A digital camcorder built-into a wrist-watch, a tiny pendant style camcorder and the world's smallest music players were among the highlights at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.
The stars of the exhibition, which had previously seen the debut of the DVD player and digital camera, were gadgets designed to be worn on the wrist. Casio unveiled the first wearable digital camera, the WQV-1, which features a small LCD screen that acts as a viewfinder when recording images and as a monitor during playback.
It is capable of storing up to 100 images in its 1MB memory, and pictures can be uploaded to a PC via an infra-red data transfer link.
The watch, which Casio hopes will go on sale in the UK in early summer for around £250, captures images in black and white, although the company hopes that a colour version of the watch/camera will be available within the next year.
Casio pulled out another showstopper in a wrist-watch that features an integrated MP3 digital audio player. The WMP-1V can store up to 33 minutes of what it claims is CD-quality music, or 66 minutes of FM standard sounds in its 64MB memory.
The watch boasts a small screen that displays track and artist information, and has a headphones socket and a USB interface for connecting to your computer, to collect MP3 files downloaded from the internet. The MP3 watch is also scheduled to reach the UK in the summer, with a price tag of around £200 to £250. But Casio wasn't the only manufacturer to display a music-playing watch. Panasonic paraded its own slightly larger version among a range of futuristic devices that use its upcoming SD (Secure Digital) memory card. Developed in conjunction with Toshiba and SanDisk, the postage stamp sized card can store 64MB of digital information. That might seem remarkable enough, but the group also pledged to have a 256MB SD available by the end of this year.
Scheduled for a world wide launch at the end of the year, the wristwatch can store up to 80 minutes of music on a standard 64MB SD, and up to five and a half hours on the mooted 256MB SD.
Panasonic intends to incorporate SD technology on a host of innovative products many of which will be released in 2000/2001. Among them are tiny "wear round the neck" pendant style digital cameras and camcorders, handheld e-mail devices, and a microwave oven that uses the SD card to store recipes and control the cooking process.
Not to be outdone, Sony unveiled a series of products that included what could well be the world's smallest audio player. A dead ringer for a cigarette lighter, the NW-E3 Network Walkman can store 64MB of downloaded music on its embedded flash memory. Similar to other models in Sony' s internet music range, the NW-E3 is SDMI (Secure Digital Music Initiative) compliant. And as it has no moving parts, it can be used while its owner takes part in all kinds of vigorous outdoor sports. The player is set to launch in the USA in April for around $330, with a UK launch expected later in the year.
Sony also used CES as a platform to highlight the versatility of its Memory Stick digital storage media. Before the show the Stick had been used only in internet music playing Walkman products and the company's range of Vaio PCs. The Stick will now be integrated into Sony's digital camcorders to enable easy storage and downloading of digital still images.
Other new gadgets from the company included a digital camcorder with built-in printer, a DVD Walkman range complete with LCD screens, and several tiny personal MiniDisk players and recorders.
French-owned consumer electronics manufacturer Thomson continued its tradition of displaying concept products. Among the items, which may or may not make it into the company's range next year, are a projector that features an integrated DVD player, a portable games machine that uses a mini DVD, and an MP3 player built into a rucksack.
For consumer electronics manufacturers, the show's must have item was a DVD recorder. Almost every maker displayed a product, with Pioneer, Philips and Panasonic committing to UK launches in the next 12 months.
Other highlights of the show included Samsung's phone watch, which the company believes could reach the UK in 2000, CD-jewel box sized portable speakers from the British manufacturer Wharfedale (pictured left), and a bathroom-friendly flat screen portable TV from Sharp.
