossed 2y agoThe device is really neat. The web site is shit. Good grief, I can't even put into words how much I hate having UI/UX like this.
- chankstein38 2y agoAgreed the pages that override scrolling are horrible.
- amelius 2y agoThat's because you don't have the tiny scroll wheel ;)
- ClassyJacket 2y agoI despise the flickering, it's intensely distracting.
- localfirst 2y agowas just gonna mention this it feels annoying having to scroll multiple times to see a fancy animation
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- devin 2y agoWhen did this scrolly website thing come back into fashion? I feel like it was hot about 10 years ago, and recently that daylight computer website and now this one use it. It's an incredibly bad experience that I thought we'd grown out of.
- MrJagil 2y agoI really like this product, but I have been on this journey, and will repost a comment i made to a recent thread about replacing your phone with an apple watch. — on: One year of using an Apple Watch Ultra as a phone ... I have done this as well, but with series 4. Some notes: - Apple Watch receives calls forwarded from your phone which creates a bunch of weird problems: 1) Imagine you’re at a bar and get a phone call. You need to either answer on your watch immediately on speakerphone which means its hard to hear the caller and hard for them to hear you, and your conversation is not private. Or, dismiss the call, go outside, put your airpods in, hope they connect, call back, hope they answer, and hope the traffic isnt too bad around you because airpods do not have best mics. 2) connecting airpods really suck, especially at home. You have to have your phone in the charger for it to forward calls to your watch, so when you put on your airpods, they will likely connect to your phone, so you run to your phone, then your airpods “magically” connect to your watch all the while your caller is shouting “hello” into the void. Not ideal for work calls. - I really hated not having a notes.app - messages are kinda bad, especially if you’re non-english. And again, if you’re out at a bar and meeting someone, you cant really wait to get home to message back, you have to noodle around on the small screen. - Your friends will tease you. I didnt mind, but its good to be prepared. - its a teeny bit annoying wearing a tech-watch. Can get a bit hot etc. - You need an iphone to update the watch. This really suck because you never really feel you actually let go of your phone, its a hassle updating over bluetooth, installing apps etc. I would LOVE an ipad/mac watch.app. - You need Siri for many things, like maps.app, searching for certain things etc. It really sucks, like, completely unusable. - doesnt work well switching from wifi to celluar. So many of the watches problems stems from connectitivty issues between wifi, bluetooth and celluar. That said, i agree with every upside the OP mentioned. I will go back to watch+airpods again when it can work without an iPhone for calling and software updates. I think one new way to get around it is to setup watch with Family Setup. That way it can get calls without iPhone. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39982713#39988624 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39982713#39988624
- giobox 2y agoI think the biggest issue for many is using it in a car? As far as I know, the watch will not pair like a phone does for calls using the typical bluetooth standards that work just fine across all conventional cellphones. Not being able to field calls in the car would make this an instant deal breaker before I even tried. If I have to bring a phone along to ensure car support, I'm stuck bringing a full-size cellphone with me most days anyway. Losing Apple CarPlay (potentially no navigation app at all in your car) will also be massive detractor for a lot of folks. If you don't own a car, it's probably a ton more feasible with how the watch functions today though.
- insane_dreamer 2y agobrings back good memories of the iPod Nano 2nd Gen; still the best music player ever
- ethagknight 2y agoI love this! I doubt I would buy it because I'm perpetually frustrated with WatchOS's reasonless limitations (someone texts you a photo and you want to zoom in on your tiny screen? sorry nope! plus a thousand other little things). Reminds of the 'naked robotic core' discussions from Accidental Tech Podcast, could create some really interesting possibilities and a way to sell a whole lot more 'watch cores'.
- imoverclocked 2y agoPocket watch! All it needs is a little loop for a chain. Neat concept.
- higgins 2y agoi love that the content is organized as: What > How > Why > Buy i don't mind the shiny scroll effects and didn't know it was such a hot topic!
- anonygler 2y agoThis is hilariously brilliant. I love it.
