Like a Kindle, the Wove Band uses a form of e-ink, allowing the screen to be kept on without any additional battery being used. That puts the potential battery life at weeks, rather than hours. It also allows a very slim design, which looks much lighter than many of the smartwatches we’ve seen previously. The even weight distribution will also make the wearable feel much more balanced.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Wove Band – what kind of software will it run, what functions can be tucked into its flexible structure? So far we’ve seen apps for directions, music controls, the time and date, and even news. The advantage of this super tall display is that all of this information can be displayed at once, and you only have to rotate your wrist to see more.
The Polyera Wove Band will go on sale in 2016. The 100-strong team at Polyera have been working on this technology for 10 years, and it’s only now that we’re seeing their work come to fruition. It’s wonderful to see science fiction become reality, and it looks like we’re almost there.
The company is already planning its next devices too – including a similar smartwatch that uses a flexible OLED display, providing full colour to the same insane form factor. They’re also doing something even more out there – embedding their active layers in the sleeves of outerwear like jackets, making the term “wearable” as literal as I’ve yet heard it.
Stay tuned, folks – this could be an interesting time.
For more information on the Wove Band, you can visit wove.com. Let us know what you think in the comments below, too!