Musician and technophile,Will.i.am, has created a new smartwatch, the Dial. It’s unique from other smartwatches on the market in that it does not have to work with a smartphone.
Available in white or black, Dial is a fully-functional stand-alone smartphone. It’s features include 32GB of storage; a 1.63-inch AMOLED, Gorilla Glass display; a 2.0 MP camera; and a removable battery.
The watch also ships with Bluetooth headphones; a magnetic USB power adapter; a music service subscription; and can track your fitness workouts.
Dial also features an assistant similar to Siri called AneedA. It assists users with hand-free email, texting, making calls, and tracking workouts.
This isn’t Will.i.am’s first foray into the smartwatch business. He launched the Puls wrist wearable two years ago. Puls, like the Dial, is somewhat of a wearable phone. It’s equipped with a SIM card, speakers, and a curving touchscreen display.
Will.i.am told the Daily Mail the reasons why he thinks he can disrupt the smartphone market:
“Over time you really need to fine tune why you need a new device on your wrist,†he said. “There’s no need to launch a product that doesn’t tell you why you need it. That’s pointless.
They [companies] told us why we need a smartphone..and a laptop…they even told us why we need a tablet when the phone was pretty awesome already.
But I don’t know why the f**k I need those watches right now.
“Our team has been carefully creating it [the watch] from that perspective.”
The Puls received pretty terrible reviews when it debuted. A reviewer for Tom’s Guide wrote, “Compared to all other smartwatches, the Puls feels like a monstrosity…†and “The Puls has a lot of potential, but I’ve got a feeling Will.i.am & company still have to work out some kinks.â€
Perhaps Will.i.am and his team have a more honed product with Dial. The Dial smartwatch is ready for pre-order but only in the U.K. for now; for 49 pounds and the cost of a monthly phone plan.