The Kreyos. Taken from http://www.dvice.com
While I was young, I read comic strips and one of those is Dick Tracy talking to his communicator watch strapped to his wrist. It does look so much better than Get Smart’s phone shoe.
The first inkling of what a modern Smartwatch would be like is the introduction of the iPod Nano in 2010. It looked square, resembles a watch face and the next thing we all know is someone strap the thing onto a wrist watch strap and it has conveniently become a watch that has additional functions.
The iPod Nano + Strap = Smartwatch?
The thing may look the part but like what Geoffrey Goetz says in his article (http://gigaom.com/2013/03/16/why-i-stopped-wearing-my-ipod-nano-as-a-watch/) , that there are serious shortcomings. To me, the one thing that we should consider is the battery life. Asking me to charge the phone daily is not an issue, but a watch? Yeah it sounds weird why it should be any different but sooner or later you will revert back to a watch that doesn’t need to charge.
Then others see the potential and we have the Sony Smartwatch 1/2, Motorola Activ and of course the Pebble. All are good in their own way. Even Sony has come out with the latest in the Smartwatch 2 (http://blogs.sonymobile.com/press_release/introducing-sony-smartwatch-2-the-worlds-first-water-resistant-smartwatch-with-nfc-connectivity/).
And then around the same time I was just surfing about the smartwatch even though I have put in an order for The Pebble but have heard nothing from them since. You can say Pebble is ‘old tech’ by now so that may the reason why my eyes are wandering.
Then through some links, I got to know the Kreyos. http://igg.me/at/kreyos/x/3754200
Reading through the whole page these are the take aways. The engineers are great in what they are doing, the moulds are done (that means the production can go ahead much much faster), it is waterproof (yup) and they have gesture and voice control.
Not bad especially when Pebble is just showing you stuff from the phone…at least you can control the phone without touching it. And I can swim with it. Yup. It is not water resistant…it is water proof (to a certain limit of course).
Actually I am sold on the idea of not touching the phone. Why? I own the ASUS Padfone Infinity and when I am out and about, it sits comfortably in the Padfone Station. So taking a call not only means to open the bag and dig the phone out, but also pull the phone out of the tablet and take the call. Yup i missed call just because of that unless I go without the tablet.
There are a few things to note why this the Kreyos is somewhat better than Pebble and the Sony.
2 way communication and not just a second screen to the phone.
Phone locator. How many time you would wish you can find the phone at home quickly?
Gesture motion much like what Samsung is doing with its Galaxy Phones as it has Gyrometer with it.
Waterproof versus water resistant…nevermind about the rest that I wonder if it can go into any water bodies at all including rain.
For me now, the price from the Crowd-sourcing program is only USD100 as compared to the Pebble at USD150 (I missed the promotion price during Kickstarter). Forget about Sony at that ridiculous pricing of USD269.
Power consumption is the same as Pebble and yet it is LCD and not e-Paper. That to me is a plus. 7 days worth of battery power is not bad really for LCD.
When’s all said and done, saving USD70 or around SGD90 is a no brainer since they are still at the Crowd Sourcing part of the business. Now is to wait for it to come.
Interested? Better hurry as the price is going up. I have already missed the sub USD100 batches (damn it!)…it is now at the USD110 price (yes you lugi or lose another USD10 or SGD12).
The most expensive would be USD129 or SGD 163 until the end of the fund raising initiative until mid August. After that it will be USD169 or S$213 (a bit too ex for an electronic watch, would rather go get a swatch or something else).
Since they have already got their funding target, the project is good to go and so the watch will be produced. If it goes to plan, maybe it will be a great Christmas gift.
Good thing I didn’t pay up for the Pebble.
To Order (or contribute) : http://igg.me/at/kreyos/x/3754200
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