As someone who has had a Smartwatch for a little over a year now (the first Sony Xperia Smartwatch), I have an interest in keeping up with what is happening in this area – and something exciting is happening. A new smartwatch strap was shown off at Computex 2014 that could add as much as 500 mAh to your watch’s existing battery life. Depending on which smartwach you are using this could make a considerable difference, for Pebble users this could do as much as double its battery life. For watches like mine and the Galaxy Gears, the effect may be a little less – but every extra minute counts right?
The band at Computex was just for show, but the company reports they are making them now. The secret sauce behind the new battery-enhancing straps come from the flexible lithium ceramic cells that are in the wristband itself. The company behind the wristbands, named Prologium, has been producing these flexible batteries for a while and have done their best to ensure that they are safe and can stand up to everyday use. The batteries themselves are only 1.5mm thick, which opens them up to more uses than simply smartwatch straps. But the technology is young and these things take time.
Thinking about this concept of battery life supplementing accessories for wearables just goes to show how one new product category can create a cadre of spin-off categories. Imagine the many different kinds of wristbands we’ll see as smartwatches continue to grow in popularity. Imagine all the wearables and wearable accessories that don’t even exist yet. This new charging wristband is a great step forward for wearables, adding some function to what has until now been mostly a fashion product.
On the other hand, my current smartwatchalready lasts a few days and I can’t see myself getting one of these in the near future unless the price is very reasonable. But I think it would be a good idea for the manufacturers of wearables to be looking at this and take an active role in trying to implement this kind of technology in their own accessories – or maybe even ship this kind of wristband with their watches. But for right now if you are finding your smartwatch’s battery life a little lacking, it looks like there will soon be a solution for that.
What do you think? Would you buy a battery-enhancing wristband for your smartwatch? Let us know in the comments below.