As with smartphones, battery life is growing to become a major factor when it comes to the factors that make a good smartwatch. There’s no point spending $600 on a wearable device that can’t make it through the day without needing to be recharged. Overcoming limitations here could prove crucial for the growth of the category.That’s where the newly announced Matrix PowerWatch comes in.
Developed by a start up team out of the US, Matrix Industries recently
launched a crowdfunding campaign for the device through Indiegogo.
At first glance, it’s the same sort of fitness-focused wearable you’d
expect out of FitBit. While it lacks smart-functions like notifications
or apps, it can display the time, track your steps, track your sleep
quality and act as a stopwatch.
It’s also water resistant up to fifty meters.
However, it’s the leading feature of the device that’s important. The
Matrix PowerWatch forgoes a traditional battery for a thermoelectric
power solution.
The watch draws heat from the body of the wearer and converts that
heat into electricity to charge itself and power its AMBI Q processor.
Essentially, it requires no charging.
Functionally, it’s definitely a first generation product. That said,
it’s definitely something to watch.The concept of a smartwatch that
requires no charging is an alluring one and it’ll be interesting to see
how Matrix build on the tech in the future and whether or not bigger
companies look to incorporate them.
Matrix Industries told ChannelNews that they plan to sell direct
after the campaign is over and aim to be in retail stores by the end of
2017.
They told us they plan to iterate and expand their range of
thermoelectric wearables into other areas including “hearing aids, smart
IoT sensors in factories that monitor and collect all sorts of data.”
According to them, there’s a lot of room for improvement.
“The company got its start as a high tech developer of thermoelectric
materials. We realized there was a large pain point when it comes to
charging a wearable device. That’s when we decided to build our own
smartwatch system level solution that is powered by body heat.”
higher electrical conductivity would convert heat into electricity more
efficiently. A better DC-DC boost converter would allow us to more
efficiently use our thermoelectric’s energy. Right now, the boost
converter we use throws away 2/3 of the thermoelectric’s energy.”
as simple as it is but as time goes on and other companies attempt to
leverage this technology, that may not be the case.
contain the same technology – and that’s likely to make a world of
difference when it comes to growing the size of the smartwatch market.
