The Verge - The best watches of CES 2013

Central Standard Timing's razor-thin Kickstarter watch raises full $200,000 in under 48 hours

2013-01-10T17:19:37Z

Central Standard Timing's CST-01, an E Ink watch that's reasonably billed as the world's thinnest, has made its Kickstarter goal of $200,000 after less than two days. The watch went live Tuesday night, and it's already gotten around 1,600 backers, almost all of whom pledged either $99 or $129 to receive a watch when they're (theoretically) shipped in September. Of course, given how things worked out with the last big Kickstarter watch, that date could easily slip by if it keeps getting funded at this pace.

The Pebble smartwatch keeps it simple (hands-on)

2013-01-09T17:15:06Z

Now that Pebble has announced it's shipping to Kickstarter backers on January 23rd, the company is finally ready to show off the final hardware and software on its smartwatch. We spent some time putting the watch through its paces and talking with CEO Eric Migicovsky, and we've come away more impressed than we expected with the Kickstarter phenomenon.

Smartwatches are a big theme theme here at CES, but few have garnered the kind of interest that the Pebble has. One reason is that it is simple and straightforward: watchfaces, notifications, and music control are the headline features with only a few other odds and ends thrown in on the side. The other reason is that it simply looks great — nobody wants a monstrosity strapped to their...

Pebble smartwatch finally shipping January 23rd, we talk to CEO about its future

2013-01-09T17:15:05Z

The Pebble smartwatch is best-known for being a smash hit on Kickstarter. It broke records and leapt to a total of 85,000 orders by the time the campaign ended. The only thing left to do was ship, but unfortunately the company quietly announced a pair of delays that left an actual ship date in limbo — an unfortunately common problem with Kickstarter campaigns.

Today at CES, CEO Eric Migicovsky announced that the company now has a firm shipping date for its backers: January 23rd. It will go out in batches, Migicovsky tells us, and it only recently ramped up to full production at its factory in China, producing around 15,000 of the watches each week.

The story of Pebble actually began in 2008

The story of the Pebble smartwatch...

Casio's newest G-Shock Bluetooth watch coming to the US this summer (hands-on)

2013-01-09T01:34:20Z

Late last year, Casio announced a new model of its popular G-Shock Bluetooth-connected watch for the Japanese market, and a company representative has informed The Verge that the new GB-5600A will be making its way to the United States by the end of this summer. Just like the GB-6900 that we reviewed last year, the GB-5600A syncs with your phone using Bluetooth 4.0 and notifies you of phone calls, emails, and alarms with a light vibration. The new GB-5600A is still durable, but its unique design is a bit more subtle than the first G-Shock model. Although the company's watches currently only sync with iOS, Casio hopes to add support for Android devices within the next six months. Casio has not yet fixed a price for the GB-5600A, but told...

Evado Filip's location-tracking device can watch children and control their phone calls

2013-01-09T01:16:16Z

Evado Filip has announced the VivoPlay, "what is believed to be" the world's smallest location-tracking device that's designed to help parents and children keep in touch. It's a water-resistant, flexible device can be worn as a watch, or placed into custom accessories. The device uses GPS, Wi-Fi, and GSM to display the location of children, it and allows parents to control the messages and calls they can make via a smartphone app. The company says the device is intended to give parents better control over the messages their children send and receive from others, to reduce cyber bullying, sexting, and text message charges. The device allows parents to pre-authorize up to five phone numbers for children to call or text, effectively...

Central Standard Timing shows off CST-01, the 'world's thinnest' watch

2013-01-09T01:00:30Z

Central Standard Timing is showing off what it's calling the "world's thinnest watch" at CES 2013: an E Ink watch that's a single, razor-thin cuff. The watch is 0.80 millimeters thin, and the company says that it was able to create it by laminating flexible components together into a single piece of flexible stainless steel. It feels as thin as it looks in the hand — so thin it's almost worrying. That said, we'd have no reservation about slapping one of these attractive timepieces on our bodies. CST says that the watch uses an embedded micro-energy cell that allows it to charge in 10 minutes from an external dock, and that it will last for 15 years.

Central Standard Timing is asking for funding for the project on Kickstarter, with...

Not-so-smart Cookoo smartwatch limits itself to alerts (hands-on)

2013-01-08T21:46:00Z

One up-and-comer in the smartwatch race is the Cookoo smartwatch, which is already shipping after it surpassed its Kickstarter goal. We stopped by to see the watch on the CES show floor this week, and were immediately taken by how basic the Cookoo is. Unlike products like the Pebble or MotoACTV, the Cookoo doesn't strive to provide anything more than alerts to your wrist. Alerts are provided in the form of a handful of icons that flash on the display that makes up the watch face. When you receive a notification, which is beamed from an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 over Bluetooth 4.0, the watch will vibrate and make an audible alert.

Toshiba's smartwatch prototype connects your phone to your wrist in classy style

2013-01-08T21:03:42Z

Tucked away at the back of Toshiba's CES booth is a surprising and intriguing product — a prototype smartwatch that can pair with an iOS or Android phone and provide notifications, kind of like the famed Pebble smartwatch. Instead of using an "e-paper" display, however, Toshiba's watch has an OLED color display and ARM processor. We just got a chance to handle a hardware prototype, but unfortunately it didn't turn on — the only models with screens on were stuck behind glass. The prototype itself felt solid, if unremarkable, but it seems a bit more stylish than the average tech-focused smartwatch at first glance — the bands and colors felt similar to what you'd see on standard watches.

According to the display in Toshiba's booth,...