The Connect Watch could be the first smartwatch to ship with AsteroidOS, an open source, GNU/Linux based operating system designed for touchscreen devices such as watches. First unveiled in late August, the team behind the Connect Watch have launched a campaign on European crowdfunding site Ulule in hopes of raising about $33,000.
You can reserve a watch with a pledge of 99€ ($119 )or more and watches should ship in October. The expected retail price is 149€ ($179).
That makes the Connect Watch one of the more affordable options in the smartwatch space, especially if you snag one for the crowdfunding price. It also has decent, though unspectacular, specs including a 1.4 inch, 400 x 400 pixel AMOLED display, a MediaTek quad-core processor, and support for Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, and GSM cellular networks.
The Connect Watch is comes in two configurations:
- 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage
- 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage
Both models have 2MP cameras that can also record 720p video. That’s a feature you don’t actually find on may smartwatches these days.
On the other hand, while the watch’s key selling point is its operating system, it’s worth noting that while AsteroidOS has basic watch and notification features as well as a a few apps including calendar, calculator, weather, and music player apps, it doesn’t have the robust third-party ecosystem you get with Google’s Android Wear or Apple’s watchOS… at least not yet.
Yeah, I want to wear a lithium ion battery on my wrist that is being controlled by a crowdfunded company’s firmware. I hope that the watch can be removed quickly if there are any problems. Some products just can’t be crowdfunded out of safety concerns.
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