The Qualcomm Toq smartwatch can be ordered for $349.99 starting today (at least the black version, with the white version coming soon), however you’ll still have to wait 1-2 weeks to have it shipped to your home.
As you can see, this smartwatch is actually more expensive than the Galaxy Gear, by $50, and if you thought the Galaxy Gear was already too expensive, then this one probably won’t attract your attention either. I don’t think any of the smartwatches launched so far are very compelling for the mainstream market, and it’s not just the price point. The price point can be argued if they have iconic designs, which is actually something many watch wearers are looking for, or if they provide great benefits that would be hard to replicate with a smartphone.
So far, there’s really no smartwatch that does that, and there may never be one. The smartwatches so far look like pre-iPhone smartphones. Bulky, with not so pretty or intuitive interfaces, and very technology oriented (instead of user-oriented). That’s not to say that Apple will make the ideal smartwatch, although I could see a lot more people being interested in one from them simply because of Apple’s promotion of it either in the press, on TV, or in their own stores. But even then, I wouldn’t be surprised if the “smartwatch market” doesn’t get too big until someone actually “gets it right”, and that may not even be Apple.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, one thing I like most about Qualcomm’s smartwatch is the Mirasol display that can help it be “always-on” for days at a time, and it should look much better in daylight than all of the other LCD/AMOLED-based smartwatches (it’s more like e-ink in that respect). If Qualcomm could invest more money into making Mirasol have richer colors perhaps Mirasol displays could one day be used in smartphones, too, but it’s going to be a few years before we’re going to see that happen, if ever, because Mirasol is quite behind current high-end LCD/AMOLED/QLED panels.
For smartwatches, however, it seems quite adequate, especially since it can help them last for days on a charge, and you don’t have to squint your eyes and go into the shade to see what your watch is showing you, and I’d like to see more companies take advantage of this display technology (Amazon could probably use it for color Kindles, too).
