Omate TrueSmart Watch Stands Alone — No Phone Required

jarold writes to point out an intriguing entry in the expanding smart-watch field: the Omate TrueSmart watch. Production of samples is about start on the watch after a successful Kickstarter campaign. Unlike some of the smart watches now out (or promised for soon), the TrueSmart is capable of making voice calls, sending texts, and using social media messaging without a separate smartphone or tablet. The specs are impressive, for something you wear on your wrist: Android 4.2.2 running on a dual core Cortex A7 and half a gig of RAM, 4GB of storage (expandable via micro-SD slot).

Comments

Refreshing

[mwvdlee]

Nothing like having the refreshing backplate of a smoldering hot CPU tied around your wrist.
I hope it comes with a quick release mechanism.

Re:Refreshing

[omatetruesmart]

No worries about that, mate. We've been fiedtesting and none of our staff has been sent to the Emergency room for burn wounds lololol. On a more serious note, the CPU is the latest low power dual core 28nm processor. Low power, low heat (which is waste of energy) and that's good for battery life too.

Old Technology

[techno-vampire]

There's nothing new here. Dick Tracy had one of these over sixty years ago.

Heat

[serviscope_minor]

I have what is now a quite low end phone, Galaxy Ace.

That thing gets warm if you use it "intensively", i.e. play a game that maxes it out. It has a considerably larger area over which to dissipate heat. I wonder how this one does.

Though I'm struggling to think of what would max out such a tiny device anyway. I can't see it running games or sitting there headless running a folding client.

Re:Heat

[viperidaenz]

The idea is probably that this watch device uses a newer SoC that requires less power.
Your Galaxy Ace has a 65nm CPU. I dare say a brand new dual core Cortex A7 is built on something a little smaller. All of MediaTek's Cortex A7's with 3G support appear to be 28nm.

Re:Heat

[DNS-and-BIND]

You have the wrong idea. It's not about functionality. It's about making people envy you by the products you buy. Moreover, you identify yourself as well-off and on top of the latest trends. Why do you think the iPod came with easily-identifiable white earplugs? Even if you're dressed like a homeless person, with this device on your wrist nobody will actually mistake you for one.

Re:Heat

[omatetruesmart]

You can be assured there's no heat issues with the TrueSmart. Technology progresses and energy efficiency improves too - the processor is the latest low-power 28nm processor, low power and less heat generated (which is a waste of power actually). No problems here

Glass and Smart Watches

[Tyr07]

I've wanted something like this since I was a kid. Something incredibly useful, portable, does many functions, even phone calls, from a watch? Hell yeah I'll buy one. Someone mentioned heat and games. I don't want to play games on it. I want to text, make phone calls, maybe pictures / video, and get information on it. Like news or directions. It shouldn't heat up too much with that barring the video. Technology has been useful, and it has been convenient for the task it's replacing/performing. However it is rarely convenient to carry with you all the time. Priceless.

Re:Glass and Smart Watches

[Tyr07]

I don't need a giant screen for simple text messages. If it's a large conversation worth that would be very difficult to type on one single small screen, I'd just call the person. I don't intend to write an email from it.

Yes, I was imaging using a blue tooth device paired to it. I did think this through, you may not have.
Ever use a speaker phone before? If it's an important quick call, it can be handy, ideally not used in areas where having a conversation
on the phone where 3rd parties can hear the conversation is an issue. Say you're just out walking and buddy calls you. You can
just pick it up, have a quick chat, where are you, oh, I'm here walking over to X store or whatever. Alright, meet you there.

Personally I'd rather hold my arm up like looking at the time for a few seconds than a phone to my ear.
Obviously for more private conversations you'd want to use your blue tooth device and be somewhere you're not disturbing people.
Plus I think it would be quite convenient for reading quick text messages.

What's also nice is that you can pair it with a phone if you need a bigger device for extended text messaging and other features.
The real boon is having a display on your arm that is easy to look at, instead of digging your phone out to see who is calling or texting.


My personal experience with my phone in my pocket or a case is it falling out, into water, or just on concrete. Getting scratched and damaged
Or just pressure from being in pockets damaging the touch screen etc.

Honestly until I saw this, my next phone was going to be as old styled as possible, hopefully no touch screen etc.
My current phone is touch screen and it's going, but it doesn't do smart phone stuff, doesn't run android etc
Means I don't facebook or do data from it, I charge it once every week or two weeks, I text and phone from it, and it works good.

So maybe not for everyone, but for me, a functional stand alone watch phone would be great.

Battery...

[Edis Krad]

I hope it comes with its own hand-crank, because I find it hard to believe that is going to hold a charge past 60 minutes...

Re: the crucial problem with this product

[serviscope_minor]

any consumer foolish enough to bring attention to their âoecool watchâ is immediately singled out as a dork, nerd, geek, or generally friendless loner/brainiac type.

Fortunately, anyone who can afford this watch has left school and is now in the "real world". At that point you can cease to care, tell the other person to fuck off, or call the police if they get violent.

Re:Watch phones are nothing new.

[omatetruesmart]

We are presenting a few leaps forward that are new 1) First Smartwatch that is water-resistant companion to phone (like the rest) AND standalone phone 2) First Smartwatch with Google Play App store - we believe apps will do to smartwatch like they did to smartphones 3) and if we successfully surpass $500K funds raised on Kickstarter, TrueSmart will be the First Smartwatch with Sapphire Crystal glass - the best scratch-proof, stuff used by the Grandmasters of watchmakers (Rolex, Omega, Hublot, Tag Heuer, etc). The specs like Android 4.2.2, dual core, GPS / Wifi 802.11bgn / Bluetooth 4.0 are simply technical specs one-up on what's out there.

Re:Charging position

[omatetruesmart]

These are special water-resistant connectors, so they are certainly made to handle corrosion! We have some inductive charging in our labs, tried various prototypes, couldn't get a satisfied design with enough charging surface for a meaningful charge and not end up with a huge watch, so we'll leave inductive charging to the next generation, hopefully with some advancements in inductive charging by then. By the way, the watch is designed strictly to watch sizes, a 45mm size, slightly larger than a dress watch, smaller than a sports watch.

Re:Question:

[omatetruesmart]

You can indeed talk into the TrueSmart like James Bond, Dick Tracey and Michael Knight (KITT) :-)) There's a water-resistant speaker / mic built-in. A bluetooth headset can be used too. Texting (special enhanced onscreen keyboard + swipes) is an alternative. Perfect for those quick and short messages like "OK I'll be there", "I miss you too", "What are you doing Saturday"... audio or text :-)