VIVIFI Titan - Review

“It’s a gimmick, but it’s good fun”

VIVIFI Titan - gimmicky but good fun

First things first - the watch phone is far from a new idea, with Samsung dropping the world’s first well over a decade ago, and it’s fair to say that the concept in general is gimmicky rather than revolutionary.

That opinion may seem a little hasty, but considering that various takes on the watch phone have been launched throughout the last 10 years - including LG’s touch-screen GD910 at the end of 2009 - and yet we all still keep our phones in our pockets, it’s also valid.

However, that doesn’t mean the watch phone should be dismissed - humankind has always endeavoured to do just because it can, and the VIVIFI Titan is testament to this impulse.

Yes, it’s a watch phone, but it’s a beefy, stainless steel watch phone that packs a 1.3-inch touch-screen, 1.3Mp camera, video camera, video player, audio player, internet access and Bluetooth, with the ability to provide up to 4GB of storage in microSD card form.

Compared to your iPhone 4, HTC Sensation and Samsung Galaxy S II, the Titan might not be the most sophisticated phone, but it’s a watch, and a watch that allows you to live out many of your James Bond fantasies.

So, to judge the Titan by the lofty standards of today’s smartphones would be as pointless as judging a smartphone by how it looks on your wrist. Despite its price (RRP £239.99), the Titan should be judged as an extra phone, not your main one - it comes unlocked and sim-free after all.

Functionality

VIVIFI Titan - reassuringly weighty

The Titan has two main physical buttons that resemble those on a regular watch - a power button and an enter button - but apart from turning the watch off and on and returning to the home screen, you rarely need to use these.

This is because the touchscreen can largely be used by way of a small, telescopic stylus that is stored in the watch strap. This may sound awkward to use with a phone that is attached to your wrist, but with a little practice it feels surprisingly natural and satisfying, although it can look a little odd to the untrained eye.

While the Titan’s operating system is very basic and cannot be customised, it is very easy to navigate and is laid out in a very logical manner so that everything is where you’d expect to find it, making it easy to use with the stylus when on the move.

It is let down by a couple of bugs - scrolling up and down is tricky and error messages do not fit on the screen, making them difficult to interpret - but with its 8-bit look this gives the Titan a charm that the slick smartphones of today don’t have.

The appeal of the “handwriting” feature, which allows you to write each character with the stylus when composing a text message, is probably subjective. While with familiarity it becomes more effective to use, if your handwriting is as bad as mine it quickly becomes frustrating.

Features

While the Titan doesn’t quite have the capability to let you record an album with it, or even download iFart, it does come loaded with nearly every other feature you’d expect from your common garden mobile phone.

Let’s start with the most exciting of these - making phone calls. Clearly the major reason to buy a mobile phone, but extra exciting with the Titan as you get to talk into your watch like a spy/space adventurer/mad man.

In reality it’s not quite so exciting - while the “hands-free” speaker allows you to hear callers loud and clear, those at the other end complained of echo on the line. For quick, simple calls on the move it does the job though, as well as being good for freaking people out at the bus stop.

For longer calls - or for when speaking into your watch starts making you feel like an idiot rather than an international secret agent - you can use any Bluetooth headset with the Titan, but doing so kind of kicks the fun out of it.

Music, video and the web

The strap is a little on the flimsy side

The audio player is very basic feature-wise, but very easy to use - uploading albums to it is no more difficult than a drag and drop. However, listening to music via a Bluetooth headset is a tinny nightmare, so the only other option is plugging in the mini USB earphones.

These provide a surprisingly perky level of audio quality, while the resolution of the camera and video recorder means images can come out pale and pixelated - though the location of the camera on the side of the watch does make you feel a bit like Inspector Gadget.

And because the screen is 1.3-inch it can feel a bit like watching a band from the back row at Wembley Stadium.

The Titan even gives you the ability to go online via WAP, but bear in mind as a 2G phone, you won’t be able to benefit from the fastest speeds.

Flashiness

The Titan is reassuringly meaty and satisfyingly weighty, lending credence to its pretty hefty price tag. However, the clasp on the strap does seem a little flimsy compared to the rest of the watch.

In terms of how it looks, the chunky build and slick, shiny, Chrome-like finish looks very much like a man’s watch and how you feel about it will depend on what you like in a timepiece - regardless of whether or not you can also watch films on it.

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