This stylish smartwatch is the first with Alexa voice commands
There's the Apple Watch, Android Wear smartwatches, Pebble, Samsung's Gear S and now one with an Amazon connection: the CoWatch, a smartwatch with the e-commerce giant's Alexa voice assistant built in.
Launched on Indiegogo on Monday, the CoWatch is not an official Amazon smartwatch. It's made by iMCO and billed as the world's first to integrate Alexa voice commands.
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The CoWatch is a handsome wearable that connects with iPhones running iOS 9 and Android phones running Android 5.0 Lollipop and higher. It's also affordable, starting at $159 (for early backers).
The round Super AMOLED display measures 1.39 inches and has a 400 x 400 resolution. Unlike other round smartwatches (i.e. Moto 360), the CoWatch's screen doesn't have a "flat tire" on the bottom.
At 0.48 inches, the CoWatch is pretty darn thick, especially compared to the Apple Watch (0.41 inches) and the second-generation Moto 360 (0.45 inches). Still, the stainless steel and zirconia ceramic body are stylish. It's also water and dust-resistant.
The CoWatch is powered by a 1.2GHz processor dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and runs custom operating system called Cronologics OS. It comes with 8GB of internal storage, twice as much as what's in most smartwatches. Battery life is said to be good for up to 32 hours. The smartwatch comes with its own magnetic charging dock.
The smartwatch features with the usual sensors: 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis digital compass and a heart-rate sensor.
Alexa powered
The hardware sounds great, but it's the Alexa voice commands that differentiate it from other smartwatches.
As I mentioned in a recent review, the Echo Dot is useful if you want a multi-room setup with Alexa voice commands. With the CoWatch, you won't need to buy the Echo Dot. You'll be able to just say "Alexa, play music" or "Alexa, turn on the lights" and the single Echo in your house will respond.
In the video, Alexa is shown working quite quickly. In reality, if Alexa doesn't work instantly, it's not really going to be better than pulling out your smartwatch and firing up an app to check the weather or turn on your smart lights.
The CoWatch is currently crowdfunding on Indiegogo and looking to secure $80,000. Super early risers can get a CoWatch in silver or black with a stainless steel band, charging station, USB cable and clasp adjusting for $159. Meanwhile, a super early riser bundle gets you two of everything for $310. Of course, if you miss the super early riser, the regular price for the CoWatch will cost $179 and the regular cost for the double bundle will cost $350.
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Topics Alexa Amazon Alexa Smartwatches
Raymond Wong is Mashable's Senior Tech Correspondent. He reviews gadgets and tech toys and analyzes the tech industry. Raymond's also a bit of a camera geek, gamer, and fine chocolate lover. Before arriving at Mashable, he was the Deputy Editor of NBC Universal's tech publication DVICE. His writing has appeared on G4TV, BGR, Yahoo and Ubergizmo, to name a few. You can follow Raymond on Twitter @raywongy or Instagram @sourlemons.
