Wearables are useful little devices, but many of them suffer from short battery life, and in my case at least, I forget to charge mine from time to time. So when I saw GLIGO E-Ink smartwatch promising 2-year battery life on a charge, it caught my eyes.
But then looking into the details, it looks like battery life is really 6 months unless you don’t plan on using the display:
We adopted an energy-efficient dual-core design:the quartz core has a battery life of up to two years, e-ink screen has a battery life of up to 180 days.
Six months is not that bad either, so let’s still have a look.
GLIGO E-Ink smartwatch specifications:
- MCU – Unamed Arm Cortex M3 microcontroller with 128KB memory
- Display – E-ink segmented display
- Japanese Watch Movement
- Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.2 LE
- Sensors – Green light heart rate sensor (HRM), 3D G-sensor, 3-axis accelerometer
- Misc – 15,000 rpm vibrator
- Battery – 100 mAh charged with magnetic charging
- Dimensions – 41mm ∅ x 12 mm thickness (361 stainless steel + tempered glass)
- Weight – 58 grams
- Water Resistance – 3 ATM (up to 30 meters deep)
The battery situation is a little odd, but as far as I can understand, the quartz is maintained by a non-rechargeable cell coin battery (and typically lasts 2-year), while a separate rechargeable battery is used for the e-ink display and related electronics and can last up to 6 months on a charge. The exact duration will depend on Bluetooth connectivity, notification frequency, and heart rate monitor usage. So even if the rechargeable battery is depleted, you could still use the watch without E-Ink display, by just reading the time using the watch’s hands.
The face comes with straps made of full leather or stainless steel mesh. it can perform all talks found in fitness trackers like step counting, heart rate monitoring, sleep monitoring, setup alarms (with vibrator) and reminders, as well as handle notifications from Android or iOS smartphones thanks to GliGo watch app.
The watch launched in Indiegogo and with 16 days to go, close to 2,600 backers pledge around $240,000, well beyond the funding target. But there are still many $99 early bird rewards with either steel mesh or leather strap. The watch come with a charger, and since $100K and $200K stretch goals have been met a button cell battery and Apple USB cable will also be included. Shipping is free worldwide, and you should expect your reward in September 2018 if everything goes accordingly to plan.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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