TinyPod – Apple Watch case with scroll wheel

I unapologetically love this thing. It's of course very silly, and I'm sure commenters here are going to talk about all the ways that it isn't practical or that it's a niche idea, but I love whimsical silly niche hardware ideas that make it into actual hardware. I love that they put in all of the effort to figure out a mechanical linkage between the clickwheel and the digital crown!

I don't think all hardware needs to be take-over-the-world hundred-million-unit ideas; I think sometimes it's fine for hardware to be whimsical niche things like this Apple Watch case or Andrew McCalip's doomscroller doo-dad [1]!

[1] https://doomscroller.xyz

It's funny how we went from using iPod Nano as a watch with a third party case, to using an Apple Watch as an iPod Nano with a third party case.

I absolutely love this, but I hate websites like this so much, especially on mobile. I’m haphazardly scrolling hitting breakpoints trying to get to content that either lags well behind my gestures to animate a device spinning around, or zips past everything I wanted to actually read. If you want to show a video, please just show a video.

This website is impressive. It's almost more apple than apple.

Are pages like this typically "storyboarded", then designed in framer (or another tool) and from there the code is generated, or how does it work?

People do amazing things with pure CSS, but this seems beyond what is sensible without some sort of tool to make the job a bit easier.

I love the concept! I think TinyPod is an outcry over the sizes of the smartphones today. The smallest most recent iPhone you could buy was iPhone 13 mini and it was discontinued. Don't know about other brands, but from what I am seeing nothing fits the pocket anymore. There must but a niche for those who don't read or watch movies on their hand-held devices, and if the apps are well designed a smaller screen is just fine.

I really like this product, but I have been on this journey, and will repost a comment i made to a recent thread about replacing your phone with an apple watch. —

on: One year of using an Apple Watch Ultra as a phone ...

I have done this as well, but with series 4. Some notes:

- Apple Watch receives calls forwarded from your phone which creates a bunch of weird problems: 1) Imagine you’re at a bar and get a phone call. You need to either answer on your watch immediately on speakerphone which means its hard to hear the caller and hard for them to hear you, and your conversation is not private. Or, dismiss the call, go outside, put your airpods in, hope they connect, call back, hope they answer, and hope the traffic isnt too bad around you because airpods do not have best mics. 2) connecting airpods really suck, especially at home. You have to have your phone in the charger for it to forward calls to your watch, so when you put on your airpods, they will likely connect to your phone, so you run to your phone, then your airpods “magically” connect to your watch all the while your caller is shouting “hello” into the void. Not ideal for work calls.

- I really hated not having a notes.app

- messages are kinda bad, especially if you’re non-english. And again, if you’re out at a bar and meeting someone, you cant really wait to get home to message back, you have to noodle around on the small screen.

- Your friends will tease you. I didnt mind, but its good to be prepared.

- its a teeny bit annoying wearing a tech-watch. Can get a bit hot etc.

- You need an iphone to update the watch. This really suck because you never really feel you actually let go of your phone, its a hassle updating over bluetooth, installing apps etc. I would LOVE an ipad/mac watch.app.

- You need Siri for many things, like maps.app, searching for certain things etc. It really sucks, like, completely unusable.

- doesnt work well switching from wifi to celluar. So many of the watches problems stems from connectitivty issues between wifi, bluetooth and celluar. That said, i agree with every upside the OP mentioned. I will go back to watch+airpods again when it can work without an iPhone for calling and software updates. I think one new way to get around it is to setup watch with Family Setup. That way it can get calls without iPhone.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39982713#39988624

Along similar lines of thought: there is an Apple Watch case from Japan that replicates the once-popular Infobar 'candybar' phone handset: https://www.multicore.blog/p/infobar-apple-watch-case-review...

Unfortunately the buttons are purely for aesthetics.

I bought an Apple Watch to get away from the “screen” but of all evils, Apple don’t let their watches pair to my car, not even for hands free coms. If only they would allow for regular stereo bluetooth and handsfree I would ditch my iPhone. Perhaps that is what they fear?

