We’ve been “watching” the Metawatch for a while now, wondering if it will ever take off. While I feel that the phone-watch connection is tenuous at best, it’s cute to watch people try to get it to work over and over again.
Geek.com took a closer look at a beta version of the product and found it interesting.
From the ground up, the Metawatch has been built to serve as a tool to make using your phone simpler. What exists now, the watch that I placed on my wrist, is a device with seemingly unlimited potential. The creators of the Metawatch were kind enough to provide me with an in-depth look at the device and the plan behind making it a success.
The Metawatch Manager app allows you to choose which notifications get sent to your watch, and what kind of notification the watch will give you. If you choose to just have the display change to show that you have a new email, or if you want the watch itself to vibrate to notify you of a new notification, it’s all controlled via smartphone. The settings app is pretty basic, perfect for most users who want to just pair to the watch and enjoy. For developers, however, the Metawatch team has given you an unprecedented level of control for how your notifications show up on the watch.
The watch currently connects with your phone via Bluetooth and supports contact lookups, phone calls, and simple messaging. You can buy an analog or digital beta version right now and the API allows you to send almost anything to the watch, including images. They expect to start shipping real product this month, although, again, I doubt it will get any traction. That said, it’s interesting to see this thing in the wild and I look forward to the improvements to come.
