Musician/Intel employee/iPhone accessoriser will.i.am appeared on a British TV show yesterday showing off his self-produced smartwatch, which he says has completely replaced his phone. If we’re to believe everything we see on TV, it’s pretty impressive.
This is the clip, from Alan Carr: Chatty Man, a show that I admit I knew absolutely nothing about before seeing this clip. That’s still largely the case, but let’s focus on that smartwatch, shall we?
Mr i.am says the device, built by a company he self-started and self-funded, can make and receive calls without tethering to a smartphone. He also demonstrated its ability to play music, though I have a really hard time believing the sound we heard came from Mr i.am’s wrists. Even though he’s seemingly wearing two of them, presumably for stereo effect.
This burly wrist cuff (or pair of wrist cuffs! Do they only work in twos?), Mr i.am tells us, can do everything. Bluetooth headphones! Twitter! Instagram! Facebook! Though, tantalisingly, the video clip ends before we get the answer to Alan Carr’s insightful question: does it tell the time?
After the folks at Engadget found the Alan Carr: Chatty Man clip and wrote about it, will.i.am tweeted at them to confirm the watch is real. He even included a helpful link… to the Alan Carr video.
Yes, it is really real @emily…I will definitely share more info with you soon…http://t.co/yat2Gax1WJ
— will.i.am (@iamwill) April 4, 2014
But don’t get all excited thinking you can be the first one to get what I can only assume will be called the watch.i.am — that honour goes to Alan Carr.
@chattyman I want to give you my device before it launches in july…
— will.i.am (@iamwill) April 4, 2014