Fun fact: back when the original Apple Watch was being developed, Apple internally produced something similar for people secretly working on it to pretend it wasn’t a new product category. It was more or less a silicon sleeve that would show a fake keyboard. I may or may not still have one 0:-)

Oh look, carcinisation for Apple products.

ipodisation: the tendency for non-iPod Apple products to evolve iPod-like features over time.

I'm curious how, in this configuration, the Apple Watch handles things that require the various sensors? Obviously the ECG won't work, since it's not on your wrist. I'm assuming the "Stand" notifications won't work either, among other things. If you're buying this, I'm sure you're willing to make those tradeoffs. It just has me thinking what features of the watch you're losing that you might not realize at first.

I guess the nice thing is, you just take it out of the case, snap on the band and put it back on if you need to.

Pretty nice concept.

> What if sometimes you could just… leave your phone at home? With all the essentials to stay connected, tinyPod makes that actually possible.

But that’s a feature of an Apple Watch, this case doesn’t impact this in any way - I already leave my phone at home like this and I don’t own this case.

How does the scroll wheel work? Is it mechanical or it has some connection/interface with the software?

Watch Ultra are very capable mobile devices. This came out of left field but I can see it working for some.

One way they could take the watch analogy full circle is to give the case a hook and sell a little chain with it. Then it's a pocket watch.

Should probably check that your site works in firefox before submitting to hn.

a lot of negative comments here but i think this is really neat! It is unclear what the case adds besides the form factor and buttons. Is that the main value or does the case provide charging or additional memory or anything like that?

Thanks for sharing!

Hold on… if you turn off wrist detection then doesn’t that leave the watch unlocked all the time unless you manually lock it which is quite a hassle? For me that’s the only fly in an otherwise pretty delightful jar of ointment.

One thing the Apple Watch is missing is being able to call a Lyft or Uber. Not something I do super often but it really would let me leave the phone at home more often.

Also would have liked to see a little hole in the corner to thread a loop to.

Have to resist the urge to spend $80 on a cool gadget that I will use exactly once and throw away in a drawer somewhere..

Resembles what The Onion predicted 15 years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA

Now that I've finally mastered replacing Apple Watch batteries (and replacing one incredibly small battery connector I managed to lift off the board), I asked my son just this morning what we do with the three outdated models we have lying around (we "abandoned" the watches when the batteries wouldn't last even 1/2 a day).

This looks like a great solution to repurposing our old watches.

This claims multi-day battery life, since wrist detection can be turned off. I’m curious to know how much of a difference this one change makes. I haven’t bought an AW because the battery life isn’t good enough for a “watch” in my book, but if it can get multiple days of life, and it’s more like a phone replacement, then I’d be more likely to give it a try.

This is great, it's the streaming iPod I always wanted! Preordered.

This thing kinda looks like a Playstation PocketStation..

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PocketStation

It would be kinda cool, but I just don't need more devices in my life right now. Wish it could be standalone with a headphone jack though!

Damn... I know it won't happen, but imagine Apple building out a device in a form factor similar to this case, using the extra internal space (compared to an apple watch) for a really nice DAC + headphone jack... I'd buy it. A streaming iPod! WatchOS would need some tweaks, but really most of the software is there.

I wonder if there is a market for a spiritual iPod successor.

I just went out on Printables and found the perfect anti pattern:

https://www.printables.com/model/866937-tamagotchi-case-for-...

Pocket watch!

All it needs is a little loop for a chain. Neat concept.

Slightly off-topic: To the web developer gurus in here, how do you build a site with those scrollable 3D animations? Is there a name for it, or better, a tutorial? Maybe not the minimal one, but it’s still cool.

Cool but doesn't the Apple Watch have all kinds of sensors to make it work against your wrist? Putting in this case will kind of remove the point of all those nifty hardware gadgets.

TinyPod -> TinyPhone -> TinyPad

I think my perfect phone would be if Apple chopped an inch or an inch and a half off the bottom of the iPhone 12 mini and ran a slightly improved watchOS on it.

This is a better "lite" phone than all the current lite phones out there

It does very little, but also does all the essentials: maps, payment, music streaming, etc.

