Some manufacturers of wearables seem to think that a smartwatch doesn’t need to have a gazillion functions, so long as it looks nice. That’s surely the case with the Wellograph Watch.
Take HP’s MB Chronograph, for example. That wearable doesn’t even have apps, so there’s no way it could have an extensive functionality, not to mention that its design isn’t exactly otherworldly. The tech giant hasn’t understood that it needed to bring something new to the table in order to stay relevant and sell its product. Wearables don’t even need to have a display to perform a task flawlessly, and the Articheck Assure is a clear example of that. Back to smartwatches, though, Wellograph manages to integrate a simplistic range of capabilities in a sleek-looking timepiece featuring an unusual way of displaying things: on an infographic UI.
Don’t expect the Wellograph watch to do much. It’ll monitor your activity, heart, number of steps taken each day (which, as you know, should be north of 10,000 if you want to live long and prosper), and your world records in terms of speed. Just kidding, the wearable also comes with a stopwatch, should you decide to use it for running, swimming, or other sports where speed matters.
It’s funny how Brian M. Wolfe of AppAdvice thinks the Wellograph won’t win any design awards, seeing how it was actually nominated for the 2014 CES Innovations Design and Engineering Awards.
That being said, this $349 smartwatch has a sapphire crystal display. On the software side of things, it features a firmware that’s updated regularly, which means that new features are provided frequently.
It works equally fine with Android, iOS and Windows Phone smartphones, so you shouldn’t really worry about its compatibility. The week-long battery life is about as much as the one of the improved Pebble. Bear in mind that the Pebble smartwatch has an e-paper display, while this one is a 1.26-inch low-power rectangular LCD with integrated backlight. The bulky design also brings the Pebble Steel to mind, so I’m going to subtract some originality points from there. At least the Wellograph charges wirelessly.
Given the small number of functions, Wellograph’s price will definitely seem steep to most people. If you’re willing to sacrifice that for great design, then I won’t blame you.
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