The advent of smartphones has forever changed the way in which we communicate, from voice to text & email, to web browsing and social media, but are we ready for the introduction of a “smartwatch”? Launched as a brand of Blue Sky Srl, i’mWatch will be introducing their vision of this innovative idea in less than a month at the ARM® Technology Conference – TechCon 2011 – in Santa Clara.
While the company doesn’t market it as such, this invention sure sounds like a modern day version of the venerable Dick Tracy wristwatch. Debuting in 1946 as a 2-Way Wrist Radio, and later upgraded to a 2-Way Wrist TV in 1964, this comic book technology marvel became an instant icon that served as a template for much of today’s mobile electronics, so if you’re an engineer into gadgets, you want one!
“We are convinced that man has something inborn, intangible but truly unique and grand: creativity, fantasy, capability of conceiving brilliant ideas and the drive of wanting to realise them. We did it and tried to do it in the best of ways. That is to say, we have extrapolated an innovative and high-tech idea and aroused in ourselves a fundamental that excels in the Italian spirit: creative design. Our philosophy is to make what surrounds us not only more useful but even more beautiful. What we were waiting for is now here: i’mWatch” – May 2011, Manuel Zanella & Massimiliano Bertolini, inventors of i’m Watch
According to reports, this is an Android-based wristwatch/computer that can connect to the internet via a bluetooth connection to the user’s smartphone and runs applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Skype. While the display is a color LCD, you’ll have to get used to the screen which measures a scant 1.54-inches diagonally. The company claims you can use common touch, drag, swipe and pinch movements within the apps, but that may be a tough task with such limited display real estate.
Nevertheless, this may just become the ultimate embedded electronic device for engineers!
