MP4 Watch

Last updated

An MP4 watch is a small portable video and music flash-based media player which can be worn on the wrist like a wristwatch. (See MP4 Player for the origin of the 'MP4' moniker.) Most devices are actually functional digital watches as well as being media players. Users can watch video on the LED or OLED color screen and listen to the audio played back over small built-in speakers, earphones, or a wireless headset in the case of Bluetooth MP4 watches.

Contents

MP4 watches typically require the user to convert video files to smaller resolution or particular file formats before they can be played back. [1] This led to the development of "MP5" watches that could play all the popular video file formats natively.

MP4 watches are also known as "video watches", "MP4 player watches", and "watch MP4 players".

Development

The first commercially available MP4 watch available to consumers in America was one manufactured by the Chinese electronics manufacturer Shenzhen Adragon Digitek in September 2006 [2] and the now discontinued Aigo F209. Gadget blogs have tracked the evolution of MP4 Watches from the large and unwieldy through successive design improvements making them more realistically "wearable" gadgets. [3]

Like standard MP4 Players, MP4 watches are most commonly manufactured in Mainland China. While the form factor has yet to be picked up by well-known brands, a number of original equipment manufacturers currently offer MP4 watches with a wide range of styles. There are indications that well-known consumer electronics brands will not sell MP4 watches, instead moving straight to cellphone watches, which incorporate video functions and arguably supersede the MP4 watch concept. [4]

Function and design

MP4 watches are traditionally square by design and can have metal, plastic or leather straps. Screen size varies between 1 and 2 inches including some in "widescreen" dimensions. [5]

While MP4 watches are principally marketed as ultra-portable video and timekeeping devices, watches today may also include functions such as:

Notes

  1. "I Recommend WPX Hosting".
  2. Murph, Darren (30 September 2006). "Shenzhen Adragon Digitek offers up MP4-playing watch". Engadget. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
  3. "Posts tagged Mp4 watch at Engadget". www.engadget.com. Archived from the original on 2008-04-09.
  4. Ricker, Thomas (22 July 2009). "Samsung's S9110 touchscreen watchphone syncs with Outlook, on sale this month (updated)". Engadget. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  5. ""Widescreen" video watch touts 1.8-inch LCD". 18 July 2019.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Media Player</span> Media player and media library application by Microsoft

Windows Media Player, is the first media player and media library application that Microsoft developed to play audio and video on personal computers. It has been a component of the Microsoft Windows operating system, including Windows 9x, Windows NT, Pocket PC, and Windows Mobile. Microsoft also released editions of Windows Media Player for classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, and Solaris, but has since discontinued them.

A DVD player is a device that plays DVDs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. Some DVD players will also play audio CDs. DVD players are connected to a television to watch the DVD content, which could be a movie, a recorded TV show, or other content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boombox</span> Portable music player with tape recorders and radio with a carrying handle

A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape players/recorders and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid 1990s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered through an amplifier and two or more integrated loudspeakers. A boombox is a device typically capable of receiving radio stations and playing recorded music. Many models are also capable of recording onto cassette tapes from radio and other sources. In the 1990s, some boomboxes were available with MiniDisc recorders and players. Designed for portability, boomboxes can be powered by batteries as well as by line current. The boombox was introduced to the American market during the late 1970s. The desire for louder and heavier bass led to bigger and heavier boxes; by the 1980s, some boomboxes had reached the size of a suitcase. Some larger boomboxes even contained vertically mounted record turntables. Most boomboxes were battery-operated, leading to extremely heavy, bulky boxes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camcorder</span> Video camera with built-in video recorder

A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swappable battery facing towards the user, hot-swappable recording media, and an internally contained quiet optical zoom lens.

iRiver, stylized IRIVER and formerly as iriver, is a South Korean consumer electronics division owned by Dreamus which markets music and other accessories in its domestic market.

