Rumours of Swatch making a smartwatch of its own were recently confirmed to Gizmodo by the company, we just don’t have any idea of when it will happen. So if you’re tired of waiting to strap a genuine smart Swiss watch to your wrist, Swatch has just upgraded its touchscreen Swatch Touch with the slightly smarter Swatch Touch Zero One that just might tide you over for now.
But if it’s smartwatch features like notifications and voice commands you’re after, you might want to wait a little longer. The Smart Touch Zero One focuses more on fitness tracking than keeping you abreast of recent dress controversies online. In fact, Swatch seems to be positioning it as the perfect accessory for professional volleyball players, which seems like a tiny market to be going after.
The folks at ABlogtoWatch have done some digging and have confirmed that the Smart Touch Zero One will use built-in sensors to not only measure general physical activity like steps, but also volleyball-specific metrics like the number, power, and type of ball hits made during a game. All of that data can then be synced over Bluetooth to an accompanying iOS or Android app to provide a history of a player’s progress. And it will even rank their skills, from amateur to professional, on a scale from one to one hundred.
The Touch Zero One will even keep track of burned calories through a yet to be explained ice cream cone icon on the display. As the cone gets larger does it mean the wearer has earned the right to eat more and more ice cream? Let’s hope so.
Since it seems more like an advanced fitness tracker than an actual smartwatch, Swatch is promising that the Touch Zero One doesn’t need to be charged every night. Its replaceable battery should last for months even with heavy use, and given its basic monochromatic touchscreen display, that’s an entirely plausible claim.
The use of a bungee cord locking mechanism on the strap is also an interesting feature, although it means the wristband can’t be swapped to other styles or designs if you wanted to dress it up. The Touch Zero One will be a fitness watch first and foremost, and when available later this year it will sell for just shy of $US160.
[Swatch via ABlogtoWatch]