The UK start-up Blocks Wearables is behind the first modular smartwatch project, meaning that the watch is customizable using one or more modules which fit together. A finished product is available on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, with shipments expected in May 2016.
The watch's case has a circular touchscreen face measuring 1.34 inches. The watch also includes an accelerometer and a microphone. It uses an in-house-designed operating system which is compatible with iOS and Android smartphones.
The idea behind Blocks is to customize the watch with additional modules chosen by the wearer. The first modules made available include a battery life extender (adding around 20% per additional module), a heart monitor, a GPS, an NFC chip (contactless technology), and a temperature, atmospheric pressure and altitude sensor. Future modules are expected to include flash memory, a camera and even an air quality measurement sensor.
Orders totaling several million dollars?
After only one day on Kickstarter, Blocks had already topped the 250,000 dollars needed to put it on the market. However, it is still possible to support the project which could soon have funding of over a million dollars. The price for the basic version of the watch is 195 dollars, and goes up to 285 dollars for the standard case plus 4 modules chosen by the wearer, bearing in mind that with certain packages several models can be ordered which are customizable to a greater or lesser extent.
The concept of high-tech connected modular devices is not new. Google is currently working on Ara, a smartphone which is expected to be economical, ecological and customizable. The idea is to create a smartphone consisting of various small blocks which each include an interchangeable component: a processor, memory, camera, speaker, 3G chip, etc. The latest news is that the project has been pushed back to 2016.
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