I actually really like this concept. Recently, I added OneSec (https://one-sec.app/) to most of the apps I use to create some type of friction. It works great on the apps I added it to, but the addiction is so real that I find myself doom-scrolling on apps I rarely use, such as LinkedIn

I used to have the 5th generation iPod nano that had the scroll wheel and looked like this and I would buy it just for the nostalgia!

I think Apple Pay is going to require you to tap in a pin every time since you won’t have it against your wrist

So, how did they got around Apple Watch locking up once the heartrate sensor detects it's been taken off the hand?

They didn't, and they were extremely careful not to mention the issue anywhere on the page. So, be aware that you'll have to enter the PIN code every time you pick it up.

I love this. The website branding seems so close to Apple I think they will send a cease and desist.

What a fun and cool idea on such a horrid web page. I am curious what it can do, but whatever is going on is illegible and busted for me. I literally couldn't read any text on the left half of the page.

I managed to scroll down to a price and for what appears to be a tech toy $80 isn't the worst price, people burn more on a 3d only to make 1 toy boat that doesn't float then stuff it in a closet.

EDIT - Why the rollercoaster of upvotes and downvotes?

Their page is busted, the toy seems neat. If you are downvoting can you explain why? Do you disagree about the toy? Did the webpage work for you?

Not sure if this a bug or an Easter egg but when I go to the buy form and choose the Ultra version the price always jumps by $10 when I pick it ($89.99 vs $79.99, $39.99 vs $29.99) ;-. Is this tiny surge pricing?

Edit: I only get this behavior on my phone.

Not about the product itself, but about the subtle detail of the title tag using mathematical chars to simulate bold in the titlebar "Pod".

I'm not sure what it implies accessibility-wise, but it looks cute.

edit: HN removes those chars, sorry

Epilepsy warning: This page flickers like crazy when scrolling. (On Mac Firefox)

I've always wanted to take an apple watch and use it like a flip phone! This is pretty fun! I've never wanted the distraction of an apple watch and I appreciate the ability to put this thing in a pocket.

Part of me wants something like this to break my addiction to the back catalog of apps I doom scroll. Part of me knows that it's my own doing.

The UI and industrial design of this is cute and approachable. Love it.

How do they keep the watch from locking up while using it? My Apple Watch will always auto lock after a few seconds if not on my wrist and I’m not constantly tapping the screen.

this kinda serves of a proof of concept for just how minimal we can get with a smartphone while retaining most of the "smart". I might even try this for a bit...

Take something that stays comfortably on your wrist and turn it in something else to keep in your pocket and that needs to be held with an hand to be used, genius!

Love it. Always wanted to have something like this for the Google Watch. Easy to stay update and receive alerts, but dont need to setup a second phone/device.

This is such an interesting concept I'd love to try it but since I have a Wi-Fi only Watch I'd have to tag my iPhone along anyways :/

A Kids Version of this would be great. Robust, drop and splash/dust resistent. My son would love this to listen to his audiobooks on Spotify.

I'd love to replace my phone with something like this. If only I could get Slack and Telegram to run natively without requiring a linked phone

This has made me want the Apple Watch more than any ad

I don’t get it. The Watch locks itself everytime it’s remove from the wrist and doesn’t stay unlocked if you unlock the screen when you’re not wearing it then let it go to standby. So… you would have to input a pin every single time you use this contraption? Seems quite annoying compared to, you know, wearing the watch.

i love that the content is organized as:

What > How > Why > Buy

i don't mind the shiny scroll effects and didn't know it was such a hot topic!

Wow, who did the branding and the web design!?

Aren’t images mixed up where you choose the product ? One that’s “with crown” has no crown and one without has the crown.

I love this thing! Phones are so huge nowadays. This nails hand feel and covers all the essentials (provided you pair it to an iPhone, ugh). Though at this size, it has me thinking... if it were just a little smaller, maybe if they moved the wheel to the side, you could probably wear this on your wrist, and then you wouldn't even need a pocket or bag for it! Imagine that, a little portable computer on your wrist. Pretty futuristic.

