E-ink a winner in wearables
Until full colour flexible OLED screens can be manufactured with acceptable yields, it looks like the only rugged and shatter-proof alternative to power-hungry LCDs.
So much so that despite competing in the smart watch arena with “traditional” TFT LCD-based designs such as the SmartWatch 3 it launched last September, Sony is also developing watch bracelets based on E-ink, albeit without all the bells and whistle that more responsive screens can offer.
Last September, the company officially brought to market the SmartBand Talk, designed as a life-logger, bringing call handling and voice control with an always-on curved 1.4” E-ink display.
But at the same time, Sony was further exploring that route using a Japanese crowd-funding website to probe the market with a bracelet watch fully cut out of an E-ink display sheet (dial and belt included).
The FES watch as seen on crowd-funding site Makuake.
Here, the whole display and bracelet can change of style, with 24 design patterns selectable manually using the crown, but also with gestures-enabled on-off dial functions or through time-dependent routines. The whole unit could operate two-months in a row on a single button battery (way better than TFT-alternatives, but in my opinion still way too short for a time-keeping piece).
For discretion, the new product was crowd-sourced under the spin-off company name Fashion Entertainments (FES), and the FES watch quickly became a success, getting over its initial two million yen bid (approximately 13,000 Euros).
After completing successfully its first crowd-sourcing campaign, the company initiated another run (dubbed FES watch returns) just to extend the purchase opportunity to new entrants, collecting nearly 64,000 euros at the time of writing and still going.
On the crowd-sourcing site, Fashion Entertainments also states that the FES watch is only the first step in the company’s exploration of E-Ink’s potential to develop other fashion products with versatile and configurable skins, such as pattern-changing bow ties, spectacle frames, or shoes.
For such accessories, colour E-Ink could be envisaged and configuration could certainly be done through a special app, using a smartphone’s NFC or Bluetooth LE wireless link to program the multi-pattern routines.
Related articles:
Is There Life After Touchscreens?
World’s first dual-screen smartphone extends battery life
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
