From Google Glass to the Pebble smartwatch, wearable tech is where it's at. The curved-screen EmoPulse Smile is a smartphone, smartwatch, and digital companion wrapped into one chunky wrist bracelet. It will be interesting to see if it can successfully get off the ground thanks to an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.
There's no Android versus iOS battle here. The Smile actually runs on Linux. That may put it at a disadvantage as far as app stores go, but it does give EmoPulse leeway to develop a custom system to try to carry out some ambitious features. The company is working on creating a device that learns what movies you like, monitors your sleep, and interacts with you with a personality meant to out-Siri Siri.
EmoPulse says it has a working prototype of the Smile. The Indiegogo project page is full of earnest descriptions of what the bracelet/phone/smartwatch will be able to do, including speech recognition, digital assistant functions, desktop-quality gaming, and emotional sensors that pick up on your moods. I'll be impressed if it can do a good job of pulling off half of what it wants to. Though the Smile is designed to work as a standalone smartphone, it can also be harnessed as a smartwatch with a connection to your existing smartphone if you would rather use it like that.
Early-bird pledge prices for the 128GB version are $300, with $380 being the standard amount. EmoPulse is aiming for a $300,000 goal, but the flexible funding campaign means whatever it raises will go toward the project. The finalized models are scheduled to go into production by the end of the year.
The Smile won't appeal to everybody. It's definitely on the large size. It's not exactly going to hide under your sleeve very easily. The word "ambitious" keeps coming to mind as I browse the features. I can't wait to see if EmoPulse is up to the challenge it has set for itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment