Dave Lee Reveals the Old-School Technology and Flaws Behind the tinyPod

Announced back in May, the tinyPod is a plastic case that turns your strapless Apple Watch into an iPod-like phone. The company claims the case can make a cellular Apple Watch your “phone away from phone” with core apps like Messages, Phone, Music, Maps, and more. You can even use an app like μBrowser – which I talked about on this week’s AppStories – to stay connected to the web as well.

When the tinyPod was announced, I wasn’t sure whether this was incredibly silly or genius, but I was certainly intrigued to hear how it worked out. Units have now started appearing in the wild, and YouTuber Dave Lee (aka Dave2D) got ahold of one to test out.

Unfortunately, it seems like the quality of the case is poor, and the button in the middle of the scroll wheel is non-functional. Going back and looking at the promotional videos, I can now see that this was a deliberate choice.

What’s most intriguing about this accessory, however, is the mechanism the folks at tinyPod constructed to allow the scroll wheel to turn the Digital Crown. I’ll let Dave show you in detail, but suffice it to say it’s weird, old-school, and flawed – but I kind of love it. Crucially, though, it’s not enough to make me want one.

While the tinyPod seems like a no-go, I do admire people trying crazy ideas like this because every now and then, one of them sticks the landing.