I really really wish I could use the Apple Watch as a stand-alone phone without having an iPhone to manage it

All I need is for Prism player to make an Apple Watch app and then I'll be all over this.

This looks amazing. I do wonder though, how long it'll last before Apple C&Ds it.

There is a reason "boring" websites are popular... It's cause they work...

I love this! I doubt I would buy it because I'm perpetually frustrated with WatchOS's reasonless limitations (someone texts you a photo and you want to zoom in on your tiny screen? sorry nope! plus a thousand other little things). Reminds of the 'naked robotic core' discussions from Accidental Tech Podcast, could create some really interesting possibilities and a way to sell a whole lot more 'watch cores'.

If only the Apple Watch worked without an iPhone, I would buy this today.

How long until Apple releases firmware update that will brick this?

What an awesome thing in the spirit of the early internet, love it.

Cool, but I'd have to wait to see how annoying it is in use.

That's awesome. Can someone please make a wristband for it?

When did this scrolly website thing come back into fashion?

I feel like it was hot about 10 years ago, and recently that daylight computer website and now this one use it. It's an incredibly bad experience that I thought we'd grown out of.

the website is adorable

Wow, I just assumed this was going to be another "design concept" page.

But it actually has a price at the bottom and says "Shipping this Summer".

As a design concept, I think this is funny and clever.

But as a "business", I'm a bit confused. It's hard to imagine that more than a few hundred people might ever actually buy this, if even that. So then how does the hardware manufacturing work? This seems way too mechanically complex to just be 3D printed, but this seems far too niche to be manufactured at scale.

I mean it's very cool if this is a kind of hobby project made out of love. I just don't understand how a hobby project can sell this at $80, and 3 size variants no less. Is it some kind of 3D printing of all the individual plastic parts, and then each one is hand-assembled by the creator on demand? But it looks way too smooth with exact tolerances for 3D printing.

I just don't get how the financial aspect here works at all -- not even to make money, but just not to lose money. Can anyone enlighten me?

Will sure sell like hot cakes, just because of novelty

I’m unable to scroll this website on a stock iPhone running the latest software. It just says “Say Hello to tinyPod”. Why do people think it’s ok to hijack scrolling? You’re never going to get it right and now I have no idea what your product is even though I’m the exact target audience.

I want to know it's water resistance.

This is hilariously brilliant. I love it.

brings back good memories of the iPod Nano 2nd Gen; still the best music player ever

This got me to charge my watch.

This is amazing. Well done.

a smart beeper, that's the evolution i needed!

Awesome, but then no health data apart from steps if held like this

what is in the lite version? Just a hollow case?

I'm a fan!

This is dope.

This is cool!

Would be cool if it also had a headphone jack

can you call an uber/lyft?

OK, in this vein, why oh why did Lyft and Uber remove their apple watch apps? I just need an app that's a single "take me home now" button so I don't have to worry about my phone battery dying when I'm out and about. Pretty please?

The device is really neat. The web site is shit. Good grief, I can't even put into words how much I hate having UI/UX like this.

Seizure warning.

Edit for clarification:

The scrolling implementation here flashes rapidly on Firefox for Mac OS.

Good grief, just make me a smaller phone. Like, the size of pack of playing cards would be perfect. Just big enough to be useful, not big enough to be distracting.

I love this as an expression of peak consumerism. Let those warehouses full of cheap mp3 players rot, don't bother trying to upgrade an old ipod with a new battery and storage (which it wasn't designed to be upgraded with anyway), buy the most expensive gadget you can and then add another gadget to it! In the grand scheme of things it's not as bad as my overseas holiday or anything, but conceptually it's quite impressive.

Wow, this pitch really hooks you, and then halfway through the glitch-heavy presentation you're made aware that this is just a cheap controller for your Apple Watch, and that literally every feature they are advertising is a feature of the Watch, not their product.

I would never buy this because it sounds like drop-shipped garbage. The marketing should be more straightforward and tell you what this thing actually is upfront, instead of burying the lede and acting like they made a new kind of phone.