while the newly introduced Android Wear-powered smartwatches looks sleek, they are sized like regular watches which leaves you little or no option for typing if you are belongs to the group who feel silly speaking to a piece of hardware. with the new platform, the Mountain View folks expect you to use voice for pretty much everything that passes through any Android Wear-powered smartwatches. if that’s not your cuppa, then you are in dire need of a larger smartwatch, like this one proposed by Rufus Labs, dubbed the Rufus Cuff. in fact, it is so big that its maker didn’t even want to associate it with the term ‘smartwatch’ and prefers to refer it as a wrist communicator.
the device measures 79 mm by 54 mm (which pretty much goes halfway up your forearm, really), boasting a 3-inch display with 400 x 240 resolution. to put things in perspective, that screen real estate is about 70 percent of what iPhone up to this point has to offer. thanks to the asymmetrical design that managed to keep the wrist band down to a more regular size, albeit still rather chunky, you won’t appear to be wearing Wonder Woman‘s Bracelets of Submission. it is appallingly enormous as a watch, but then again, it isn’t a watch and it doesn’t even bother itself with Android Wear either, cos’ it has a full-blown Android OS to content with. the best trick up its wrist? it boast the ability to pair with both iPhone and Android smartphones.
having an unusually huge form factor also allows it to pack in a larger battery pack for a longer runtime too. the device is powered by a Cortex A8 with Bluetooth 4.0 for pairing to your smartphone and would require you to it tethered to a smartphone to get the most out of the device. however, it can still work without the smartphone, provided that you have WiFi connectivity.
Rufus Labs has taken this sci-fi concept ‘wrist communicator’ to Indiegogo, seeking financial backing from like-minded wearable tech enthusiasts. anyway, you can show your love by backing up the project; a pledge of $229 or more will get yourself one Rufus Cuff – IF the campaign reaches its funding goal of 250 grand. yes. unfortunately, they’re on fixed funding. click past the jump for pitch video to learn more about the Rufus Cuff.
Rufus Labs via Gizmag
a huge thanks to Gabe for sending us these awesome images.