- idle_zealot 2y agoI love this thing! Phones are so huge nowadays. This nails hand feel and covers all the essentials (provided you pair it to an iPhone, ugh). Though at this size, it has me thinking... if it were just a little smaller, maybe if they moved the wheel to the side, you could probably wear this on your wrist, and then you wouldn't even need a pocket or bag for it! Imagine that, a little portable computer on your wrist. Pretty futuristic.
- racl101 2y agoThis is cool!
- ClassyJacket 2y agoIf only the Apple Watch worked without an iPhone, I would buy this today.
- sssilver 2y agoYou’re in luck because it does and that’s exactly how my daughter uses it at school.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2y agoIs that a workaround for the increasing number of “no phone” policies?
- sssilver 2y agoMore of an attempt to give a kid a communication device that doesn’t make it too easy and pleasant to be distracted from real life.
- ClassyJacket 2y agoHow? I mean without owning an iPhone at all, not without yours nearby. I'm aware they have 4G. I mean for Android/dumbphone users.
- luxuryballs 2y agoyeah it’s kinda lame, I would like to switch to a epaper phone and still use my Apple Watch
- adamwong246 2y agoGood grief, just make me a smaller phone. Like, the size of pack of playing cards would be perfect. Just big enough to be useful, not big enough to be distracting.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ymir_e 2y agoThis website is impressive. It's almost more apple than apple. Are pages like this typically "storyboarded", then designed in framer (or another tool) and from there the code is generated, or how does it work? People do amazing things with pure CSS, but this seems beyond what is sensible without some sort of tool to make the job a bit easier.
- dylan604 2y agostrong disagree. as i scrolled, the animation blinked as it loaded the image sequence and felt very staccato and not smooth at all. at least what apple does works
- al_borland 2y agoWhat browser? It was smooth for me in Safari.
- jperoutek 2y agoIt blinked in and out for me in Firefox 128 (Windows)
- Crestwave 2y agoTo be fair, making a website that is half-baked and broken on non-Safari browsers is probably the epitome of being more Apple than Apple. :P
- wodenokoto 2y agoI had a lot of blinking in safari on iPhone. I think it’s something to do with downloading images.
- jojobas 2y agoAny abuse of the scroll is outright hostile and leads to immediate closure of the tab.
- Gazoche 2y ago
- racl101 2y agoOne way they could take the watch analogy full circle is to give the case a hook and sell a little chain with it. Then it's a pocket watch.
- xeonmc 2y agoPocket watch -> wristwatch -> phones -> smartwatch - smart pocket watch
- mountain_peak 2y agoNow that I've finally mastered replacing Apple Watch batteries (and replacing one incredibly small battery connector I managed to lift off the board), I asked my son just this morning what we do with the three outdated models we have lying around (we "abandoned" the watches when the batteries wouldn't last even 1/2 a day). This looks like a great solution to repurposing our old watches.
- f_allwein 2y agoI have 0 old watches/ phones lying around - always sell them on or give them to recycling…
- rcarmo 2y agoDo you have any guides for that? I'd like to try my hand at it.
- mountain_peak 2y agoI should have a guide, but haven't created one yet - don't want to derail the thread, but here are a few pointers: - The iFixit Apple Watch teardown is surprisingly effective - way more heat (and patience) is required then they indicate - Using an X-Acto blade between the frame and glass really works well without damaging a single component (please be careful and alternate heat and prying) - You may also need to replace the deep-press bezel - consider ordering one prior to your repair - The battery glue is very, very persistent - lots of unnerving heat and prying - Use a needle to separate the upper and lower battery connection on one side of the connector - Three different replacement bezel glue rings all released over time - Permatex black gasket maker is the only thing that worked to reattach the display Good luck, and I hope this helps save a few watches from being recycled prematurely
- rcarmo 2y agoYou should post that someplace (of course I’m keeping a copy).
- kalyantm 2y agoI used to have the 5th generation iPod nano that had the scroll wheel and looked like this and I would buy it just for the nostalgia!
- mistyvales 2y agoThis thing kinda looks like a Playstation PocketStation.. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PocketStation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PocketStation It would be kinda cool, but I just don't need more devices in my life right now. Wish it could be standalone with a headphone jack though!
- Pufferbo 2y agoHow do they keep the watch from locking up while using it? My Apple Watch will always auto lock after a few seconds if not on my wrist and I’m not constantly tapping the screen.
