Hot Watch smartwatch turns your hand into a mobile telephone
Another day, another piece of smart wristwear that we really quite want – and it's already smashed through its Kickstarter target
The smartwatch market is getting more crowded by the day, with the likes of the Sony SmartWatch 2, Pebble and crowdfunded Kreyos all vying to wrap themselves around your wrist.
And now theres a new clever timekeeper strutting its stuff on Kickstarter. Meet the Hot Watch.
TALK TO THE HAND
The Hot Watch sets itself apart from rivals with its ‘Hands on Talk’ Technology, which transforms your hand into a phone.
A directional speaker on the bottom of the wrist band projects sound to your cupped palm which then amplifies the sound to your ear. Coupled with a microphone, you can apparently have a conversation without taking out your plus-sized phone or embarrassingly large phablet. Hello handphone.
Despite making you look as though as though you have chronic earache, it might provide a more natural alternative to talking into your watch, Dick Tracy-style – though we’re sure you’ll be earning yourself a few concerned stares either way.
The Hot watch features a 1.26in E-paper (read: transflective LCD) display covered in smudge-proof glass, packs in a variety of sensors including a six-axis accelerometer, and has a vibration motor for haptic feedback.
It’ll connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth, and hand motions such as moving your hand towards your ear will pick up incoming calls.
The Hot watch also furnishes you with notifications and messages, provides music playback control and counts your steps with its built-in pedometer. You can even make notes directly on the watch face, though you’ll need some freakishly small handwriting to fit anything of use on a 1.25in screen.
There are four variations; Basic, Edge, Classic, and Curve, all coming in either a gold or silver finish. The difference between the four is mostly aesthetic, with the exception of the Curve which has a handy built-in LED torch.
Hot Watch’s Kickstarter Project originally needed US$150,000 to get funded, but it’s already smashed that target and is currently at US360,000. And there’s still 30 days to go before the campaign ends, with creator PHTL intending to ship the watches this December. Proof, if proof is needed, that there’s a growing hunger for smart wristwear. Hear that, Apple, Microsoft and Samsung?
[From Hot Smart Watch via Kickstarter]
Nigel Yap
