Despite the progressive rise of smartwatches, these devices can never rival traditional watches in terms of battery life. The former is outfitted with a lithium-ion battery and the latter with a quartz battery, deftly outlasting lithium-ion batteries by a mile, basing entirely on just how much time it can run without recharging.
Though Armani has its own quartz-powered hybrid smartwatch, lithium-ion remains the primary source of juice for smartwatches, and it's logical for a number of reasons, with the foremost advantage enabling you to recharge it when power dips.
Matrix Industries has seemed to found a natural solution to our battery woes, unveiling the Matrix PowerWatch, the first smartwatch that eliminates the need for users to recharge or replace the battery.
A Smartwatch You Can Charge With Your Body Heat
The company first unveiled the smartwatch via Indiegogo, touting it as the first of its kind to integrate the technology into a wearable device.
"[It's] the world's first smartwatch that you never have to charge," reads its Indiegogo description. The Matrix PowerWatch runs on thermoelectric technology that converts heat into electric power, the same technology employed by NASA to power Voyager spacecraft and the Mars Curiosity rover.
"When you exercise, your skin gets warmer, so you'll generate more power," Akram Boukai, Chief executive of Matrix Industries, told CNNMoney.
The Matrix PowerWatch is a combination of different technologies: nanomaterials, advanced thermal engineering and low power electronics, the synergy of which makes it possible for you to charge it using your body heat. As a corollary, this device can also accurately measure calories burned and give a measured reading of the amount of power generated from your body.
What Else Can The Matrix PowerWatch Do?
Like any smartwatch, the Matrix PowerWatch can wirelessly sync with your smartphone. It can also automatically adjust to the current time zone, and it features a number of watch faces to choose from.
Additionally, the device can track your activity and sleeping patterns. It is also water resistant up to 50 meters, so it'll remain fairly invincible in light water activities such as swimming. This is great news since the device won't be ruined when you accidentally drop it underwater.
There's a companion smartphone app for Android and iOS as well. The smartwatch is seemingly fitness-focused, though it's not advertised heavily as such. It can show you how many steps you've taken and the calories burned from various activities, and as previously mentioned, it can measure and the amount of electric power you've generated during the day.
Matrix PowerWatch Release Date
The campaign still has two months left to reach its goal of $100,000, but you can preorder it now at the Indiegogo page. If the campaign successfully clinches its crowdfunding goal, the Matrix PowerWatch is slated to retail for $169.99, with a July 2017 shipping date.
The team behind the Matrix PowerWatch is composed of several consummate professionals in thermoelectric material science, thermal engineering, product development and manufacturing. There's no telling when exactly the idea behind the PowerWatch was incepted, but its timeline suggests that the team had administered final material science testing as early as 2014.
If we're lucky, we can expect a smartphone in the future with a battery life we can't complain about. A smartwatch you can recharge with your body heat may just be the new unique selling point to revive the dipping sales of smartwatches.
