Last we wrote about Black Eyed Peas' irrepressible frontman Will.i.am, he was dispensing nuggets of wisdom about logo design; earlier this year, he debuted a smartwatch on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, which he unveiled in earnest this week at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco. Here's the debut of the as-yet-unnamed Puls from April:
Billed as a cuff, as in cufflink or handcuff, the wearable.i.am. was reportedly two and a half years in the making and is noteworthy in that it need not be paired with a smartphone. Like the Samsung Gear S and Timex Ironman ONE GPS (both released in August), the Puls connects directly to a data network so it can function as a standalone device. Although the user can send and receive calls and texts, "it's on the wrist, therefore it should not mimic a phone." So says Will.i.am in a product walkthrough with the Wall Street Journal, in a video that is a appreciably less surreal than his talk-show appearance:
The form factor looks something like an extruded Fuelband albeit with a proper touchscreen instead of a dot matrix display, which is to say that it's quite minimal, something like a flattened, bangle-like torus. (The logo, on the other hand, unfortunately reads a bit like "PUU.") Even so, the teaser video is an egregious echo of a classic spot, grossly diminished by a generic hip-young-Millennial montage:
Regarding the musician and entrepreneur's presentation on Wednesday evening, Mashable continues:
Will.i.am also previewed a line of connected clothing capable of working with the Puls. The pieces included a jacket with a built-in battery pack—which he equated with Mophie iPhone accessories—that can power the Puls for more than two days and shoes with built-in scales that will eventually work with the Puls' fitness tracking features.
It's unclear as to whether the cuff will seriously compete with the forthcoming Apple Watch, but the Puls reportedly has a five-hour battery life and features a voice-controlled helper app named Aneeda (no word on whether it will include the fabled 'Immabe' status update app). Pricing or availability, however, are TBA; Will.i.am is hoping to make it available in time for the holidays.
Yea or nay?
Hat-tip to DesignTaxi
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