Before mobile phones or smartphones, there was only a simple cable-connected telephone device that we couldn't carry around in our pockets and couldn't do without in day.
Technology, however, has given us another reason to thirst for more. See, what is a smartphone now, will be a smartwatch tomorrow.
Take it from Black Eyed Peas artist cum entrepreneur will.i.am who said it so. Why not, Intel named him the company's Director of Creative Innovation.
In his latest TV guesting at Alan Carr: Chatty Man, a British chat show, will.i.am showed off what really seems to be a watch in black cuffs wrapped around his wrist - but has yet to be proven if it's smart, after all.
"I don't carry my phone anymore. This is my phone," will.i.am said as he touched the device.
"A lot of these smartwatches that need phones, mine doesn't need a phone 'coz this is the phone," he added.
He elaborated that the smartwatch can function like a smartphone. He said his smartwatch can make and take calls, play music and access social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It also supports Bluetooth headphones.
As if in a teaser demo, he pressed on the smartphone a couple of times. Voila! Music came right on - and yes, he started to dance to the tune of the smartwatch.
"And I started the company myself. I funded it. Used my own money to develop it," he also revealed during the interview.
He has also been spotted wearing the smartwatch device on The Voice UK.
Will.i.am has always shown interest in the wearable device industry, but he doesn't seem to have hit the right spot yet with hardware projects. Recall the expensive i.am+ camera add-ons for iPhone devices that he launched late last year? Though if we were to rely on his TV guesting, the smartwatch has a potential of being smart after all.
The smartwatch market, however, is still new. Having said that, smartwatches have not dominated the industry yet. But so far, we've read some good reviews on a number of devices, such as the Pebble Smartwatch, Martian Smartwatch, I'mWatch Smartwatch, Sony Smartwatch 2 SW2 and Connectedevice Cookoo Smartwatch.
These smartwatches have features such as hands-free voice commands, smartphone camera control and messages alerts display. Regardless, software and firmware have yet to be developed completely, based on review reviews.
The official release of will.i.am's smartwatch will be in July this year.
Watch the video of his TV appearance below.
