We've seen the smartwatch revolution suffer from phone-connectivity issues – but Omate's TrueSmart runs independently unlike anything else on the market
We previously reported that Omate TrueSmart hit its crowd-funding target of $100,000 via fundraising website Kickstarter – now it seems their smartwatch is complete and available to pre-order.
Omate aim to eradicate issues that consumers are finding with other smartwatches i.e. when the watch "goes dark" if it untethers from the phone; the watch can only handle a small subset of notifications from the phone's apps; the watch only works with iPhones or Android phones; and so on.
Omate's TrueSmart Smartwatch 2.0 however is essentially a shrunken down Android phone strapped to your wrist with the ability to run independently from other smart devices.
The TrueSmart boasts impressive features including phone call capabilities, 720p video-capturing, 5-megapixel camera, full Android 4.2.2 (soon to be upgraded to 4.3) along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
The watch costs a reasonable (for smartwatches) $249 or $299 -- one with 4GB of storage, one with 8GB.
TrueSmart's metal body lends it a solid, reasonably attractive, but very thick and dense appearance, no bigger than the Samsung Galaxy Gear.
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Other wearables like Google Glass could potentially pair with it to make a truly wearable full-body experience, a use case mentioned on TrueSmart's Kickstarter page.
The Omate TrueSmart Smartwatch 2.0 is available to pre-order at www.omate.com
Nathan George is a freelance journalist who has contributed to T3.com in the fields of gaming, social media, streaming services, autonomous vehicles, phones, virtual reality headsets, wireless speakers and future tech. He studied journalism at the University of the West of England and is a holder of the Bronze and Silver The Duke of Edinburgh Award.