A recent patent filed by Nokia suggests that the company is working on a multi-segment, bracelet-type smartwatch.
Wearable technology is gaining in popularity. Samsung recently released its smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, in September at the IFA in Berlin. Currently, the Galaxy Gear is only compatible with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 smartphone, but the company announced that it will also release a software update so that the smartphone can be paired with other smartphones manufactured by the company.
If rumors are to be believed then Apple is also working on a line-up of smartwatches, dubbed iWatch, which will measure 1.3-inch and 1.6-inch. The iWatch is rumored to launch in 2014 and will have 320 x 320 resolution AMOLED display, which is similar to the recently released Samsung Galaxy Gear.
Microsoft-owned Nokia will not want to be behind the race and a recent patent filed by the company hints that the Finnish company is planning on a smartwatch with a different concept.
Recently, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a patent application for a "multi-segment wearable accessory" filed by Nokia in August 2012.
"A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided to facilitate the use of a multi-segment wearable accessory. In this regard, methods, apparatus and computer program products are provided for controlling and, in some instances, interacting with a multi-segment wearable accessory. Each screen presented on or capable of being presented on the display of a segment of the multi-segment wearable accessory may be considered a virtual segment, and the number of virtual segments may be greater than the number of physical segments of the accessory," per the patent abstract of Nokia's Multi-Segment Wearable Accessory on UPSTO.
In layman's terms, usually, a smartwatch has only one display, but Nokia's smartwatch would feature multiple displays that would run different applications at the same time.
Nokia has not yet revealed its plans on the release of the device. However, customers will definitely want to try out Nokia's concept smartwatch before taking a decision to buy a smartwatch from any other manufacturer.
