Deals.Woot

I was on the fence about getting one of these for a while because of all the negative reviews.

I decided to jump on it at this price though! Even if it doesn't work good with my phone I could still use it as just a watch.

@editorkid: Although I agree with your comment, the website itself has many high reviews.

@editorkid / @sizzlestick: I used expansys's UK site way back in the early 2000s (2002 I think) to get a GSM phone that wasn't available in the US. They were phenomenal. Heck, they even paid for customs clearances and higher-grade shipping than I'd ordered, without passing that on to me at all. They may not be the cheapest always, but they're usually among the first to have an item, especially hard to find stuff. Again, my info may be dated, but they used to do customer service amazingly well. (I got a few other things after that first experience.)

@sizzlestick Heh, I just read a review that says it doesn't even store time natively. Even so, at it's price point I'm willing to give it a chance. Plus, there's apparently a firmware update that might make things better on it. We'll see.

When this first came out I really wanted one until I read the horrible reviews. I think I remember reading a while back that the newest firmware "helps" but this is by no means perfect. Either way, for 30 bucks shipped... Why not. In for 1.

@toms203040: Lol was just about to say that. Why do we need a small device to control our other small device? I can wear it around my neck you say? Wow? Gee really? Just seems like another thing to keep track of. I watched the product video and just don't understand why I would ever, ever, ever, have a need for this. I can unlock my phone in 2 seconds and start my own music player, read my FB messages, and view my texts. What's the purpose of having an actual remote?

Am I missing something here?

@linuxtrance: I was thinking the same thing but then thought of a few scenarios where this might be handy.

The main thing is that as a girl that carries purses, it's easier to have this on a wrist band clipped to my purse strap so I can quickly glance at the time, date, reminders and notifications w/o having to dig my phone out.

It'll let me discreetly check these things at work without seeming like I'm on my phone and/or not paying attention to the meeting.

I definitely don't need this, and I didn't even know such a thing existed before now, but as an impulsive shopper and a lover of deals and gadgets, I'm trying hard to resist!

Liveview appears to be just a display. An app on your Android phone talks to it in Bluetooth, sends images to the display, and gets button-presses back. So, it doesn't do anything but perhaps tell the time without your phone, and you need your phone to set the time. The protocol is known, so you can write your own app if you are so inclined.

I found tear-down images on the net. It looks like a Cypress PSoC. There are pads for ISSP programming. Developing new firmware from the ground up would be a trial, though. Better to just use the protocol and drive it from your own applications.

can you use it for gps directions?

Always wanted one of these, but couldn't bring myself to getting one at the original price. I think they were 150 then down 100. Now there only 30 bux, I'm in for 1. No matter how bad.

I'm on the fence with this one, sounds like a good deal. If I had time I would buy one and try to write some code for this thing (currently I have only written one program for Android and it was of the Hello World type). What is the screen resolution and does it have buttons or touch screen?

If you read toward the end of their "compatibility" list, you find they slipped up and revealed that this devices uses blueTOOT, not the more popular blueTOOTH technology. Bluetoot, if I'm not mistaken, operates in the audible frequency range, communicating with your phone using a series of horn-like sounds, or "toots", hence the name. Very annoying technology. especially if you are trying to place a call. I'm in for three, but I'm a bean farmer.

If I am going to deal with my PoS Samsung DroidmCharge until the iPhone 5 I may as well have fun with an equally frustrating companion device for it.

In for one.

This will be more useful if our phones continue to grow to the size of tablets! (although some of you may remember the time of shrinking phones)

For those using an OBD II Bluetooth Reader and Android App "Torque," there's a plugin for the app that interacts with LiveView. This is much more handy than storing my phone on the dash wasting battery.

OBD II: http://goo.gl/PxFQx or http://goo.gl/nv3kf (lower reviews)
Torque: http://goo.gl/vc3w1 (Lite Available)
Plugin: http://goo.gl/XqlWP

What's really neat about this is that Torque allows you to flip the display and use it as a reflective HUD at night, visible through the windshield.

FROM THE PLUGIN SITE:
Note: This plugin needs a handset which can handle multiple bluetooth concurrent connections in a reliable manner. Not all handsets are able to do this due to various bluetooth driver bugs so some phones may be a little troublesome to setup. The LiveView devices can also be a little 'temperamental' at times so make sure you have the latest firmware update from it (available on the sonyericsson site)

Even though this is a good price point, I have to say that this is not a good deal.

I bought one of these on Amazon about 6 months ago for $80. It was returned shortly after purchase. Here are some of my gripes:

1. It does not store the TIME on the WATCH. after rebooting the watch you must connect it to the phone to be useful.

2. The battery lasts 12 hours, if you are lucky

3. It can not be charged while in the watch strap. There is a plastic ring on the strap that the Liveview snaps in to. It is almost impossible to get out unless you have long nails or a Flathead screwdriver.

4. The watch constantly disconnects from the phone. In the app there is a way to reconnect the device, but it does not work. If it is disconnected you will most likely have to reboot the watch.

Well i have run out of space for this comment, but as you can see, I don't advise anyone to buy this.

Well, one place it would be great for would be the gym. Would love to put my phone securely around my waist and operate my music player remotely, then if I got a text or announcement I could go wash up and pull my phone out, not continually contaminating my phone with other people's funky germs.

Seriously? This has got to be one of the most useless things ever! Just the simple fact of having a preview screen for your phone is simply absurd, but oh well to each their own. The discount does make it a good deal, if you're into that type of thing. Cheers!

@addixon: That's actually pretty cool. Thanks for the info!

I currently don't have a functioning speedometer and have to use the one on my GPS. I have other ODBII interfaces and know that the car is still tracking MPH, so I'm going to try to use this as my speedometer in conjunction with Torque on my phone and get a more accurate reading.

Hopefully it isn't too big of a hassle getting it set up every time, but I won't be out too much money on experimenting.

for $30 im in, been wanting a gadget like this for a while. the new one is going to be $149 which is a little much (even if it works better and has locally running apps). For $30 this can be treated as the novelty it is (plus if you look at past deals, it was at $100 a year ago and almost $50 4 months ago)

For $30 I'll have a little gadget to play with, I do like the idea of using it for the ODBII interface, however I'm going on a trip down to florida (driving) so having a preview screen for my phone's notifications could be very useful so as to not scare the co-pilot if my phone goes off...

I do not really like this site.
This is my first time using it and when I got to the site it had 86 Available when I purchased it (30 min latter) 60 or so available and then down to 0.
Now there is 100+
Makes you wonder if they do that to get people hurry and buy thinking it will be out of stock when it is not.

@addixon: Sold it for me.

At this price, I'm definitely in for one. I have a retail job and would get written up if I pulled out my phone every time I got a notification. Now, I'll be able to just look at my watch. I suspect it will be quite useful for that and similar situations (meetings, class, etc.). Plus, at $30, I don't have to worry about losing/breaking it like I would the $150+ competitor products. And if it just plain sucks, I'm not out a significant amount of money.

why can't you just use your smartphone like a normal person. you have another device that you need to look at that will tell you what the smart phone in your pocket is telling you? hmmm