inPulse Smartwatch Puts Your BlackBerry on Your Wrist

[Ed Hardy]

Allerta has taken the wraps off a watch that works in concert with a nearby BlackBerry smartphone to display messages and alerts.

The inPulse will have a 1.3-inch OLED display, and will communicate with the BlackBerry over Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.

It is going to be able to display incoming e-mails, SMS messages, and phone calls.

The makers of this watch don't expect people to give up looking at their BlackBerry, but this accessory will allow them easily see if an incoming message is important enough to justify pulling the phone out of pocket, purse, or briefcase.

This will be a read-only device, with no way to input text.

Hardware Details
The inPulse will be 2.0 inches tall, 1.5 inches wide, and 0.5 inches thick (51mm x 38mm x 12mm). It is going to have a glass cover and an all-metal casing.

Allerta says its 150 mAh battery will give it a four-day battery life, depending on usage. It can be recharged over its micro-USB port.

Pricing and Availability
Pre-orders are now being taken for a limited first production run. Orders can be placed at freeupyourhands.com.

The price for the Allerta inPulse is $150. As this smartwatch will use a BlackBerry as its source of e-mails, etc., there will be no additional cost for service.

Its manufacturer says this accessory should be ready to ship by February 2010.

Source: Allerta

Related Articles:

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• BlackBerry Storm2 First Impressions Review

[Ed Hardy]

I spoke with Eric Migicovsky, Allerta's CEO, about using the inPulse with other operating systems besides BlackBerry. He said:

At this moment, we are only announcing support for BlackBerry. We definitely have big plans for this product, and we'll keep you up-to-date on any new features or phone support.

Personally, I'd love to see an Android version, but I can see plenty of Windows Mobile users wanting this accessory, too. It's ideal for surreptitiously checking your messages in meetings.


p.s. You guys who sit in the back of the room and think no one notices that your typing on your Blackberry... you're not fooling anyone. Everyone knows exactly how little attention you are paying to the meeting.
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[r0k]

Is this thing
a phone (potentially cool)

or a bluetooth peripheral (lame)

that saves me from the arduous task of getting my Blackberry out of my shirt pocket to see who called?

I went to the web site and sure enough it's the latter. No laser beams to cut handcuffs. No Dick-Tracy-like watch picture phone. I should check their FAQ page to see if the thing quits working if you walk away from your BB. I guess that would be nice. An electronic tether to keep somebody from forgetting their 'berry.

But even with the quits working if I forget my 'berry, the fact this thing needs a charge every few days and wants to compete with my BB for a space on my charger makes me say no thanks.

What do you mean not paying attention? Did I miss something?

[jigwashere]

For the most part, I find the concept unnecessary and even silly. The etiquette problem isn't so much about checking messages during meetings, it's answering or initiating them. When my phone alerts me about a call or message, it's usually okay to check as long as I don't answer or respond until the meeting is over.

What I see as the nice feature is the fact that it'll vibrate to alert you of calls. I've missed a fair number of calls because I don't notice my smartphone vibrating. In noisy environments, I might even miss calls when it rings. A vibrating watch on my wrist would be hard to miss.

Is that worth $150? I think I have other priorities.

[Magellan]

I can see it now. Everyone in a meeting constantly looking at their watches and the presenter thinking he is boring everyone.

[_Q_]

Personally, I'd love to see an Android version, but I can see plenty of Windows Mobile users wanting this accessory, too. It's ideal for surreptitiously checking your messages in meetings.

webOS users and possibly Maemo users too...

p.s. You guys who sit in the back of the room and think no one notices that your typing on your Blackberry... you're not fooling anyone. Everyone knows exactly how little attention you are paying to the meeting.

And there are also some us who use smartphones in meetings, very visibly--to take notes. And I do mean actually taking notes, not just using that as a cover for checking messages.

[_Q_]

I should check their FAQ page to see if the thing quits working if you walk away from your BB. I guess that would be nice. An electronic tether to keep somebody from forgetting their 'berry.

The Sony Ericsson watches will vibrate if you get out of Bluetooth range of the phone (if both watch and phone have Bt turned on, of course). I hope that the designers of this watch learned from that.

[Gmg114]

Its kind of like the Bluetooth wristband they have out, except instead of vibrating when it rings or a text message, its going to be displayed on a watch. good idea, but i wonder how durable it will be.

[_Q_]

Its kind of like the Bluetooth wristband they have out, except instead of vibrating when it rings or a text message, its going to be displayed on a watch. good idea, but i wonder how durable it will be.

Also (as I've said before) like Sony Ericsson's MBW line; I've had the MBW-100 since December 2006 (about the same size as this watch with some of the same features) and that's held up well. Hope this one does too and that it's a little bit lighter.

[hal]

I can foresee at least a car crash in which the guy stared too long into his watch.