"Smart" watches that talk to cellphones have been around for some time,
but they've been hampered by their high battery drain - usually needing
recharging every few days. At this week's International CES electronics
trade show in Las Vegas, a startup launched a smart watch, the Cookoo,
that runs for a year on a standard button cell.
What it is
The Cookoo
is a somewhat beefy watch, most suited for the male wrist. It has
analog hands to show the time, but the watch face can also display
several digital indicators, prompted by Bluetooth signals from your
smartphone. Aided by beeps and a vibration motor, it can tell you that
someone is calling or that you missed a call. It can also alert you
about new email or an appointment. The watch can also talk back to the
phone, so you can use it as a remote release for the camera.
How it works
A free app on your iPhone prompts it to send signals via the
Bluetooth wireless technology to the watch. The reason the Cookoo can
run for a year on a button cell is that it uses a new, low-energy flavor
of Bluetooth, known as 4.0.
The caveats
Only a few devices have
the chips necessary for low-energy Bluetooth connections. The app is for
Apple devices only, so the watch is limited to talking to the iPhone
4S, the iPhone 5, the full-size iPad models released last year, the iPad
Mini and the latest iPod Touch. Early reviewers on iTunes complain of
the watch dropping the connection to the phone and running down the
phone battery - problems that might be fixed with a software update.
Price and availability
ConnecteDevice Ltd., which makes the Cookoo, sells it
on its website for $130. AT&T's flagship store, in Chicago, is also
carrying it for the same price.
The competition
CES also saw the
launch of the Pebble, a programmable smart watch with a fully digital
display. Users can send different "watch faces" to it and make it
perform a wider range of tricks than the Cookoo can, but it needs to be
recharged every week. Like the Cookoo, the Pebble raised the money to
start production by selling units on group-fundraising site Kickstarter.
In pics: Best of CES 2013