After the announcement that TAG Heuer was working on their first smartwatch a long time ago and more recently, some teasing by the company itself, the TAG Heuer Connected smartwatch finally got unveiled today. As you may already know, it is now on sale for $1,500 and users get to choose one of the color options for the strap that goes along with it. It is certainly on the expensive side of smartwatches, particularly those running on Android Wear, so what kind features did the company include to justify the asking price for their smartwatch? Let’s review some of them, which make it stand out.
First of all, we’re not talking about a company that makes technology attempting to build an accessory, we’re looking at a Swiss company which specializes in manufacturing luxury mechanical watches with more than 150 years of experience, so they know about fine craftsmanship and tough materials. The case of the TAG Heuer Connected is made from Grade 2 Titanium with fine-brushed titanium lugs, it features a button with black, carbide-coated, fine-brushed titanium with a raised company logo. The bezel surrounding the screen is made of black, sandblasted, carbide-coated titanium and it features an anti-fingerprint coating. The screen is protected by scratch-resistant sapphire glass and the straps are made of vulcanized rubber with grade 2 titanium folding clasp and safety-push buttons. The company created several watch faces inspired by their own designs and some of them include interactive counters, which may be changed to display different information. Some additional useful apps will also be available to complement the looks of the watch.
As for its internal specs, it integrates a fully circular 1.5-inch display with a resolution of 360 x 360 pixels, resulting in a density of 240 ppi. Powering the smartwatch is a dual core Intel processor clocked at 1.6 Ghz although it will run at 500 MHz during normal operation. This is actually one of the few wearable devices powered up by an Intel processor, but its performance should be similar to those including other brands of processors. There is also 1 GB of RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. It integrates components like a gyroscope, tilt detection sensor, microphone and a haptic engine, but it doesn’t include a heart-rate monitor, which is pretty common in these devices. It features Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity and it is compatible with Android and iOS devices. It’s 410 mAh battery should last for 25 hours under normal usage. As you might see, the internals are nothing extraordinary, but the build quality includes some pricey materials and the looks of the watch are nothing short of spectacular, after all, these devices are meant to be visible at all times. The company also included a two-year warranty with the possibility to exchange this watch for a mechanical one after that period of time.