Neptune Pine: a smart phone

How to say: I have a smartphone "in hand"? Or is it “on hand”? No, everything is in order with the Russian language. It’s just that in the case of Neptune Pine, the use of prepositions really requires clarification: Canadian developers wanted to make the coolest “smart watches”, but it turned out ... a smart phone that wears on.

The story of the gadget has begun - you will laugh! - With the collection of money for Kickstarter. The arguments of the Neptune guys turned out to be convincing, the project raised 800,000 Canadian dollars and the start-ups began to embody their dream into reality.

And the idea was simple: why should a smart watch complement a smartphone or tablet? After all, it can be an independent, powerful gadget, in no way inferior to large devices. So, in fact, Neptune Pine - a “smart watch” with the functionality of a smartphone - was born.
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Externally, the gadget looks like a huge watch with a wide strap. Someone such a brutal appearance attracts, and someone scares. Seriously and for a long time. The Neptune Pine itself can be separated at any time from the strap and then it becomes like a pager from the 1990s, or miniature navigators popular a few years ago. And you will have to constantly detach the gadget - at one of the ends, hiding under the latch, there is a microUSB connector, which serves to transfer data and charge the device.







What is even more surprising is that in Neptune Pine there are a lot of amazing things - on the back panel, the one that fits the hand, is the main five-megapixel camera. Want to shoot? Take off ... the gadget from the strap.







Since we started talking about cameras, the quality they give out is very, very mediocre, they work slowly and give acceptable results only when there is good lighting. Slightly sweeten the pill - and the main, and the front camera has its own LED flash.





Inside Neptune Pine is like an adult. Kvalkomovsky Snapdragon S4, 512 megabytes of RAM, 16 or 32 GB of user memory. A complete set of wireless protocols and sensors - 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, digital compass and even a pedometer.

Neptune pine
price: 21 500 rub.

• OS: Android 4.1.2
• processor: Snapdragon S4, 1.2 GHz
• screen: 2.4 ", 320x240
• RAM: 512 MB
• memory: 16/32 GB
• 2G / 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
• camera: 5 / 0.3 megapixel
• battery: 810 mAh
• dimensions, weight: 66x53,5x14,2 mm, 96 g

Shove all of the above in a box the size of a half-iPhone task is not trivial, but Canadians succeeded. And Neptune Pine works quite vigorously. Although running Android 4.1.2.



A slightly more unexpected surprise is the lack of Google services. However, all this is solved: you can use third-party app stores, dig up something tasty on the NeptuneNinja website, or find a bunch of APKs on the Web. The main desire. And the developers promise to still get the coveted key to Google Play. True, no deadlines are called.



Phone, SMS, Skype, instant messengers, video calls, YouTube - in working with a miniature Neptune Pine has its own charm. And at times, and convenience.







The capacity of the non-removable battery exceeds 800 mAh - for Galaxy Gear, for example, this parameter is 2 times lower. Alas, but Neptune Pine does not add any advantages. Day work maximum.

During the field trials of the gadget, several more features of the device were revealed: weak viewing angles, non-ideal touchscreen operation, difficulties with fixing the gadget and strap - the problems are not critical, but require mention.



The creators of Neptune Pine call their offspring "experimental mobile computer." And it's hard to disagree with this - because experiments are different. Is this decision relevant? Given the amount collected - yes. Is it convenient? A moot point.

This gadget has a number of very tangible flaws - some of them are easily corrected, others can be fixed only by changing the concept. However, if you start from the principle of “more gadgets, good and different”, then Neptune Pine deserves a place under the sun. Although, most likely, it will remain only a bold experiment.

PS As it really was - the Neptune Pine video : a smart phone that wears on our Geek to the Future YouTube channel.