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After successful ventures like Pebble’s smart watch have proven that there is a market for advanced watches, more are sure to keep popping up by the day. The latest is AGENT, a smart watch which promises to be the smartest of them all. At first glance it doesn’t look like much: it’s a smart watch, it has a display, and it looks pretty spiffy. It’s what’s beneath the surface that is getting folks excited, though.
The AGENT smart watch’s biggest claim to fame will be its battery features, as the device has built-in Qi wireless charging components for use with any Qi-enabled charging pad (backers have the option of paying a bit more for a small one that comes with the watch). It’s a great solution for charging a device of this nature — simply come home, take it off, and plop it down on your dresser as you would any watch, with no wires to plug in.
Of course, the ability to charge the device wirelessly isn’t the only important factor. The smart watch comes with technology that allows users to scale back the watch’s capabilities in order to extend its battery life. At its most capable level, the watch can last up to 7 days on a single charge, but if you only need basic watch-face functionality you can get nearly a month’s worth of juice out of the thing.
Another reason AGENT is able to sustain battery life for long periods of time is the low rate of discharge in sleep mode. AGENT claims its watch only consumes 33μA while in sleep mode thanks to the capable-yet-efficient power of the watch’s ARM Cortex M4 chipset. Compare that to last year’s watches’ average discharge rate of 300μA and there’s reason to be excited.
The AGENT features two-way communication with smartphones (such as those running Android) via Bluetooth 4.0 LE. It can display incoming calls and notifications, and you can download more apps to extend functionality. Developers will be called upon to build said apps with a suite of tools the AGENT promises is intuitive to use. This will be possible with the .NET Micro Framework, where developers can build apps using C# in a controlled environment to ensure apps can’t go rogue in consuming resources. These apps can interface with apps written in other languages, such as Java (which Android apps are typically built with).
AGENT also features a number of light and motion sensors that will facilitate things like automatic backlight functionality to ensure you get just enough backlight for whatever lighting situation you find yourself, or to enable motion-based apps like a pedometer.
This little guy is already a success on Kickstarter, with over 1,400 backers pledging more than double the initial goal of $100. It sits at $253,000 as of the time of this writing, and the crazy part is that we’re only a day into the campaign. At this rate it appears it could challenge Pebble’s amazing success of $10 million in funding from more than 68,000 backers.
The cheapest available option for backing the project without an added Qi wireless charging pad is $149, which is said to be $100 less than what the watch will go for once it launches. For those who want the Qi pad, you’ll need to pledge at least $200 (again, $100 in savings compared to the normal price). The funding period ends June 20th so you’ll have plenty of time to decide whether or not you want this smart watch around your wrist once it’s scheduled to ship in December. Get over to Kickstarter now for more details, and be sure to throw down a pledge if you’re interested.
they got Jesse Pinkman as a design consultant? I’m in.
If they rename the watch to the Heisenberg i’ll take two!
New York Fashion? The design reminds me of the old calculator watches… only bulkier
Too bad most of these watches are ugly, this one included. The day they make a nice looking watch (ie: diesel/fossil watch designs), I will get one.
For the more fasionable amoungst us.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/203572986/vachen-smartwatch
sweet re-link to the same article. lol. People that worry about fashion would easily get confused and keep hitting the link thinking it would take them somewhere else eventually . lol
LOL, Dang it. Corrected link. I was sing “Pete and Repete were sitting on the fence…..” when I posted that.
Watches are meant to tell time, not look good. I have a rubber bracelet with a watch face in it. Anyone that pays more than $5 to $25 for a watch has spent too much money.
Watches are a piece of jewelry. More and more people are buying watches as a fashion statement, not a timepiece. I wear a Seiko Kinetic and it doesn’t even tell time, but damn, does it look sharp.
What does it do?
Just for show. It used to be an accurate time piece, but the capacitor no longer holds a charge to move the time pieces. I wear it when I have to dress up for work.
That’s up to you man. We all have our priorities. I prefer to look good and wear fashionable things. Funny packs sure are useful but I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing one.
lol well me either, on the fanny pack subject anyways. But i think the Rolex company is getting away with highway robbery.
The hottest girls I have ever met said they look at a man’s watch first…are they shallow…maybe…are they hot…absolutely.
Shallow ? how bout stupid ? lol. Those kind of women i dont want paying attention to me anyways.
Boring, useless, ugly… Anxiously awaiting the latest Motoactv 2 (hopefully their’s is a little more bug-free than the last).
Too much money. Will wait a couple years for the smart watch to evolve.
UI ripped off completely from Pebble. Come on guys, innovate, don’t imitate.
Yea, because there are just soo many ways to display info on a watch face. I bet you think all phone manufacturers ripped off the innovative rectangular shape of the iPhone as well…. lol
NOT a TOUCH SCREEN DEVICE..TURN OFF
I’m worried about the support or lack thereof by developers. What happens 1 year later when my apps no longer support this watch? Or worse, if there’s no one to develop in the first place?
Looking forward to this watch
Theres another upcoming smartwatch Orsto X1 which is pretty cool. Developed by a firm in the UK and its the most technically advanced smartwatch !! Check it out and you might want to support them!!
http://igg.me/at/orsto-x1-smart-watch/x/3424713