Ever since Fifties detective Dick Tracy had a two-way radio built into his watch, the watch-phone has been the stuff of geeky dreams.
The reality, though, has been a little different. Not only are “real” watchphones such as LG's model gigantic, cuff-shredding monsters, they don't really DO anything.
But all that's set to chance with the touch screen i'mWatch - tipping the scales at a svelte 70g, and offering a little more than a really undignified way to hold a conversation by talking to your cuff.
There is even a special “App store” built for apps that might work on a 1.5-inch LCD screen - in other words, almost no Android apps currently available.
There is at least a 4GB memory chip built in, so you'll at least have plenty of space to store them.
Naturally, this being the world of watches, there are jewelled versions designed to part yacht owners from their money - costing £10,286. The ordinary model is £234.
The small screen size could be a blessing, though - it'll last two days between charges, although as ever with claimed battery life, we'll believe that when we've tested the thing for six months.
Standard smartphone functions such as email and weather reports will be built in. Mr Bertolini said: “In the near future, with i'mWatch it will be possible to turn the heating, the washing machine and the dishwasher on and off.”
“In the house of the future, where home automation will control and manage many white goods, i'mWatch will be able to integrate perfectly.”
The watch will go on general sale in 2012.
据英国《每日邮报》11月29日报道，自从上世纪50年代，电影《至尊神探》中的男主人公迪克-崔西将无线对讲机装在手表中之后，手表电话就成为了一种令人生厌的发明。
然而现实却有些不同。一些“真实的“手表电话——如LG推出的产品，不仅体型巨大，容易撕裂衣服袖口，而且一点也不实用。
然而这些产品的不足之处却给一款触屏手表电话——i’mWatch提供了商机。该产品造型轻巧，仅重70克。它能让你在对着袖口讲话时显得美观一些。
这款手表电话的研发者甚至设立了一种特殊的“应用程序商店”，为这种液晶屏只有1.5英寸的产品提供专用程序。换句话说，目前几乎所有的安卓手机程序都无法适用于该产品。
该手表电话拥有至少4GB的储存空间，所以使用者不必担心产品因储存空间不够而无法安装这些程序。
自然，这款智能手表将面向全球市场出售。设计者为有钱人士提供了珠宝定制款，需花费10，286英镑（约合人民币10.2万元）。大众款则售价234英镑（约合人民币2300元）。
该产品待机时间2天，正如声称的那样，我们已经对其进行了半年的测试，并对此确信不疑。这种小屏幕的设计对于使用者来说将是一种福音。
该产品还会增加一些如收发电子邮件以及天气预报之类的标准智能手机功能。贝托里尼（该产品的设计者之一）先生说：“在不久的将来，i’mWatch也许将用于开关暖气、洗衣机以及洗碗机。”
“未来的房屋将使用家庭自动化系统控制和管理大型家电，i’mWatch能够做到完美的整合。”