While Apple irons out a final design and Google's hardware partners iterate on designs, pop star will.i.am. has popped up in the race to own the consumer wrist with the Puls smart watch.
Unlike the current batch of smart watches on the market, the Puls carries a form factor that's more like a bracelet and does so for good reason. Every nook inside the Puls is fitted with circuitry, instead of adhering to the traditional model that stuffs the watch face full of chips.
The thick wearable is fitted with 16 GB of long-term storage space, 1 GB of ram and a Qualcomm processor. It runs on a yet-unspecified Android platform, presumably Android Wear.
The Puls also doesn't require a phone, says will.i.am, and the wearable tech supports 3G and Wi-Fi connections.
"Why do you want to have a device that doesn't have a phone -- the gym," says will.i.am. "I'm tired of having the friggin' music experience tangled with wires, and my device, and I have to figure out where to put my phone. We all know, in a gym, it hasn't been thought out right. I want to have a device on my wrist where it's free, and I can work out with my Bluetooth and I'm straight."
Deepak Tvs, head of engineering at i.am+, says the Puls isn't a direct competitor to Google and Apple's smart watch offerings. Instead, the Puls is meant to take the smartphone out of the equation.
"[The Puls] is your communication device, and your tablet will be your consumption device," says Tvs.
Like Intel, which sometimes consults with will.i.am on projects, the pop producer believes tech and fashion have yet to fully meld with one another.
"That's because they're two disciplines that haven't been disciplined to collaborate," the producer and tech entrepreneur says. "Two worlds so caught up in their awesomeness that they don't want to collaborate. I sit in the middle. I love fashion, that's what I went to school for, but I love technology -- that's what I'm telling kids to go to school for."
As for people who didn't know their digital ecosystems needed yet another screen, will.i.am points to the world's obsession with screens and its ability to find uses for more information.
"We're screenagers," says will.i.am. "It's an inclusive demographic. That's everyone who likes screens. Traditional corporate 101 mentality? They don't understand popular culture. I understand it. A person who uses a laptop will use a tablet totally different. A person who uses a smartphone will use a Puls totally different. Because it's where you'll use it."
