The latest company to turn a watch into an accessory for a smartphone is a company called Allerta, which has unveiled the inPulse, a wrist-worn timepiece that also works in conjunction with a BlackBerry via Bluetooth. The $149 accessory, available for preorder
here, alerts you to incoming e-mails, text messages and calls.
inPulse has a built-in vibrating motor which alerts you immediately to incoming calls, while new messages are pushed directly to the inPulse for reading. So instead of pulling out your phone to figure out who keeps texting you, just keep an eye on the watch's display.
The watch grabs the time straight from your BlackBerry smartphone, so there's no need to set it manually. Other settings, like custom alarms and timers as well as sleep times and message filters, can be modified using the screen and keyboard on your BlackBerry.
Allerta's inPulse runs on a 150mAh lithium-ion polymer battery that charges via a microUSB port and is supposed to deliver four days worth of power. It sports a full metal body and a 22mm interchangeable wrist band.
The watch measures 51 x 38 x 12 millimeters (2.0 x 1.5 x 0.5 inches).
A number of companies have attempted to merge handheld and wireless technology over the years, with varying degrees of success. There's Sony Ericsson's lineup of Bluetooth-based
Caller ID watches, for instance. Fossil had its now defunct
Wrist PDA and
Smart Watches. And let's not forget Microsoft's doomed
Spot Watch program which delivered Web information to a watch wirelessly.
Allerta says the inPulse won't ship until February of next year.
