Please Stop Making Watch PhonesPlease Stop Making Watch Phones

So, Samsung introduced the "world's thinnest" watch phone today, and it does have a ton of features. While there's some Dick Tracy-inspired appeal, I really don't think we need these types of phones.As for the device itself, the Samsung S9110 is a pretty sophisticated piece of technology. The 1.76-inch screen has touch capabilities, but I'm sure it's a pain to accurately see what you're tapping on. Besides that, it also has Bluetooth, MP3 playback, speaker playback, voice recognition, and freaking Outlook e-mail support. It's expected to be released later this month in France for about $650.

This one actually has some appeal as a fashion device, but I really can't see a real, long-term need for this type of phone. I have never looked at my watch and thought, "If only I could get corporate e-mail on this thing." The mobile professional is going to want a smartphone for that, and they'll likely want a big keyboard or a good virtual keyboard to respond to those e-mails anyways. Additionally, I believe that the Web is increasingly becoming an important part of the mobile experience, and a watch phone's form factors limits this greatly. Also, I'm sure it's incredibly awkward to use, you'd have to look like a Bluetool all the time with this.

Samsung and LG Electronics have long had a game of "can-you-top-this" with each other, and this is a direct response to the cell phone watch we saw at CES. Looking on the positive sides, I suppose the miniaturization could have positive effects on other, full-sized smartphones, and I'd be exstatic if this leads to vastly improved voice recognition and dictation software. But I get the feeling this is just Samsung trying to one-up LG, and I would much rather each companies work on their mediocre smartphone lineups.