Amazon's Alexa, which powers its Echo and Echo Dot speakers, made waves when the voice-recognition system listened to radio announcements and was able to control a thermostat. As smartwatches slowly gain traction in the market, having a personal assistant that can, say, call a cab, doesn't seem like a bad idea, and CoWatch is a smartwatch that claims to do that and more.
CoWatch is reportedly the first watch to integrate Alexa and requires some means of internet access â€" whether Wi-Fi or via a smartphone over Bluetoothâ€" to remain functional. But looking beyond its inability to be available offline, the watch seems promising.
The makers promise that CoWatch will listen when spoken to and seem to really be keen on integrating the smartwatch with home automations systems.
The smartwatch features an always-on circular 286-ppi AMOLED display with a resolution of 400 x 400 pixels, and underneath, it features a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM. It also has 8GB onboard storage and claims to last up to 32 hours.
It also packs a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis digital compass and a heart-rate sensor. It also has a vibro motor that provides vibrating feedback.
Users can choose between carbon black and stainless steel when it comes to finish, and the innards are all housed in a "fracture-resistant zirconia composite ceramic body" that carries an IP67 rating, making it both dust and water-resistant.
The watch runs a proprietary OS called Chronologics, which apparently puts "an arsenal of apps at your fingertips." It is reported to work with Apple devices featuring iOS9 or higher, along with Android devices running Android 5.0 or higher.
The Indiegogo campaign was backed 133 percent at the time of the writing of this article, with the $159 Early Riser offer price being completely sold out. The watch can be picked up at the Early Riser price of $179.
