There will never be anotheriPod. Not because people don’t want astandalone device for playing music, but because it feels like no product could ever have the same kind of cultural impact that Apple’s MP3 player did.
And yet, floating through a colorful void, Cocteau Twins playing in the background, as a small screen flips through the simple interfaces of theApple Watch, the first adfor the tinyPodis familiar. It’s meant to make you nostalgic. It screams iPod.
The tinyPod is technically an $80 case for the Apple Watch, but the small piece of indie hardware is also a bit of an experiment in nostalgia. It might make your smartwatch useful in a new way, but it’s also a toy to play with some of Apple’s most recognizable iconography. To figure out where one begins and the other ends, Pocket-lint talked to tinyPod’s creator,Newar.
The tinyPod is a compact phone
Smartwatches are more capable than you might think
It’s easy to take for granted how much an Apple Watch can actually do. Apple introduced the wearable as an all-around more capable communication tool, bigger than the fitness tracker and health device that it currently sells now.
In fact, with a cellular model, you’re basically wearing a tiny phone on your wrist, capable of sending messages, taking calls, and even responding to emails. “I had the idea of designing the case the moment I unboxed an Apple Watch and held it without straps,” Newar says. The Apple Watch has long been capable, but he felt like the refinements and additions Apple made with watchOS 10 took it to another level.
“The idea of having something that facilitates living a bit differently in relation to our phones was also something I was into.”
In that sense, tinyPod is really about leveraging the things that watchOS is already good at doing (as long as they don’t require you to wear the watch on your wrist). TinyPod’s website makes a compelling enough case that, removed from your wrist, the Apple Watch could be easily used as a second, smaller, less-demanding phone.
“The idea of having something that facilitates living a bit differently in relation to our phones was also something I was into,” Newar says. “I’d given a few dumb phones a shot in the past but nothing too serious…the convenience of Apple’s walled garden makes switching to anything else pretty tough.”
So tinyPod works within them. It’s a white case that you pop a strapless Apple Watch or Apple Watch Ultra into and use with simple taps and a scroll of its major new addition, an iPod-style scroll wheel.
As it turns out, using the Apple Watch this way felt good. “I instantly loved how the old ‘candy bar’ style and form factor felt in hand and how weirdly refreshing it was leaving my phone at home,” Newar says. And with a cellular watch you really don’t miss all that much, text and calls come through. Even Apple Pay works.
Your iPhone’s satisfying alternative
There’s a precedent for this, of course. The growing interest in reducing screen time and, in general, looking for a quieter relationship to technology has beenwell-documented in The New YorkerandThe New York Times. Devices like the Light Phone, a less attention-grabbing, minimalist phone, have been pitched as a replacement or, at least, a “weekend phone,” you can retreat to when you get overwhelmed by the notifications and apps of modern iPhone and Android phones.
The tinyPod just makes the idea more satisfying by including a scroll wheel that can mechanically move the digital crown and some smooth plastic. The scroll wheel itself is “completely analog,” according to Newar, and one of the reasons he couldn’t do this project on his own. “From the start I created concepts for a few ways it could work, and with enough rudimentary prototypes it felt certainly possible,” Newar says. “Eventually, I brought on an engineering and manufacturing partner to take things to the next level.”
Hardware isn’t easy, especially “considering end-to-end manufacturing, materials, and the small scale we’d need this to be compacted into,” Newar says. He needed help, and it paid off in the more polished version of the tinyPod he hopes to start shipping to customers later this year.
The tinyPod is a toy
Leaning in to the Apple of it all
Finding a solution to the problem of using your phone too much is obviously in fashion, but the origins of tinyPod are humbler than that.
“Before committing to turning it into an actual product, [tinyPod] was a pretty random side project and excuse to learn 3D design and 3D printing,” Newar says. That it felt good to hold and the idea of a scroll wheel working was just the right mix of ingredients for him to be able to turn it into a real product.
Newar describes the scroll wheel as “still one of the most delightful hardware interaction methods to this day,” one that I think is easily more pleasurable than the default digital crown. And leaning into the looks of the iPod and the tinyPod’s general Apple-ness is part of the fun.
There’s the original video Newar cut to introduce the case, which feels like an Apple product video from an alternate universe, anda more recent videodemoing a tinyPod-encased Apple Watch’s features in the style ofApple’s old “How To” iPhone ads. Unless you’re familiar with this particular brand of marketing, you might not notice it, particularly if you’re younger, but tinyPod is really meant for the serial gadget buyer who’s been immersed in Apple’s marketing for the last few decades.
Not taking tech too seriously
There’s a certain strain of self-seriousness that’s permeated the last year of new gadgets. If founders aren’taping Apple’s minimalism and aloofness, they’re directlyreferencing its keynotes. That might help customers take you seriously at the start, but it sets you up for failure when you actually have to ship a product. Talking to Newar, that’s really not his intention. There’s something inherently silly about turning a smartwatch into a tiny MP3 player, and then using that MP3 player as a replacement for your phone.
That mix of silliness, the clear appeal to Apple fans, and the legitimate realization that the Apple Watch is useful with some smartwatch features disabled is the draw of the tinyPod. It’s meant to be played with. Newar openly refers to it as a “retro-feeling toy” and I think that fits.
Why shouldn’t our gadgets be fun?
A $79.99 case for an Apple Watch might not be an easy sell, but the tinyPod, with its mix of elusive marketing and fun interactions, is going to connect with people all the same. Whether it feels like a stunt or a unique way to use your Apple Watch, Newar is satisfied with what he made.
“The best part [is] how hilarious some people’s reactions [are] to [tinyPod] on the subway or at the cashier while I Apple Payed,” Newar says. “It seemed like a no-brainer to keep going from there.”