Neuros Technology was a Chicago, Illinois–based company that produced a number of audio and video devices under the brand name Neuros. Founded by Joe Born in 2001 as a division of Digital Innovations, it previously operated under the name Neuros Audio. Like Digital Innovations, Neuros distinguished itself by its use of open-innovation and crowdsourcing techniques to bring products to market, as well as by its prominent use of open-source software and open-source hardware. In its development model, end users were involved throughout the product development process from reviewing initial concepts to beta testing initial product releases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portable media player</span> Portable device capable of storing and playing digital media

A portable media player (PMP) or digital audio player (DAP) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored on a compact disc (CD), Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), Blu-ray Disc (BD), flash memory, microdrive, SD cards or hard drive; most earlier PMPs used physical media, but modern players mostly use flash memory. In contrast, analogue portable audio players play music from non-digital media that use analogue media, such as cassette tapes or vinyl records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samsung YEPP</span> Brand of electronic devices

Yepp was Samsung Electronics' digital audio player brand until Samsung decided to retire most of their family brands in February 2011. From then on, their MP3 players were simply branded "Samsung" worldwide until they discontinued all of them in late 2013. The brand included a wide range of hard-drive based as well as flash-memory based players. The name is claimed to be an acronym for "young, energetic, passionate person".

iRiver Clix Portable media player

The iRiver Clix is a portable media player that was developed and sold by iriver through two generations. The Clix was originally known as the U10, released in 2005. The next year it was revised and essentially rebranded to Clix. A second generation player, often called the Clix 2, was released in 2007, and later a minor revision called Clix+. The players are navigated by four buttons embedded on its sides, referred to as D-Click.

AVCHD is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video. It is H.264 and Dolby AC-3 packaged into the MPEG transport stream, with a set of constraints designed around the camcorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portable DVD player</span> Type of DVD player

A portable DVD player is a mobile, battery powered DVD player in the format of a mobile device. Many recent players play files from USB flash drives and SD cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eye-Fi</span> Company producing Wi-Fi enabled memory cards

Eye-Fi was a company based in Mountain View, California, that produced SD memory cards with Wi-Fi capabilities. Using an Eye-Fi card inside a digital camera, one could wirelessly and automatically upload digital photos to a local computer or a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet computer. The company ceased business in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PDMI</span> Interconnection standard

PDMI is an interconnection standard for portable media players. It has been developed by CEA as ANSI/CEA-2017-A standard Common Interconnection for Portable Media Players in February 2010. Chaired by David McLauchlan from Microsoft, the standard was developed with the input or support of over fifty consumer electronics companies worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dingoo</span> Handheld game console

The Dingoo is a handheld gaming console that supports music and video playback and open game development. The system features an on-board radio and recording program. It was sold to consumers in three colors: white, black, and pink. It was released in February 2009 and had sold over 1 million units.

JinXing Digital CO.Ltd or Jianghang Digital is a Chinese manufacturer of consumer electronics based in Shenzhen, Guangdong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smartwatch</span> Wearable computer in the form of a watch

A smartwatch is a portable wearable computer resembling a wristwatch. Most modern smartwatches are operated via a touchscreen, and often rely on mobile apps that run on a connected device such as a smartphone to provide some core functions.

The PlayStation Vita system software is the official firmware and operating system for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV video game consoles. It uses the LiveArea as its graphical shell. The system is built on a Unix-base which is derived from FreeBSD and NetBSD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samsung Galaxy Gear</span> Smartwatch by Samsung

The Samsung Galaxy Gear is a smartwatch produced by Samsung Electronics in the Samsung Gear family of devices. Unveiled during a Samsung Unpacked event in Berlin, Germany on September 4, 2013, the device serves as a companion for all Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets which runs on Android 4.3 "Jelly Bean" or newer. It was released on September 25, 2013. Originally released as an Android-based device, Samsung replaced the operating system with Tizen through the May 2014 software update.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neptune Pine</span>

The Neptune Pine is an unlocked GSM standalone, full featured smartwatch developed by Canadian consumer electronics and wearable technology company Neptune. It was announced in January 2013 by Simon Tian and launched in November 2013 on Kickstarter. Within 27 hours, the campaign had reached its funding goal of $100,000, and ultimately went on to raise more than $800,000 in 30 days, becoming the highest-funded Canadian Kickstarter campaign at the time.