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A closer look at the awesome Blocks smartwatch, a serious Apple Watch rival

One of the few wearables that we’re truly excited about is the upcoming British-designed Blocks smartwatch, a modular wearable that can have bits swapped in and out to provide all-new features and designs.

A new teaser video for the device has emerged online, giving us a few more ideas about what we can expect from the finished article, but sadly it looks like we’ll be waiting until next year before we can build our own perfect wearable.

Blocks is an exciting upcoming modular smartwatch from a British creator
Blocks is an exciting upcoming modular smartwatch from a British creator

For those who don’t know, the Blocks smartwatch is a modular wearable device which allows users to pick and choose what functionality they want. To add or remove features/sensors from your device, you simply snap on (or snap off) a new module, which comes in the form of a bracelet link.

It looks like you’ll have plenty to choose from too, with extra modules set to include backup batteries, microphones, contactless payment NFC chips, heart rate monitors, pedometers and a whole bunch more to boot.

The Blocks smartwatch has so far managed to secure $50,000 in funding via Intel’s Make It Wearable contest, by becoming one of ten finalists. That’s the same contest that highlighted the world’s first wearable drone, a mini-copter with a camera that straps to your wrist.

That fifty grand could be boosted to a cool half a million dollars if Blocks wins the whole thing. In addition to the funding which has already been raised, Blocks will also be looking to crowdfund its development and, starting tomorrow, will have 1000 places set aside for ‘members’ who would be willing to pledge $50 in advance (which in turn will be deducted from the price of the watch, when it’s eventually released).

Things aren’t going to be plain sailing for the Blocks team though. The watch is now expected to be with users by the end of 2015, six months later than originally planned, and in the meantime a lot more Android watches are expected to hit the streets – along with the highly anticipated Apple Watch, which is due to drop in the new year.

We can’t wait to see how this device progresses though and the chance to remove superfluous fluff from a wearable device and truly make it our own is something we think will be worth the wait. And who knows, if enough folk get behind the project we might even be able to get things moving a bit quicker. Check out the new teaser below and our full Blocks preview from earlier this year.

 

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