Watchy is a $50 E INK smartwatch, but users have to assemble it themselves. It is primarily aimed at amateur programmers and hobbyists. The current programming platform is Arduino IDE, which can be downloaded from the Github. When you purchase the item, it comes with a watch band, exposed circuit board and a watch face. There are instructions in the box on how to assemble it, and we did it quite easily. The company is working on a CNC anodized aluminum case for Watchy. The design is still being finalized, but expect to add about 35 grams of ruggedness to your Watchy Kit, it will ship in May.
The watch features a 1.54-inch electronic paper screen with a resolution of 200 x 200 pixels. It uses an ESP32-S module, which features a low-power dual-core processor and WiFi and Bluetooth. The company behind the product, SQFMI, says the watch should get up to 2 weeks of battery life from a single charge, thanks to the 200 mAh battery. Additionally, the Watchy has four buttons and a vibration motor.
When it comes to the retail packaging, they are hyping off the open source aspect of it, and all of the specs that you need to know about. This nicely designed black box has everything in white, so there is lots of contrast. A smaller box houses the watch, is enclosed in an envelope of recycled paper. Inside the box is the watch, the band, sticker, tape and battery. In the video below you can watch us unbox the watch, assemble it and give you our thoughts on the design.
You can pre-order this today from the Good e-Reader Store and it ships out in late May.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.