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I'm Watch hands-on pictures and video

I'm Watch hands-on pictures and video

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A wristwatch running a modified version of Android 1.6, the I'm watch has a 240 x 240 screen and should last about a day on a single charge, depending on use.

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Gallery Photo: I'm Watch hands-on pictures
Gallery Photo: I'm Watch hands-on pictures

The I'm Watch, if you're not familiar, is a wristwatch running Android 1.6 on a 1.55-inch 240 x 240 display, though it's highly customized. It's come along a bit since we last saw it in November, but it's still more of a fun gadget than a serious notification tool — though given the current state of smart watches, that doesn't necessarily put it behind any of its competitors. I'm SpA, the company behind the watch, tells us that it should last around a day and a half on a single charge, depending on use. Using it straight-out, say on a as a Bluetooth headset on a call with the screen on, it should last a total of "three or four hours" on its 480mAh battery. The processor is an Atom 9 clocked at 450MHz, and that's paried to 128mb of RAM and 4GB of storage. In practice, those specs can't quite hold up to rapid use, you'll need to give the watch a bit of time after every tap and swipe.

The watch is preloaded with a few basic apps, all of which have been customized. There's Music, Facebook, Twitter, Weather, Stocks, Gallery, News, Calendar, an Address book, and finally a calling app. You pair the watch via Bluetooth 2.1 to any smartphone in order for it to act either as a wrist-bound "speakerphone" (though the volume is quite low) or to tether it so it can gather data for all of its apps. That's a fine solution for some, but the idea of maintaining a tethered Bluetooth connection every time we want to update our watch makes us fear for the battery of both the watch and our phones.

It runs $349 for the basic "I'm Watch Color" version here, though visitors to CES can snag a coupon for $50 off. There are also an "I'm Tech" and "I'm Jewel" versions, which are simply better-looking and more expensive versions of the same watch. The company says the watch is "in production phase" right now and should ship soon, but didn't have an exact release date yet.


I'm Watch hands-on pictures

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