Acer has announced the company's first wearable device and it is called the Liquid Leap. The device is a fitness tracker at heart, but it will not ship as a standalone. Those who wish to purchase it will also need to purchase an Acer phone, as the two gadgets work side-by-side.
The smartphone will be called Liquid Jade. It has a 5-inch HD display and runs Android 4.4 KitKat. It also comes packed with a 13-megapixel front camera and a 2-megapixel rear camera. Specs include a quad-core MediaTek CPU, up to 8 GB of storage, W-iFi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.
The wristband works with the phone by giving users controls and notifications through it. It comes on a rubberized band and tracks distance walked, calories burnt and some other things for those exercising. Users can also use it to control music that streams from the phone. Another feature it is said to have is that it also carries notifications about incoming calls and text messages that runners or athletes may not want to take at that moment. It comes with a 1-inch touchscreen for this task.
"The Liquid Leap tracks users' fitness including steps, running distance, calories burned, and sleeping cycle," Acer says in a release. "It's on 24/7 and features incoming call and SMS notification so users will never miss a call."
Acer is obviously trying to compete in the latest trend for wearable gadgets and fitness. As readers may recall, Samsung recently announced the Simband. Apple is also said to be working on its own iWatch and health apps, notably Healthbook. For Acer's wristband and phone to take off, it will have to stand out in a market that may soon be crowded.
This is why requiring a phone just for this task may be too much. On the other hand, if Acer wants to focus on marketing the phone first and foremost and use the wristband as an added bonus along with its many other features that it may have, then it could be a viable strategy. It remains to be seen how effective and efficient the process is of using a phone and wristband simultaneously, but most users who are athletes are already using their phones for running.
What is interesting about the Liquid Jade phone is that Acer is integrating it somehow into its recently announced build your own cloud (BYOC) initiative. If the company allows users to store their biometrics through the cloud this way, or compare their results to others, it could be an attractive way to generate interest for athletes.
"The Acer Liquid Jade can be seamlessly integrated with other Acer PCs for accessing data anytime, anywhere through Build Your Own Cloud," the company says in the release. "BYOC enables users to build their own cloud on their devices, such as music, photos and other types of content on a reliable and secure platform with convenient access to their information and content anytime, anywhere."
The phone and wristband should be available sometime during the third quarter of 2014.
