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[guise]

Brilliant concept, i was so tempted to donate, but the bezel & form factor look huge. I'll wait for some later models once they nail the industrial design and it looks more like this (unrelated) design concept



I hope this wakes up the watch industry and we start seeing more ePaper displays. They are nowhere near common enough and clearly there's a huge demand

 

[Cloudy]

This is the first thing I'll be supporting on kickstarter. I've never been on the site till now and always assumed it was just people begging for money for products that may or may not come to fruition. Was I wrong or are these guys just using it correctly (offering the actual product as a reward)?

Anyways I'm in for $115

 

[NomarTyme]

Must resist to throw more money in tech... oh god.

Just read the verge review on the sony smart watch... typical Sony software bs.

 

[neojubei]

Brilliant concept, i was so tempted to donate, but the bezel & form factor look huge. I'll wait for some later models once they nail the industrial design and it looks more like this (unrelated) design concept



I hope this wakes up the watch industry and we start seeing more ePaper displays. They are nowhere near common enough and clearly there's a huge demand

I would love a watch like that. it reminds me of the watches from binary domain.

Anyone heard of I'm Watch?

http://www.imshop.it/us-en/

 

[Cloudy]

Does e-paper show color?

 

[Blackhead]

Does e-paper show color?

No.

Some smartwatches do show color though:

Black & white only — Pebble, Metawatch

Color only (oled display) — Sony smartwatch, inPulse

Both Color + Standby/Outdoor (black & white) mode — Motoactv, WIMM One

 

[NomarTyme]

Not supporting Bluetooth 4.0 is going to hurt them

Next version should be 4.0 and solar power... but 7 days is ok.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

First Kickstarter I've put money on and I put down $115 hopefully to get a watch at less than retail.

My reasons:

I've always wanted something like this since Apple showed off the iPod Nano. This is precursor to some of my dream technologies.

ePaper for prolonged battery and sunlight is nice, LCD wouldn't be great.

Binary watchface, I love that sort of thing.

Open software support with web-based APIs.

Looks pretty boss.

They actually have working prototypes and a short timetable to release.

I don't expect this to be perfect but the early execution sounds great.

Plus they've already released a predecessor watch that was unfortunately targeted @ the Blackberry. I've backed it (with the superior [and cheaper] jet black color).

 

[noah111]

Brilliant concept, i was so tempted to donate, but the bezel & form factor look huge.

Agreed, i'm not a fan of the design. It really stands out on anything other than black as well, the bezel is just too big. The idea is a good one regardless.

 

[Rengoku]

Wow, the kickstarter is over 3.3 million. They're officially the most funded kickstarter ever (beating out Double fine's game). And they still have 31 days to go!

 

[Hawkian]

ePaper is a great application here. I'm not paying 115 for that design 5 months from now, but I'm really glad they've got the funding to keep iterations coming.

 

[blahblah...blah]

I really think companies should be able to set limits as well as thresholds: do these guys really have the capacity to fulfill 3.5 million worth of orders?

 

[robertsan21]

Is it water tight so I can go diving with it?

 

[Fusebox]

Love the idea of it, but I'll get one when it looks like a nice watch and not a block.

 

[Castor Krieg]

This is the end, when people just thrown money at shit. Really, pledging for a product that doesn't exist yet? This is Internet bubble on a smaller scale.

 

[Chairhome]

This is the end, when people just thrown money at shit. Really, pledging for a product that doesn't exist yet? This is Internet bubble on a smaller scale.

They have a prototype that's used in the videos. How is this different than pre-ordering a game?

 

[Magni]

Kickstarter takes 5% from pledges, I'm sure they're happy about Pebble haha.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

This is the end, when people just thrown money at shit. Really, pledging for a product that doesn't exist yet? This is Internet bubble on a smaller scale.

They are donations, the clause that the whole thing could fold is pretty self-evident. That's why you back solid-looking projects like this one. Heck, sounds like investing right?

 

[Somnid]

I really think companies should be able to set limits as well as thresholds: do these guys really have the capacity to fulfill 3.5 million worth of orders?

Time-wise? It'll set their date back because they probably have more "preorders" than they would think they'd get in total sales. Also the money is for the manufacture run, they already have the prototype devices. It's not like they can't fullfill them from a money perspective because that's essentially what's funded by this.

For a lot of other projects like software overfunding is a bigger problem because even with money you can't scale your project to match. But in the end this all about donations, they can use it, pocket it, or invest it.

 

[equap]

Sony SmartWatch $118 http://www.expansys-usa.com/sony-smartwatch-228482/

 

[Jo Shishido's Cheeks]

Having to charge my watch up every week sounds lame as hell :-/

 

[Tobor]

It looks really cool, and the price is right, but I don't really want to wear a watch.

 

[Invisible_Insane]

Having to charge my watch up every week sounds lame as hell :-/

Yeah, you might have to charge it next to your phone, e-reader, iPod, console controllers, laptop...

This is a really stupid thing to bitch about.

 

[Meier]

It looks like a pretty cool device but I just got a FuelBand so I obviously have nowhere to wear it. Hopefully it lives up to everyone's expectations.

 

[The Elite]

It looks really cool, and the price is right, but I don't really want to wear a watch.

Men who wear watches get laid more.

True story.

 

[Kusagari]

By the end of this run, it will easily be the highest grossing kickstarter. This could easily break 5mill.

 

[Jimrpg]

seriously that watch looks pretty average like a $50 watch...

 

[Oppo]

I kind of think the next iPod Nano will go this route.

The current one could do all of this stuff if it just had a Bluetooth chip in it. And e-ink, I guess.

 

[Witchfinder General]

Kicked in. This will be my everyday watch while my Baume & Mercier will be my dress watch.

 

[hEist]

would buy it.

