How tinyPod gave the Apple Watch a nostalgic iPod makeover

There’ll by no means be one other iPod. Not as a result of individuals do not desire a standalone device for playing music, however as a result of it appears like no product might ever have the identical sort of cultural impression that Apple’s MP3 participant did.

And but, floating by way of a colourful void, Cocteau Twins taking part in within the background, as a small display screen flips by way of the easy interfaces of the Apple Watch, the primary advert for the tinyPod is acquainted. It is meant to make you nostalgic. It screams iPod.

The tinyPod is technically an $80 case for the Apple Watch, however the small piece of indie {hardware} can also be a little bit of an experiment in nostalgia. It would make your smartwatch helpful in a brand new approach, however it’s additionally a toy to play with a few of Apple’s most recognizable iconography. To determine the place one begins and the opposite ends, Pocket-lint talked to tinyPod’s creator, Newar.

The tinyPod is a compact cellphone

Smartwatches are extra succesful than you may suppose

tinyPod / Pocket-lint

It is easy to take as a right how a lot an Apple Watch can really do. Apple launched the wearable as an all-around extra succesful communication instrument, greater than the health tracker and well being gadget that it at the moment sells now.

In reality, with a mobile mannequin, you are mainly carrying a tiny cellphone in your wrist, able to sending messages, taking calls, and even responding to emails. “I had the concept of designing the case the second I unboxed an Apple Watch and held it with out straps,” Newar says. The Apple Watch has lengthy been succesful, however he felt just like the refinements and additions Apple made with watchOS 10 took it to a different degree.

In that sense, tinyPod is basically about leveraging the issues that watchOS is already good at doing (so long as they do not require you to put on the watch in your wrist). TinyPod’s web site makes a compelling sufficient case that, eliminated out of your wrist, the Apple Watch may very well be simply used as a second, smaller, less-demanding cellphone.

“The thought of getting one thing that facilitates dwelling a bit otherwise in relation to our telephones was additionally one thing I used to be into,” Newar says. “I might given a number of dumb telephones a shot previously however nothing too severe…the comfort of Apple’s walled backyard makes switching to anything fairly powerful.”

So tinyPod works inside them. It is a white case that you simply pop a strapless Apple Watch or Apple Watch Extremely into and use with easy faucets and a scroll of its main new addition, an iPod-style scroll wheel.

Because it seems, utilizing the Apple Watch this fashion felt good. “I immediately cherished how the outdated ‘sweet bar’ fashion and kind issue felt in hand and the way weirdly refreshing it was leaving my cellphone at residence,” Newar says. And with a mobile watch you actually do not miss all that a lot, textual content and calls come by way of. Even Apple Pay works.

Your iPhone’s satisfying different

tinyPod / Pocket-lint

There is a precedent for this, after all. The rising curiosity in lowering display screen time and, basically, on the lookout for a quieter relationship to know-how has been well-documented in The New Yorker and The New York Times. Units just like the Gentle Cellphone, a much less attention-grabbing, minimalist cellphone, have been pitched as a substitute or, at the very least, a “weekend cellphone,” you possibly can retreat to while you get overwhelmed by the notifications and apps of contemporary iPhone and Android telephones.

The tinyPod simply makes the concept extra satisfying by together with a scroll wheel that may mechanically transfer the digital crown and a few easy plastic. The scroll wheel itself is “fully analog,” in accordance with Newar, and one of many causes he couldn’t do that venture on his personal. “From the beginning I created ideas for a number of methods it might work, and with sufficient rudimentary prototypes it felt actually potential,” Newar says. “Ultimately, I introduced on an engineering and manufacturing companion to take issues to the subsequent degree.”

{Hardware} is not simple, particularly “contemplating end-to-end manufacturing, supplies, and the small scale we might want this to be compacted into,” Newar says. He wanted assist, and it paid off within the extra polished model of the tinyPod he hopes to begin delivery to prospects later this yr.

The tinyPod is a toy

Leaning in to the Apple of all of it

tinyPod / Pocket-lint

Discovering an answer to the issue of utilizing your cellphone an excessive amount of is clearly in vogue, however the origins of tinyPod are humbler than that.

“Earlier than committing to turning it into an precise product, [tinyPod] was a reasonably random facet venture and excuse to study 3D design and 3D printing,” Newar says. That it felt good to carry and the concept of a scroll wheel working was simply the correct mix of components for him to have the ability to flip it into an actual product.

Newar describes the scroll wheel as “nonetheless probably the most pleasant {hardware} interplay strategies to at the present time,” one which I feel is well extra pleasurable than the default digital crown. And leaning into the seems to be of the iPod and the tinyPod’s basic Apple-ness is a part of the enjoyable.

There’s the unique video Newar reduce to introduce the case, which appears like an Apple product video from an alternate universe, and a more recent video demoing a tinyPod-encased Apple Watch’s options within the fashion of Apple’s old “How To” iPhone ads. Until you’re accustomed to this explicit model of promoting, you won’t discover it, significantly for those who’re youthful, however tinyPod is basically meant for the serial gadget purchaser who’s been immersed in Apple’s advertising and marketing for the previous few a long time.

Not taking tech too critically

There’s a sure pressure of self-seriousness that’s permeated the final yr of recent devices. If founders aren’t aping Apple’s minimalism and aloofness, they’re immediately referencing its keynotes. Which may assist prospects take you critically in the beginning, however it units you up for failure while you really need to ship a product. Speaking to Newar, that is actually not his intention. There’s one thing inherently foolish about turning a smartwatch right into a tiny MP3 participant, after which utilizing that MP3 participant as a substitute on your cellphone.

That blend of silliness, the clear attraction to Apple followers, and the reliable realization that the Apple Watch is helpful with some smartwatch options disabled is the draw of the tinyPod. It’s meant to be performed with. Newar overtly refers to it as a “retro-feeling toy” and I feel that matches.

Why shouldn’t our devices be enjoyable?

A $79.99 case for an Apple Watch won’t be a straightforward promote, however the tinyPod, with its mixture of elusive advertising and marketing and enjoyable interactions, goes to attach with individuals all the identical. Whether or not it appears like a stunt or a singular approach to make use of your Apple Watch, Newar is happy with what he made.

“The perfect half [is] how hilarious some individuals’s reactions [are] to [tinyPod] on the subway or on the cashier whereas I Apple Payed,” Newar says. “It appeared like a no brainer to maintain going from there.”