- _rs 2y agoI think that's done as part of disabling wrist-detection
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- abaymado 2y agoI actually really like this concept. Recently, I added OneSec (https://one-sec.app/ https://one-sec.app/) to most of the apps I use to create some type of friction. It works great on the apps I added it to, but the addiction is so real that I find myself doom-scrolling on apps I rarely use, such as LinkedIn
- dostick 2y agoAren’t images mixed up where you choose the product ? One that’s “with crown” has no crown and one without has the crown.
- Aeroi 2y agoWow, who did the branding and the web design!?
- jonwest 2y agoI absolutely love this, but I hate websites like this so much, especially on mobile. I’m haphazardly scrolling hitting breakpoints trying to get to content that either lags well behind my gestures to animate a device spinning around, or zips past everything I wanted to actually read. If you want to show a video, please just show a video.
- MaxikCZ 2y agoI guess it looks nice when cached, but i am just scrolling empty page and when I stop, after a second I get random picture. An epitome of atrocious design
- OvbiousError 2y agoAgreed, at this point a lot of websites have become laggy human-powered movies.
- bschwindHN 2y agoIt's funny, you can basically play back the first animation in dev tools by just scrolling through all the media requests. Each frame of the animation is a separate PNG.
- niutech 2y agoWhy don't they provide an MP4 and show it frame-by-frame on scroll? It would be much more efficient than hundreds of PNGs.
- jagged-chisel 2y agothis pains me :-(
- lopis 2y agoRest assured the website is as smooth as gravel on desktop too.
- agmater 2y agoAlmost gave myself a seizure trying to scroll down.
- bert2002 2y agoLove it. Always wanted to have something like this for the Google Watch. Easy to stay update and receive alerts, but dont need to setup a second phone/device.
- dpunjabi24 2y agoThis is dope.
- nsonha 2y agowhat is in the lite version? Just a hollow case?
- bux93 2y agoI love this as an expression of peak consumerism. Let those warehouses full of cheap mp3 players rot, don't bother trying to upgrade an old ipod with a new battery and storage (which it wasn't designed to be upgraded with anyway), buy the most expensive gadget you can and then add another gadget to it! In the grand scheme of things it's not as bad as my overseas holiday or anything, but conceptually it's quite impressive.
- wiseowise 2y agoMust be a sad living being miserable all the time. > Let those warehouses full of cheap mp3 players rot, don't bother trying to upgrade an old ipod with a new battery and storage (which it wasn't designed to be upgraded with anyway), Any of those can integrate into modern Apple ecosystem?
- ragazzina 2y ago> Any of those can integrate into modern Apple ecosystem? They can't because Apple does not want them to.
- wiseowise 2y agoWhat an awesome thing in the spirit of the early internet, love it.
- steakscience 2y agoThis is a better "lite" phone than all the current lite phones out there It does very little, but also does all the essentials: maps, payment, music streaming, etc.
- canapeking 2y ago[dead]
- trumbitta2 2y agoAwesome, but then no health data apart from steps if held like this
- WhereIsTheTruth 2y agoa smart beeper, that's the evolution i needed!
- rcarmo 2y agoI just went out on Printables and found the perfect anti pattern: https://www.printables.com/model/866937-tamagotchi-case-for-apple-watch-44mm https://www.printables.com/model/866937-tamagotchi-case-for-...
- tasoeur 2y agoFun fact: back when the original Apple Watch was being developed, Apple internally produced something similar for people secretly working on it to pretend it wasn’t a new product category. It was more or less a silicon sleeve that would show a fake keyboard. I may or may not still have one 0:-)
- kome 2y agook that's crazy :) and super interesting! also it makes me think there must be so much secrecy, paranoia and politics within apple any other juicy stories??
- Suppafly 2y ago> for people secretly working on it to pretend it wasn’t a new product category Ah, someone earlier posted a link to a youtube of it, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why they had used it, I had assumed maybe the interface needed work still or something. I didn't realize it was just to keep people from realizing it was a watch, that's kind of brilliant.
- personjerry 2y agoThis has made me want the Apple Watch more than any ad
- varispeed 2y agoHow long until Apple releases firmware update that will brick this?