 

[-COOLIO-]

kickstarters are fucking tearing it up

 

[Angry Fork]

This is the end, when people just thrown money at shit. Really, pledging for a product that doesn't exist yet? This is Internet bubble on a smaller scale.

How can it exist if nobody backs it up? Unless the inventor is independently wealthy already it's not going to happen.

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

lol I actually like this better since it'll work with iphone too. I've never used kickstarter before but am I guaranteed to have one if I preorder?

I don't think there are any guarantees so I will wait. This is a nice product though, will have to wait for more

I still think one of the best tech startups is the dock for the Macbook Air

 

[tino]

The Samsung version?

You can already buy the Sony watch for $150. You can buy the older Sony watch for $70. People just like kickstart shit.

 

[sangreal]

I really think companies should be able to set limits as well as thresholds: do these guys really have the capacity to fulfill 3.5 million worth of orders?

They can set limits. This project is actually sold out of a few rewards.

You can already buy the Sony watch for $150. You can buy the older Sony watch for $70. People just like kickstart shit.

You can already buy Allerta's other watch, the inPulse too. I don't know what that has to do with anything

 

[Futureman]

I think this looks terrible, but hey, no offense to anyone who wants one. Looks extremely pointless, but maybe because I hate watches. All the stuff they show doing on their little watch I'd rather just DO with my actual smartphone.

 

[MercuryLS]

Brilliant concept, i was so tempted to donate, but the bezel & form factor look huge. I'll wait for some later models once they nail the industrial design and it looks more like this (unrelated) design concept



I hope this wakes up the watch industry and we start seeing more ePaper displays. They are nowhere near common enough and clearly there's a huge demand

I would love a watch that looks like this. I think watches would be one of the best implementations of the new flexible screens Samsung is making. The only issue is the battery drain, I guess e-ink is the way to go right now.

 

[Zaptruder]

Yeah, you might have to charge it next to your phone, e-reader, iPod, console controllers, laptop...

This is a really stupid thing to bitch about.

As an owner of an iPod nano and a lunatik watchstrap... I wish it was a stupid thing to bitch about.

But it's really not :/


Also the iPod nano has some cool watch faces, but very poor readability in sun light (you could shade it with a hand) ... also having to turn it on every time you want to read it...

They seem like small things, but when they're things you don't have to deal with on a normal watch, you quickly get fed up with the execution and just revert back to your old perfectly fine watches.

I feel like this is another chance to pimp HMDs... but having the time accessible on your HMD in the corner of your eye would kinda make accessories like this (digital watch that syncs with your phone) quite needless. Real watches can still stay for their bling factor.

 

[Sol..]

Sony SmartWatch $118 http://www.expansys-usa.com/sony-smartwatch-228482/

NOT COOL UNTIL IT HAS A KICKSTARTER.

I think this looks terrible, but hey, no offense to anyone who wants one. Looks extremely pointless, but maybe because I hate watches. All the stuff they show doing on their little watch I'd rather just DO with my actual smartphone.

while you waste all that time reaching into your pocket to get that smartphone i'll be smartphonin' it up from my wrist module.

 

[eastmen]

Would buy if they add windows phone support to it.

 

[RSTEIN]

This is the end, when people just thrown money at shit. Really, pledging for a product that doesn't exist yet? This is Internet bubble on a smaller scale.

When you pre-order a game what do you think you're doing?

 

[Divvy]

When you pre-order a game what do you think you're doing?

To be fair, if the game gets cancelled you get your money back.

 

[RSTEIN]

To be fair, if the game gets cancelled you get your money back.

that's true, but this one looks like there will be no problem getting it out the door.

 

[mrklaw]

how does it handle the display? I think for this kind of thing to take off you need something like displaylink/mirrorlink - bluetooth based screen sharing, where the watch is just a dumb terminal and the phone controls what it displays. You can upload 'watch' templates for use when not sending it rich information.

by creating a standard, you can get other watch manufacturers to join in. Maybe these guys can try and do that - do they have any plans to license it out?

and why is all this kickstarter stuff just donations? Why don't they offer shares in the company in return for donations - this is basically their launch capital after all.

 

[mrklaw]

30k backers, $4m pledged - thats an average of $130 per backer. Are most people basically preordering a watch? Won't that fuck up their cash flow once they get started?

 

[Magilla]

Anyone know what e-paper technology they are using? E Ink is the standard for the most part, but I can't find if they say. And some of the other e-paper technologies are kind of crappy and definitely unproven.

 

[Riggs]

"Unfortunately Pebble does not work with Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, or Palm phones at this time."

Lol, suprise.

 

[TAJ]

"Unfortunately Pebble does not work with Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, or Palm phones at this time."

Lol, suprise.

Their combined market share among recent smartphone buyers is 9%.
I'm shocked.

 

[mrklaw]

"Unfortunately Pebble does not work with Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, or Palm phones at this time."

Lol, suprise.

They missed a trick there.

"pledge $250,000 or more: minority share telco pack. We'll make a pebble app for your smartphone OS and send you 10 pebbles for testing"

 

[FillerB]

I think this looks terrible, but hey, no offense to anyone who wants one. Looks extremely pointless, but maybe because I hate watches. All the stuff they show doing on their little watch I'd rather just DO with my actual smartphone.

I think it's meant more for developers/runners then anything else. I agree that as a pure watch is useless and terrible. But from a developer standpoint/app possibilities it is quite an intriguing little device.

For example the things you can do when combining it with voice control through a pair of earbuds with microphone. Press a button on your watch, say the number you want to dial and let it dial. Or when someone calls you, you can simple accept the call with a flick of the wrist. Stuff like that already exists but you still have to dig out your phone from your pocket. With this you don't have to which makes it ideal as a handsfree-set while driving/running.