Do you fancy doing a little bit of watch DIY? Then London-based company Blocks have exactly what you are looking for! You can buy a smartwatch which comes complete with the basic smartwatch features, but with a twist – if you want to customise your watch – you can!
The Blocks Kickstarter campaign states that the watch is tailored to the person that matters most – you! Depending on your experience with technology it all sounds either very complicated or incredibly simple.
How To Build Your Own Smartwatch
The Blocks smartwatch is built around the circular “core” watch face which comes with the basic features. The “core” gives you a touch screen, phone notifications, wifi connectivity, activity tracking and voice control. If you are happy with these features then you don’t need anything else but a strap!
The interesting part of this project is the option for you to connect extra modules to your watch. This lets you build your own smartwatch with your own specific perfect mix of features. It also means that, potentially, you never have to buy another watch again because you can buy modules to update your watch.
There are currently 5 extra modules which have been developed, these are:
-Heart Rate Module: Get an accurate reading of your heart rate during exercise
-GPS Module: Track your location and activities without needing to have your phone with you
-NFC Module: Use your watch for contactless communication, including contactless payments
-Adventure Module: Live readings of temperature, pressure and altitude.
-Extra Battery Module: Increase your battery life by 20%. You can add as many of these as you like!
There are also further planned modules, including a sim card module for calls and finger print module for security. Blocks are also planning to release the watch as completely open platform, which means that anyone will be able to release modules for it. The Blocks Kickstarter page talk about how the platform could be used for games, sports and even potentially academic research.
Ambitious Crowdfunding Targets
The £250,000 target was reached within 56 minutes of launching the product on Kickstarter. At the time of writing (28th of October) Blocks have received £1,106,402 from 3,650 backers – which demonstrates the excitement surrounding the project.
This isn’t the first smartwatch to hit a high target on Kickstarter incredibly quickly – Pebble broke Kickstarter records with their first watch. Nor is it rare for smartwatches to be crowdfunded, Sony have used Japanese crowdfunding websites to great effect to test interest in their watches.
But there are good reasons why this crowdfunding offer has been so popular, according to Blocks co-founder Alireza Tahmaseb:
“You would need to buy a new smartwatch each year just to keep up with the evolving technology,” he said.
“This is contrary to how watches used to be. Blocks beats other smartwatches by being future-proof. You can upgrade your watch by adding new features, module by module, as they become available.”
But the reason the project is so exciting was summed up by Tahmaseb in one sentence:
“Blocks is the last smartwatch you’ll ever need.”