- sammyteee 2y agoHow could they?
- DaveTheSane 2y agoA Kids Version of this would be great. Robust, drop and splash/dust resistent. My son would love this to listen to his audiobooks on Spotify.
- pea 2y agoHave you tried the Yoto player? Our daughter loves hers and they are pretty cheap. You can load them with your own mp3s too, which we download from BBC Sounds.
- msephton 2y agoCool, but I'd have to wait to see how annoying it is in use.
- dools 2y agoHold on… if you turn off wrist detection then doesn’t that leave the watch unlocked all the time unless you manually lock it which is quite a hassle? For me that’s the only fly in an otherwise pretty delightful jar of ointment.
- ibdf 2y agoThat's awesome. Can someone please make a wristband for it?
- tuetnsuppe 2y agoNot sure if this a bug or an Easter egg but when I go to the buy form and choose the Ultra version the price always jumps by $10 when I pick it ($89.99 vs $79.99, $39.99 vs $29.99) ;-. Is this tiny surge pricing? Edit: I only get this behavior on my phone.
- bentt 2y agoThis got me to charge my watch.
- WesleyJohnson 2y agoI'm curious how, in this configuration, the Apple Watch handles things that require the various sensors? Obviously the ECG won't work, since it's not on your wrist. I'm assuming the "Stand" notifications won't work either, among other things. If you're buying this, I'm sure you're willing to make those tradeoffs. It just has me thinking what features of the watch you're losing that you might not realize at first. I guess the nice thing is, you just take it out of the case, snap on the band and put it back on if you need to. Pretty nice concept.
- LetsGetTechnicl 2y agoThe website does say that it turns wrist detection off to save battery, so I wonder if that or some other combination of settings to turn off the ECG and stand notifications takes care of those potential issues.
- micromacrofoot 2y agoI really really wish I could use the Apple Watch as a stand-alone phone without having an iPhone to manage it
- plandis 2y agoI love this. The website branding seems so close to Apple I think they will send a cease and desist.
- spandrew 2y agoPart of me wants something like this to break my addiction to the back catalog of apps I doom scroll. Part of me knows that it's my own doing. The UI and industrial design of this is cute and approachable. Love it.
- dwighttk 2y agoI think Apple Pay is going to require you to tap in a pin every time since you won’t have it against your wrist
- pcdoodle 2y agoThis is amazing. Well done.
- lnxg33k1 2y agoTake something that stays comfortably on your wrist and turn it in something else to keep in your pocket and that needs to be held with an hand to be used, genius!
- LetsGetTechnicl 2y agoThis is such an interesting concept I'd love to try it but since I have a Wi-Fi only Watch I'd have to tag my iPhone along anyways :/
- luxuryballs 2y agounless you find WiFi right? and that’s only for connection required apps, it can certainly do more than an iPod, GPS should even work without data connection I think? you just have to store the maps/media
- LetsGetTechnicl 2y agoThat’s true, but I’m thinking I’d still like to pick up calls or answer important texts. And can you connect a watch to WiFi without an iPhone?
- RedNifre 2y agoEpilepsy warning: This page flickers like crazy when scrolling. (On Mac Firefox)
- SeenNotHeard 2y agoResembles what The Onion predicted 15 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA
- kart23 2y agocan you call an uber/lyft?
- tamimio 2y agoSlightly off-topic: To the web developer gurus in here, how do you build a site with those scrollable 3D animations? Is there a name for it, or better, a tutorial? Maybe not the minimal one, but it’s still cool.
- luismedel 2y agoNot about the product itself, but about the subtle detail of the title tag using mathematical chars to simulate bold in the titlebar "Pod". I'm not sure what it implies accessibility-wise, but it looks cute. edit: HN removes those chars, sorry
- tomaskafka 2y agoSo, how did they got around Apple Watch locking up once the heartrate sensor detects it's been taken off the hand? They didn't, and they were extremely careful not to mention the issue anywhere on the page. So, be aware that you'll have to enter the PIN code every time you pick it up.
- fragmede 2y agoyou know there's a setting to turn that off, right?
- tantricked 2y agoWill sure sell like hot cakes, just because of novelty