My Wearable, an update.

So, for several years now I've been lugging around the same, tired cell phone. Well, that's not completely accurate, I bought the first Model MotoQ the year it came out. That phone lasted a good while, but when I had finally dropped it one too many times (I had thought) I bought a Samsung i760, wonderful unit, broke two of them, but I love them. After the second one stopped working I was stuck with a dilemma, because I was out of warranty and in between contracts... so I had to step back down to my already half-dead Motorola Q... which I've been "using" since then. All of this has something to do with my wearable computer, promise.

Anyway, It's time to buy a new cell phone, which got me thinking about portability and about the real reason why the wearable computer is even a remotely convenient idea. It's because of wireless networking and data transfer, the ability to be constantly linked in to the network. Most people now do not use their laptops to stay connected but their smartphones, so perhaps I could adapt my wearable computing system to be more cell-compatible. My solution? The HTC Droid Incredible. It has the ability to output video via the mini-usb port on the side of the unit, it's WiFi capable (up to the "n" standard) and touch-sensitive. It has good battery life and it very compact and lightweight. This will be my computer.

So what does the new set-up look like?

I/O
_______________
Cellular (CDMA)
WiFi b/g/n
Mini-USB
Bluetooth

Interface
_______________
Wireless keyboard (Wrist mounted)
Headset display
Phone's integrated 8mp camera

Wearability
_______________
Unit is strapped to upper-arm
Keyboard on wrist
Headset display

The best part, really, is that the Incredible packs a 1GHz Snapdragon which is pushing the new Google Android OS, which is (rumor has it) a cinch to develop for, which will help when I start to develop bluetooth (possibly sub-dermal) peripherals to the system.

More updates later, until then be well,
-NP