Kairos T-Band is a Smart Watchband for Your "Dumb" Watch (Crowdfunding)

Kairos introduced a high-end mechanical smartwatch with a semi-transparent OLED display a few months ago. They’ve now launched an Indiegogo campaign to sell several models for $500 to $1,000+, but they’ve also introduced T-Band, a smart watchband with an integrated display that you can fit to your existing (mechanical) watch, in order to receive notifications, answer phone calls, get directions, and even start your car.

There are three models of smartband all running Kairos OS on an ARM Cortex M4 MCU @ 168 MHz with Bluetooth Classic / Low Energy:

T-Band ND (No Display)
- Alerts user of notifications via a vibrator and LED indicator, and tracks fitness / sleep, as well as health data.
- Sensors – 9-axis gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, optical sensor, and GSR (Galvanic Skin Sensor) which detects skin temperature and sweat.
- Audio – Digital MEMS MIC for text to speech capabilities (requires 3rd party app)
- Battery – 200 mAh battery good for 7+ days.
T-BAND HD (Hidden Display)
- Display – LED display with touch sensor. It’s invisible when turned off (default mode), and lights up when there’s a push notification or alert. It can only display English alphanumeric text and numbers, not complex scripts, nor images/videos can be displayed.
- Sensors – 9-axis gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, and optical sensor,
- Audio – Digital MEMS MIC
- Battery – 200mAh – Battery life: 2-3 days on a full charge.
T-BAND OD (OLED Display)
- Display – Curved PMOLED display (11mmx25m with 170dpi resolution) with touch sensor, and hardened mineral glass with anti-scratch coating.
- Sensors – 9-axis gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, and optical sensor,
- Audio – Digital MEMS MIC
- Battery – 200 mAh – Battery life: 2-3 days on a full charge.

Kairos OS is compatible for iOS, Android, and Microsoft Phone, and all models are certified IP67 (waterproof).

The bands works with the company’s own mechanical watches (obviously), but they also provide adapters so that it can be fitted to your existing watch. Charging is done with an USB adapter and a POGO PIN USB charging port.

This product is most probably only interesting if you already own an expensive mechanical watch, and they cost about the same as Android Wear devices selling on the market today. T-Band ND pledge starts at $129, the HD model goes for $159, and the OD model for $199. Those are all early bird pledges with retail price starting at $199. Shipping is included to the US, and $20 to the rest of the word. with delivery scheduled for June 2015. The official website kairosband.com has more details

Via Liliputing and Android Authority.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

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.