Blocks officially opened up on Thursday, June 9, pre-orders for its long-promised wearable.
Blocks is the first to develop a modular smartwatch. After an impressive $1.6 million Kickstarter campaign, the company is ready to launch the final version of the product.
According to TechnoBuffalo, Blocks will begin to ship the modular smartwatch in October. The company takes pre-orders for $330 plus shipping. The price includes four modules at your choice.
The modular smartwatch features an upgraded design with a stainless steel frame and a round display. There are not many options at the moment. Blocks' offering includes a heart rate monitor, a battery module, a flashlight, a programmable button, a GPS unit and a special adventure module that comes with sensors for measuring pressure, temperature and humidity.
The core smartwatch unit features a water resistant design and comes with a1.39-inch AMOLED display at 400 x 400-pixel resolution. The modular smartwatch is powered by a Qualcomm processor. It comes with 4GB of storage, 512MB of RAM, a 300mAh battery, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, as well as a vibration motor. The wearable device runs a version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
Since the Blocks modular smartwatch runs on Android, it will be compatible with the iPhone and Android devices. The device is able to fit four to five module models, depending on the size of user's wrist.
More modules are expected to be launched in the future. However, if not interested in additional modules, users can also choose to use regular straps with their Blocks modular smartwatch.
According to BGR, since Blocks' Kickstarter campaign last fall, the modules were further miniaturized in order to become more ergonomic and provide more wrist comfort. Now the modules also have a plug-n-play connector.
By removing and adding blocks that contain different hardware components, the Blocks modular device aims to let the wearer customize his or her smartwatch experience. The concept sounds pretty cool but it remains to be seen if it will become a market success as well.
