Photo [Felipe Skroski/Flickr]
Every gizmo needs its niche. While the actual hardware changes and often brings real innovation (touchscreens) there is a long list of seemingly always appealing magic words, which inevitably get tacked on to otherwise banal gadgets to set them apart. These can be "smallest" (although curiously almost never "biggest"), "lightest" or "toughest".
There's one other "feature" which, ahem, surfaces from time to time, and that's the Waterproof Gadget. Some of these are genuinely useful, like the underwater camera or the diver's watch, but some are completely useless, to the point of making us wonder "why?"
Sony Sports Walkman
Sony's original Sports Walkman came in the obligatory color to denote water resistance: bright yellow. Although not strictly waterproof, this 1980s classic sealed up pretty tight thanks to a rubber strip inside the lid and a chunky plastic clamp to keep it shut. I one threw one of these in the sea while it was running and it kept right on going.
The problem, though, came with the headphones, which were most certainly not waterproof, although they could take a splash or two. In order to connect them, you had to take the rubber stopper out of the jack socket, rendering the Walkman open to the elements.
[Photo: Retropod]
Video Camera
Flip+waterproof case=pool party. If there was ever a cheap little gadget asking for a waterproof overcoat it's the Flip. The super-simple little video camera is already a go-anywhere toy, and the relatively inexpensive ($50) case makes it even more go anywhere-er. Just remember: No more skinny-dipping.
Product page [Flip Video]
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Fujistsu F706i Telephone
This is brand new, but no less guilty of purposeless features than the Walkman. If Fujitsu's F706i was just marketed as a toughened phone, we'd be happy. After all, the toilet is a surprisingly popular watery grave for cellphones, and a waterproof handset would keep us from flushing so much money away.
However, Fujitsu decided to demonstrate the phone as an underwater TV set, as you can see in the picture. I'm struggling to think of a single scenario which would see me submerged and yet in need of some live video entertainment. Still, if you feel like drowning yourself while watching "Waterworld" (and you should), go get one. Just don't go below six meters (20ft).
Fujitsu F706i a phone that lets you watch TV underwater [New Launches]
Waterproof Storage
Actually a pretty smart idea, waterproof hard and flash drives keep your data safe. Just make sure to dry them first otherwise you'll end up giving your computer a Wet Willy. The smartest we've seen is this little 16GB HDMC I-O Data. It's waterproof and the rubber bumper unwraps to form the USB cable. And if you click through to the post from last year, you can see that the waterproofing wasn't the only Walkman inspired feature. Check out the crazy 80s graphics in the promo video.
Waterproof Portable Hard Drive Bounces and Bobs [Gadget Lab]
